808s & Heartbreak is the fourth studio album by the American rapper Kanye West. It was released through Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records on November 24, 2008. West recorded it between September and October 2008 at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, and produced it with assistance from No I.D., Plain Pat, Jeff Bhasker, and Mr Hudson. Guest appearances include Kid Cudi, Young Jeezy, Mr Hudson, and Lil Wayne.
West conceived 808s & Heartbreak following the death of his mother Donda in November 2007 and his breakup with his then-fiancée Alexis Phifer in April 2008. It marked a major artistic departure from his previous hip-hop records; West mostly sings instead of rapping, with vocals processed through Auto-Tune against an electronic production and minimalist sonic palette, including prominent use of minor keys and the Roland TR-808 drum machine. Lyrical themes include loss, heartache, and West's struggles with pop stardom.
808s & Heartbreak announcement bewildered audiences, who were taken aback by its departure from West's previous work, but it debuted atop the Billboard 200 and received positive reviews, with praise for West's experimentation. It was promoted with four singles, including "Love Lockdown", which became the highest Billboard Hot 100 debut of West's career, and "Heartless", which was certified septuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Numerous publications named 808s & Heartbreak one of the best albums of 2008, and its third single, "Amazing", was nominated for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 52nd Grammy Awards.
Music journalists regard 808s & Heartbreak as one of West's most influential albums, as it had an immediate impact on hip-hop, pop, and R&B music; many rappers, singers, and producers adopted its stylistic and thematic elements. It has been credited with pioneering the emo rap and experimental R&B subgenres. In 2014, Rolling Stone named it one of the most groundbreaking albums, and in 2020, listed it among the 500 greatest albums. 808s & Heartbreak sold 1.7 million copies in the US by 2013; in 2026, it received a quadruple platinum certification from the RIAA.
Background
After the release of his third studio album Graduation in 2007, Kanye West experienced profoundly-affecting events in his personal life. On November 10, his mother Donda West died due to complications from cosmetic surgery involving an abdominoplasty and breast reduction. Months later, in April 2008, West and his fiancée Alexis Phifer ended their engagement and long-term relationship, which had begun in 2002. At the same time, West was struggling to adapt to a newfound pop stardom he had once wanted, often becoming the subject of media scrutiny.STADTMILLLER, MANDY. "GIVE IT A WEST! - KANYE FINALLY WEARS OUT WELCOME; BOOR DE FORCE." New York Post, New York, N.Y., 2009. His feelings of loss, loneliness, and longing for companionship and a sense of normality inspired 808s & Heartbreak. West later said, "this album was therapeutic – it's lonely at the top."
West felt that his emotions could not be fully expressed simply through rapping, which he said had limitations. There were "melodies that were in me", he explained. "What was in me I couldn't stop." Wanting to create a pop album, West dismissed the contemporary backlash to the concept of pop music and expressed admiration for what some pop stars had accomplished in their careers. West acknowledged the criticism of the album by saying that he can't be judged on a reflection of his "heart and soul", which would be like attempting to judge a grandmother's love. The rapper later stated that he wished to present the music as a new genre called "pop art", clarifying that he was well-aware of the visual art movement of the same name and wished to present a musical equivalent. He elaborated: "Either call it 'pop' or 'pop art,' either one I'm good with".
Recording and production
The album was recorded over a span of approximately three weeks from September to October 2008. Recording sessions took place at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and at Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii. The 808 of the title is a reference to the Roland TR-808 drum machine, used heavily in the album. Drawing inspiration from 1980s synth-pop and electropop performers such as Phil Collins, Gary Numan, TJ Swan, and Boy George, West felt that the 808 was a resourceful instrument that could be used to evoke emotion; the concept was introduced to him by Jon Brion. West utilized the sounds created by the 808 and manipulated its pitch 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. In terms of musical direction, West's intentions, according to Mike Dean, were to defy the typical sound of hip-hop beats, instead evoking the presence of tribal drums. Overall, West maintained a "minimal but functional" approach to producing the album.
West credits rapper Kid Cudi, who had signed to his GOOD Music record label, with helping create the album's stark, brooding sound. After receiving a copy of his 2008 mixtape A Kid Named Cudi, West became an avid fan, especially of the hit single "Day 'n' Nite". West surprised Kid Cudi with a phone call and asked him to fly to Hawaii to work on 808s & Heartbreak. The pair worked together in the studio while having films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind play silently in the background. Ultimately, Kid Cudi co-wrote four songs on 808s & Heartbreak, the first being the chorus for "Heartless". West told Rolling Stone, "His writing is just so pure and natural and important. [That's] more important than where things chart." No I.D., West's collaborator and former mentor, added that tracks for the album also originated from their concurrent recording for Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3 (2009). "Matter of fact, when we did 'Heartless,' [West] just stopped and said, 'No.' I was like, 'No what?' He was like, 'No way! This is my record!'", as No I.D. recalled. "I was like, 'Come on, man. Can we just finish the guy's album?' He was like, 'Nope. I'm doing an album.'"
