808's & Heartbreak Review

I've been listening to the final version of this album for a little more than a week now. Instead of blogging my opinions on the day it got leaked, I decided to take some time and fully internalize the approach and execution of the project.

When "Love Lockdown" was released I was instantly skeptical of what was to come. Those of you who downloaded the original version probably remember how poorly it was mixed and how careless the autotune processing was. The final version is completely different and so too is my impression of it. When it dropped... I thought it was garbage.... now I think it's genius...

In fact, I think that this album as a whole is a strong work of art. Kanye manages to turn the redundancy of autotune and synth heavy melodies into something completely new and unexpected. 808's & Heartbreak finds a way to defy genre. For most artists that would be a task of great challenge and risk, for Kanye it's as simple as a few weeks in Hawaii.

We have not seen an icon in Hip Hop culture break the rules like Kanye does on 808' since Andre 3000 crafted The Love Below. It is now fair to say that Mr. West, much like 3 Stacks, is simply more than a producer or a rapper. He is a visionary and an icon of artistic expression. I have been scanning forums and blogs and to my surprise there are a great deal of people out there bashing this album. The same was true for The Love Below. What I've come to realize is that the Hip Hop community can be extremely conservative. Whenever something changes in the sonic landscape of rap music there are always thousands who complain about it. Their small minded critiques often come with a flood of homophobia and synthetic claims of violence, leaving their arguments unsupported and vague. We have reached a moment in time where our political system can act as a metaphor for our music. "Real Hip Hop" seems to operate on a conservative agenda that insists upon preservation and nostalgia, whereas a project like 808's & Heartbreak anticipates the future and guarantees inspiration for generations to come. I am not opposed to the recognition and appreciation of the roots of Hip Hop music. What bothers me is that those who insist upon the roots often fail to recognize the forest that now rests above them. Thanks to Kanye we now have another branch to enjoy.

-Dekk-

Split Picutre posts....

are the best...


anybody coming through for a remix,

please don't leave on

account of my

random

posts.

I'm just in one of those moods.

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dekkmusic@gmail.com

Kanye West- Love Lockdown (on Ellen)

So, I know I'm late on this video.... Few things 1. The constant slow motion is far too cliche for a song that is attempting to break the mold. 2. This shit was really kind of boring except for one scene that I thought was beautiful, 3min 45sec in there is a shot with two women in florescent paint against the white background. Some would argue that this shot is an objectification of the female body and a "male-centric" portrait of female lovers.... Fuck all that, it was a beautiful, artistically done shot. It was erotic, but not degrading. I say this from my perspective, however, I acknowledge that my lens is fogged with unearned privilege.

Moving on, Kanye is really pushing the limits with this new shit he's doing. There are a lot of people around me who hate on Kanye, in fact my business partner refers to him as "Kanye Spears"! Lol! I have mad respect for Yeezy. He's imaginative and he's fearless. Yeah I said fearless. He has changed the "face" of hip hop in his short, 3 going on 4 album career. It may be a coincidence, but as 'Ye has gotten more and more popular, solid artists have been emerging (Lupe Fiasco) and reemerging (Common) as forces in the Hip Hop community. I personally believe that Kanye is at the forefront of what is to become a renaissance of artistic Hip Hop music and culture. That being said, I really don't dig the tracks that I've heard off of 808's and Heartbreak. I don't dig it, but being an artist myself, I respect it. The production is ill and sometimes creative people have a need to explore mediums that they've never had the chance to explore. Kanye is a music fanatic. Soul, indie, house, you name it and that cat is up on it. Sometimes I wish I could sing, maybe he see's autotune as an excuse to try it! Either way, no matter how hard this shit flops, he'll be back with another album or beat that will blow our minds. Like I said, mad respect for Ye!