Kanye West Research Papers

Kanye West’s album 808s & Heartbreak, changed the way rap music is created today. For example, it changed the way that artists sample music, the types of rhythm and beats used, and introduced the widespread use of autotune. 808s &Heartbreak was the fourth studio album by American rapper Kanye West. It was released by Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A- Fella Records on November 24, 2008, having been recorded earlier that year in September and October at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and Avex Recording studio in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dominating its production, West was assisted by fellow producers No I.D., Plain Pat, Jeff Bhasker, and Mr. Hudson, while also utilizing guest vocalists for some tracts, including Kid Cudi, Young Jeezy, and Lil Wayne. There are 12 songs on

“Today vulnerability and the concept of heartbreak and exploring the dark side and the alienation of fame is one of the most widely explored topics in rap music and that is partly thanks to 808s, (“The importance of Kanye”). Juice WRLD, Travis Scott, Drake are a few that have all cited Kanye as a major influence for their style of music. Juice, named 808s to be one of his favorite albums. “A full decade after the release of 808s & Heartbreak, it’s hard to imagine acts like Trippie Redd, Post Malone, and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie or even rap superheroes like Young Thud or Future without Kanye’s 2008 album,” (Whitt). It would go on to create a new template for hip-hop and pop music that endured two decades later. “On 808s & Heartbreak, at his numbest, most depressed, moment, Kanye was able to draw out real emotion from that drum machine, an Auto-Tune filter, and his own life to create a blueprint artists continue to follow to this day,” (Whitt). In a 2013 interview with the New York Times, West claimed the album was “super-polarizing and redefined the sound of