Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak

Music 15 January 2009 | 0 Comments

I just bought a house — which is another reason there have been no blog updates because buying a house is crazy — so money is scarce these days.  However, I did manage to snag the latest Kanye West joint.  I’m a big Kanye fan (not the man, the music) so this was a must buy.  I knew going in that 808s & Heartbreak was going to be quite a departure from Kanye’s previous work, and it is.  iTunes labels the cd as R&B rather than hip hop for example.  After quite a few listens I’ve got to say this is a pretty good cd, but fails in comparison to Kanye’s other albums.

One the big themes of the album seems to be Kanye’s attempt to deal the with death of his mom; he focuses more time thematically on relationships with people and less time on living the “Big Life” of money and posessions.  All in all my favs on the album are:  Welcome to Heartbreak, Amazing, Love Lockdown, Heartless, and See You in My Nightmare.  The overall sound can get a little repetitive due to the use of the autotune effect on West’s voice in every single track.  I appreciate the attempt to go a different direction creatively, and the attempt to use art as an outlet for dealing with sorrow, but I think overall Kanye slacked a little bit in the creativity department.

If you’re a big Kanye West fan, I say this is worth the buy, but otherwise I’d iTunes the few tracks that stick out.

Rating:

3.5 cups of coffee

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In a Hip Hop Mood

Music 28 October 2008 | 0 Comments

I’ve been addicted to hip hop lately.  It’s a natural phenomenon, like the universal love of the movie Dumb and Dumber by all men everywhere, that simply effects my consciousness.  It never fails, as time passes I inevitably fall back in love with hip hop.  The current listening includes:  Talib Kweli, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Common, and last but certainly not least:  Lecrae. If you haven’t picked up Rebel, Lecrae’s latest joint, then you are seriously missing out. Lecrae continues to produce inspiring hip hop that pleases both lyrically and musically. My current routine entails listening to Lecrae on the way to church to get ready to worship and sing to God.  Much love to the following tracks:  Rebel Intro, Don’t Waste Your Life, Go Hard, & Change. Admittedly, I’m more into the East Coast sound these days, but Lecrae’s album is so good that it bucks that trend in my listening habits.

Rebel earns 4 & 1/2 cups of coffee!

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