The songs cover his grief over the loss of loved one, as well as some fairly generic love/hate/make-ups-to-break-ups territory, which in turn throws the spotlight back on the production, that at times sounds almost like an unfinished version of a regular mid-tempo Kanye song.īut even the Kanye West Mid-Tempo Jam has taken on a lot more character in the past. That leaves mainly the lyrics, and it's hard to turn a clever, punchy phrase as an R&B robot. But it just doesn’t make sense here, particularly given that Kanye’s actually got a pretty good singing voice (the several times he sings sans digital assistance, he sounds just fine).īut on 808s, with its already-spare soundscapes, his voice plays front and center, and all of the manipulation gives things a weird, plasticized feeling. Now, someone like Lil’ Wayne, who has no discernible singing talent? I understand why HE would want to Auto-Tune himself into submission.

The most mystifying part about all this is his album-long penchant for everybody's new favorite musical toy, the Auto-Tune.

808s and heartbreak era