Kanye West - Welcome to Heartbreak
Despite all the hating (mine included), 808s deserves mention. There are quite a few tracks that I’ll never co-sign on, and the rap community may never forgive Yeezy for releasing this oh-so-not-gangster album, but a few tracks need some love. “Love Lockdown” has finally gotten under my skin, though it’s an odd duck for Top 40. “Heartless“‘s pan flutes drive the track forward, and Mr. West’s frustration with the banality of break-ups [I already know how this thing go] hits the mark. Jeezy adds predictable but strong, gritty balance to “Amazin” [Oh God, why he go so hard/look what he’s been through, he deserves an applause].
“Welcome to Heartbreak” gets my props primarily for the brooding, nigh-cinematic orchestration bookending the track, reminiscent of the climactic score from Lost’s Season 1 finale. I have literally woken up in the night, haunted by menacing arrangements from Larry Gold - we’re a long way from the synth strings of “The New Workout Plan.” The track feels like Kanye facing some of his darkest demons - he has slaved in pursuit of a dream that turns out to be hollow - and is unafraid to display his braggadocio deflated as the cover’s balloon. “The good life” is in some ways is responsible for claiming the life of his mother, who died on a plastic surgeon’s operating table in 2007. While the track’s trope dances pretty close to cliche (money can’t buy happiness after all), and I can’t get down with the auto-tune, you really gotta hand it to Ye for adapting himself to a medium that we never expected.
