Kanye Omari West was born on June 8, 1977. Kanye West is a name that you have most likely heard of by now.He is a record producer and rapper who through hard work and dedication rose to unbelievable fame in the mid 2000's. Kanye West grew up in Chicago, Illinois and later attended the american academy of art and went on to study at chicago state university.He eventually dropped out to work on his music career, which ironically spawned most of his musical ideas and album names. Kanye West actually started out by producing hit singles for names such as Jay-Z, Mobb Deep, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson and john legend to name a few. He became a world renowned producer and was wanted by everyone in the music world.His trademark pitched up vocal samples were making waves around the industry and he suddenly became very popular.
After a near fatal car crash in 2002, Kanye West got the inspiration to produce his own music.His first single through the wire was one about faith and thankfulness for being alive. Another song jesus walks became a staple at his benefit performances in honor of his faith and how far he has come.They were both on the first album that Kanye put out, aptly titled the college dropout. This album received critical acclaim and that is when Kanye West was not only known as a producer but as a musical marvel.
Kanye West shot to stardom with his debut album "The College Dropout" in 2004. He was featured heavily in Jay Z's critically acclaimed "The Blue Print" in 2001 which made him a well known name in Hip Hop community. But many record companies turned him down saying he is not the stereotypical Hip Hop artist. But Roc-A-Fella offered his debut album and he hasn't looked back since then. He dropped hits after hits and continued his trend on his next two albums "Late Registration" in 2005 and "Graduation" in 2007 both of which went on to become multi-platinum records.
If Kanye West got multi-platinum records rapping, now he is attempting to get those by singing. 808s & Heartbreak sees the rapper singing throughout with the help of Autotuner. An album by a Rap superstar which contains no rapping at all should not work. But still this breaks all conventions and creative boundaries and appeals to us in a way only Kanye can do. The death of his mother last year and his break up with his fiancee has influenced his songs and lyrics heavily.
The album opens with "Say you will" giving us a gander at what's to come. Kanye lets the listeners know that he intends to sing instead of rap in this album. With a gospel like feel this slow melancholic track conveys the emotion Kanye feels. With the slow bass drums and Kanye's autotuned sound the track sets us into the mood of the album.
In the next track "Welcome to the heartbreak" Kanye continues to sing about how he is missing out on the things that matters in life. The catchy rhythm and touching lyrics makes this very enjoyable.
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