For his vocals on 808s & Heartbreak, West employed the voice-audio processor technology of Auto-Tune. He had experimented with it on his 2004 debut album The College Dropout, specifically the background vocals of "Jesus Walks" and "Never Let Me Down", but he had not used the technology for lead vocals until 2008. "We were working on the remixes for Lil Wayne's 'Lollipop' and Young Jeezy's 'Put On' and he fell in love with the Auto-Tune", producer Mike Dean recalled. Towards the end, West enlisted T-Pain for coaching on how to utilize the technology. In an interview with Billboard, T-Pain said that West told him he had listened to his debut album Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005) before making 808s & Heartbreak. T-Pain also claimed that West brought him in to make 808s sound more like his debut album. West stated that he loved using Auto-Tune and dismissed notions from those who did not like the technology. At a listening event, he considered it "the funnest thing to use". West went on to state that he appreciates how Auto-Tune makes it clear when he sings off-key, enabling him to "sing more perfect".
Young Jeezy contributed a rap verse on the track "Amazing" while "See You in My Nightmares" is a duet with Lil Wayne. Singer-songwriter Esthero provided the few female vocals found on the album; credited under birth name Jenny-Bea Englishman, she co-wrote three tracks. When "RoboCop" appeared on the Internet, West disclaimed responsibility and was upset that the leak had occurred as the track was an unfinished version. Mike Dean had previously stated that the track was expected to receive additional treatment by jazz musician Herbie Hancock before the album's release.
Music and lyrics
808s & Heartbreak is a radical departure from West's previous hip-hop albums. According to The Independent, West abandoned his customary hip-hop sound in favor of sparse, drum machine-based electropop. Pitchforks Scott Plagenhoef described the album as "an introspective, minimal electro-pop record," and writer Kirk Walker Graves categorized it as avant-garde electropop. In the opinion of Rolling Stones Brian Hiatt, the record is a "downbeat detour into depressive electro pop," while another writer for the magazine called it an "introspective, synthpop album".
The music of 808s & Heartbreak draws heavily on electronic elements, particularly virtual synthesis, the Roland TR-808 drum machine, and explicitly auto-tuned vocal tracks. Tracks on the album utilize step input drum machine and synth-bass parts.Hodgson (2010), p. 61. Step input sequencing, a product of vintage analogue devices limited to recording only 16 individual notes, was popular in music production during the 1980s, but also became available in digital workstations.Hodgson (2010), p. 60. The album's music features austere production and elements such as dense drums, lengthy strings, droning synths, and somber piano. Andy Kellman of AllMusic writes of the music, "Several tracks have almost as much in common with irrefutably bleak post-punk albums, such as New Order's Movement and The Cure's Pornography, as contemporary rap and R&B". These musical elements help convey moods of despair and dejection that reflect the album's subject matter. For The A.V. Club, Nathan Rabin described the album's music as "split[ting] the difference between the auto-tune R&B of T-Pain and the glacial electronic atmospherics of '80s new wave at its loneliest". NJ.com columnist Trist McCall wrote that the record "stripped modern art-pop down to its iconic rudiments — beats, charismatic personalities, hand-selected melodies, and computer-assisted vocals".
West's singing has been characterized as "flat" and "nearly unmelodic", which "underscores his own cyborgish detachment". His voice was compared to the fictional artificial intelligence character HAL 9000, channeling a robotic sound. Andre Grant of HipHopDX wrote that "to combat this trenchant melancholia, he poured himself into an all-autotunes R&B album" which would prove divisive in hip-hop. Canadian writer Stephen Marche viewed that West used "the shallow musical gimmickry of Auto-Tune, a program designed to eliminate individuality, and produced a hauntingly personal album".Stephen Marche et al. Holt (2011), p. 231. Nekesa Mumbi Moody of Associated Press described 808s & Heartbreak as uneven, citing West's experimental off-key singing.
Most of West's lyrics are directed at an ex-lover. In Robert Christgau's opinion, 808s & Heartbreak is a "slow, sad-ass and self-involved ... breakup album," while Plagenhoef found it "steeped in regret, pain, and even more self-examination than a typical Kanye West album". West refers to an ex-lover's treatment of him as "the coldest story ever told" on "Heartless", and on "RoboCop", she is called a "spoiled little L.A. girl" comparable to the antagonist in the 1990 film Misery. On "Paranoid", West describes a lover who "worries about the wrong things" and is pushing him away with her distrustful ways of thinking. With the introspective "Love Lockdown", West discusses the aftermath of a failed romantic relationship.Bailey, 2014. p. 40