Album · 2008
808s & Heartbreak
by Kanye West
808s & Heartbreak is a 2008 hip-hop album by Kanye West. It runs 12 tracks across 52 minutes on Def Jam Recordings. Riffiter listeners rate it 4.1/5 from 34 ratings.
Your rating
- 4.1 /5
- 34 ratings
- 81 /100
- 10 critics
- 12
- Tracks
- 52 min
- Runtime
- 116 bpm
- Tempo
- A# minor
- Key
Ratings
34 ratings · avg 4.1
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Reviews
2 reviews
- 4.0
I really enjoyed and respect this album. I really liked seeing Kanye go a different way than the other I albums before it and I enjoyed this album a lot more than graduation. I don’t think anything on it was just insanely artistic but I think all of it was really enjoyable to listen to and I really enjoyed the vulnerability and emotional tones.
- 4.5
The grief machine: 808s & Heartbreak processes his mother's death and a broken engagement through Auto-Tune and Roland drum machines, deliberately trading rap virtuosity for frozen melody. "Heartless" and "Love Lockdown" were the hits; Drake, Kid Cudi and a decade of emotional rap were the consequences. Polarizing then, foundational now.
Critics
10 publications
- USA Today4/4
- The Sunday Times5/5
- MSN Music (Consumer Guide)A−
- Entertainment WeeklyA−
- The Guardian4/5
- The A.V. ClubB
- Pitchfork7.6/10
- Rolling Stone3.5/5
- AllMusic3.5/5
- The Independent3/5
- Metacriticaggregate75/100
- AnyDecentMusic?aggregate7.3/10
Scores collected from the English Wikipedia ratings box (CC BY-SA). Ratings belong to the publications; follow a link to read the review.
Cover art
4 credits
- Design
- JP Robinson
- Photography
- Danny Clinch, Willy Vanderperre
- Art direction
- Past Tell Museum
Tracklist
12 tracks · 52 min
Ranked head-to-head
1 vs 1
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Videos
4 videos
Ranked by listeners
3 rated tracks
According to Riffiter listeners, the best track on 808s & Heartbreak is Welcome to Heartbreak — rated 5.0/5 by 2 listeners.
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About
808s & Heartbreak is the fourth studio album by American recording artist and producer Kanye West, released November 24, 2008 on Roc-A-Fella Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii during September to October 2008. It was produced primarily by West, No I.D., and Jeff Bhasker. Conceived in the wake of multiple events that distressed him in the previous year, the album marked a major musical departure for West from his previous work, lyrically, vocally, and production-wise. Classified by West as a pop album, 808s & Heartbreak incorporates elements of synthpop, electronica, R&B, and electropop, while its tracks are primarily sung rather than rapped by West and contain lyrical themes such as love, loneliness, and heartache. The album also contains extensive use of the Auto-Tune voice processor and the Roland TR-808 drum machine, which was utilized and manipulated by West to produce a distorted, electronic sound.
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Approaching the album's production in a minimalist fashion, West intended to contravene the typical sound of hip hop beat and instead evoke a presence of tribal drums. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 450,145 copies in its first week. It produced four singles, including the hit singles "Love Lockdown" and "Heartless". Despite a divided reaction from music audiences towards West's stylistic change, 808s & Heartbreak received generally positive reviews from music critics upon its release. It impacted hip hop music stylistically, as a new wave of rappers adopted the album's aesthetic. 808s & Heartbreak has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and has sold 1.63 million copies in the United States.
In brief
- Is 808s & Heartbreak good?
- Riffiter listeners rate 808s & Heartbreak 4.1/5 from 34 ratings.
- What is the highest-rated track on 808s & Heartbreak?
- Welcome to Heartbreak, rated 5.0/5 by 2 listeners on Riffiter.
- When was 808s & Heartbreak released?
- 808s & Heartbreak was released in 2008 on Def Jam Recordings.
- How many tracks are on 808s & Heartbreak?
- 808s & Heartbreak has 12 tracks, with a runtime of 52 minutes.
- What genre is 808s & Heartbreak?
- 808s & Heartbreak is catalogued under Hip-Hop.
- What BPM is 808s & Heartbreak?
- 808s & Heartbreak runs at a median tempo of 116 BPM across its tracks, most often in A# minor, measured from audio analysis.
- What albums are similar to 808s & Heartbreak?
- Listeners of 808s & Heartbreak also rate Tha Carter III by Lil Wayne, DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar, Scorpion by Drake.
- Who produced 808s & Heartbreak?
- 808s & Heartbreak was produced by Ye, Jeff Bhasker, No I.D. and Plain Pat, among 5 credited in total. Ye produced 11 of them.
808s & Heartbreak at a glance
- Labels
- Def Jam Recordings, Roc-A-Fella Records
- Recorded at
- Island Sound Studios
Facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Credits
- Produced by
- Mixed by
- Engineered by
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Gaylord HolomaliaIsha ErskineJeff ChestekJohn StahlMontez Roberts- Played by
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Emma KummrowGregory TepermanIgor SzwecJames J. Cooper IIIJennifer LorenzoLuigi MazzocchiOlga KonopelskyGibiLula AlmeidaRodney DassisZé Bruno- Vocals by
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