Tuesday, November 25, 2008

"Heart Me Or Leave Me Alone" -808 Album Review

Okay folks, it's OUT today! Though I never really hear folks saying "I can't WAIT till 'Ye's new joint comes out!" it's still always an event when it does. Straight off the back, my first thoughts on it were "T-Pain of '08 meets Pharrell of '80" or the soundtrack to a really weird robot love story called "Byte Me!" Or better yet, "Cold Play meets Zapp on a trip to Africa" Mind you, without question I applaud his musical ambition to push "rap" (if it still can be called that) further. Kudos. But don't download this latest endeavor hoping for the party/champagne anthems of past CDs, it ain't gon' happen bro. Known for starting off his albums with a haunting but catchy beat "Say You Will" does not fail to continue in that tradition. Always the reflective artist he states "My friend shows me a picture of his kids. And all I could show him was a picture of my cribs..." on track two " Welcome to Heartbreak" (w/Kid Cudi) NICE! Next up was second single "Heartless," which he just performed on Good Morning America this morning & the AMA's Sun. Personally I'm not feeling this one too tough. The lyrics are cool, but I keep waiting for the beat to drop. And that's the sentiment I feel through out the whole CD, "Where's the Beef?" or rather the beat? "Amazing" san Jeezy-less, I can live with. "Love Lockdown" stands out like a sore bandaged up thumb. The tension the beat builds up is dope, especially with the accompanying piano chords on top. It's the music you'd hear playing in the background when the humans are chasing the lover robots in said movie. "Paranoid" (w/Mr. Hudson) I had to look at the credits to check to see if the Neptunes were listed...Nope. All Kanye. Hmmm. I hear a Pharrell remix in the near future. All in all, it's a cool addition to your ever growing playlist/CD collection but this should been a double CD instead of Bey' Half his Grammy getting goal type records, and then CD2, some funkier party $#!t. At the end of the day, I still rather be a Kanye -like artist than one tellin' folks "Superman dat oh!" anyday!

*BTW
I joked and asked "Kanye what's next? Cologne called You Smell Me?" That's when he made that face you see pictured. Or maybe it was just my camera in his face.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think there comes a time(or several times) for that matter when an Artist makes am ablum not for the entertainment of his or her fans but for the healing of oneself.

He has had a pretty rough year, and I'm sure the only thing that kept him grounded was spending quality time in the studio or staying busy on the road. His broken heart is definitely at the nucleus of this album, and though it does not fall in line with the humor and upbeatness of his past works. It has its relavent place in my Hip Hop collection.

Good Life said...

YEa Im loving the album. Real artist expressing real emotions during a real time......

"Come Follow Me Into The Matrix"