• ' Released: September 18, 2008 • ' Released: November 4, 2008 • ' Released: March 10, 2009 • ' Released: March 24, 2009 808s & Heartbreak is the fourth by American producer and vocalist. It was released on November 24, 2008,.
West recorded the album during September and October 2008 at Glenwood Studios in and Avex Recording Studio in, with the help of producers, and others. Conceived in the wake of several distressing personal events, 808s & Heartbreak marked a major musical departure from West's previous records, instead featuring a sparse, sound and West singing through an vocal processor. His lyrics explore themes of loss, alienated fame, and heartache, while the album's production abandons conventional hip hop sounds in favor of a sonic palette, which includes prominent use of the titular drum machine. 808s & Heartbreak debuted at number one on the, selling 450,145 copies in its first week. Despite varying responses from listeners, the album received positive reviews from most critics and was named one of 2008's best records in several year-end lists. Four singles were released to promote the record, including the hit singles ' and '.
808s & Heartbreak has since been cited as a prominent influence on subsequent hip hop,, and music, as a new wave of rappers, singers, and producers came to adopt aspects of its style and thematic content. By 2013, it had sold 1.7 million copies in the United States. West (center) working on the album with his former mentor, producer (left). The album was recorded over a span of approximately three weeks from September to October 2008. Recording sessions took place at Glenwood Studios in and at Avex Recording Studio in. As implied by its title, 808s & Heartbreak prominently features the drum machine.
Drawing inspiration from 1980s and performers such as,, and, West felt that the 808 is a resourceful instrument that can be used to evoke emotion; the concept was introduced to him. West utilized the sounds created by the 808 and manipulated its to produce a distorted, electronic sound, an effect he referred to as 'heartbreak'. He felt the characteristic of the sound was representative of his state of mind.
According to West, the fact that Hawaii's area code was '808' was coincidental, as he had already developed the album's title before being informed. The realization inspired him to pursue his direction with the album, however. O Sanam Mohabbat Ki Kasam Lucky Ali Mp3.
In terms of musical direction, West's intentions, according to, were to go against the typical sound of hip hop beat, instead evoking the presence of tribal drums. Overall, West maintained a ' but functional' approach towards the album's studio production.
Six year revival thread. I wanted to see how people viewed this album now that it's rather far removed from Kanye in time and having had two. 808's and Heartbreaks.zip.
The, the titular which served as a primary instrument on 808s & Heartbreak. The album makes prominent use of the voice audio processor technology of. West had previously experimented with the technology on for the background vocals of ' and 'Never Let Me Down', but he had not used it for lead vocals until 2008. 'We were working on the remixes for 's ' and 's ' and he fell in love with the Auto-Tune', producer Mike Dean explained.
Towards the end, West enlisted for coaching on how to utilize the technology. West himself openly stated that he loved using Auto-Tune and was dismayed that the term has been commonly associated with being 'wack'. He considers the technology 'the funnest thing to use' and compared the situation to when he was a child and thought the color pink was cool until someone told him 'it was gay', producing an analogy of how the views of society can rob people of their confidence and self-esteem. He later went on to state that he enjoyed the electronic feel produced by Auto-Tune and sought out to juxtapose the mechanical sounds with the traditional sounds of and. Rapper, who had signed onto West's label, contributed to two of the album's songs. Young Jeezy contributed a rap verse on the track 'Amazing' while ' is a duet with Lil Wayne. Singer-songwriter provided the few female vocals found on the album; credited under birth name Jenny-Bea Englishman, she co-wrote three tracks.