I have no idea what Kanye West's plan is with 808s and Heartbreak. Right now he's got "Love Lockdown" out on the radio and up on iTunes. But by the time that song hit iTunes and was available for sale, the blogs had it up for free for over a week. Now there are three songs making waves on Hype Machine; the aforementioned "Love Lockdown", "Heartless" (the mastered version of which hit the web last night), and most recently "Coldest Winter". Again, only one of them available for purchase. Even if "Heartless" were to drop to iTunes tomorrow, West has still lost out on so many potential sales there. Are we going to have heard all of 808s and Heartbreak in these little spurts between now and Nov. 25?
I've only heard "Coldest Winter" but once, and in a subpar radio rip quality, but so far I really like the direction West is taking. At its core nothing's really different. It's still hip-hop music that's gonna be heard in the clubs for forever. "Coldest Winter" is pure soul from Kanye; no rap, and a bare bones beat beneath West's warbly voice, assisted by any rapper's best friend, AutoTune. But even in the moments where it sounds like it might've come off a T-Pain album, there's something that sets it apart and draws it in. The subject matter of this record allows for it to be more melodic and honest than we've heard from 'Ye on the last two records (The College Dropout had some really powerful emotional moments in comparison). And once again, because a rapper is daring to step out of the genre-defined comfort zone, the internet is having a conniption. Yes, Kanye is actually singing on a number of these tracks. That's why they're called 'songs'. I think "Heartless" is the best track I've heard from Kanye West...and this is from someone who listened to "Stronger" a million times when it first came out. The bridge on "Heartless" is probably my favorite part of the song. It's completely the opposite of what we've come to expect, and yet if you stop and think about the song, about Kanye, and just keep an open mind (I know, I know...I'm speaking heresy here)...you might find something you like.
(Holding out for a decent copy of "Coldest Winter"...at this rate check back later this week)
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