808s & Heartbreak

I promised I'd reserve judgement on this record until I actually heard all the songs, and not that I have, I'm gonna let it rip.

I'll be upfront. I don't like this shit. Well, that's a lie. I like two and a half songs (those being Heartless, Robocop and half of Paranoid, but even with those my main complaint holds true). I'm still hoping that maybe after 20 more listens I'll change my mind on this one an d love it, but I really don't think that's going to happen.

No matter how great Kanye West thinks he is, he's just not a good singer. That's my number one problem with this record. He's no Boby Dylan either, so I'm not just going to let that slide. Especially when he's throwing his voice up at the forefront of these tracks, counting on that for the hook rather than some decent lyrics (see: Amazing). I mean, have you seen him try to sing this stuff live? Ouch. Some of these songs even start out pretty good, then the chorus hits and it just all falls apart. I really believe that if anyone else had made this record, people would not be all over it. It sounds like he layed down some demo vocals and just left them, thinking they were good enough.

I've seen quite a few people saying that all the hate on this record is coming from people who were expecting a rap record and don't like that he's taken a new direction. I want to make it clear that's not where I'm coming from. I like it when artists try something new. Some of my favourite records are the ones where people took a chance and reinvented themselves. I get it. Artists have to evolve. I'm not asking Kanye to make The College Dropout pt. 4. That would be boring. I'd even say that some of what he's doing on this record isn't that different from the direction you could feel him going in with Graduation and the stuff he was doing on the Glow in the Dark Tour. But here's the thing: just because he's trying something different doesn't mean it's good.

I've also been getting the vibe from some comments I've read around the internet that some people feel like because this record is "emotionally honest," it's not okay to criticize it. It's true that sometimes Kanye does get a little real on this record. At least he tries, but this record just feels like such a vanity project. If it helps him work his issues out, makes him feel better, then good for him. I just feel like his ego gets in the way of getting emotion across on this record. It's pretty hard to separate art from artist when it comes to Kanye.

To wrap this mess up, I'll at least give Kanye some credit and saw at least most of the beats are pretty sick. He's still a solid producers. Just work on the singing. Please.