Kanye opened hip hop to a wider audience. Listen to Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon albums, Frank Ocean’s Blonde, Travis Scott’s Rodeo, the Weeknd’s Trilogy, or SZA’s Z and you’ll instantly recognize the influences. Travis Scott and Post Malone are two of the most famous artists to draw heavy inspiration from 808s & Heartbreak. Some rappers have almost entire discographies that were influenced by the album: Kid Cudi, Frank Ocean, and Childish Gambino. Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon: The End of the Day Cover Art Nowadays, almost every single rapper and even the majority of pop artists use this technique. Kanye West did something no artist had done before: he purposefully sang off-key and used autotune to achieve an artistic effect. While many artists before Kanye used autotune, they used it because they were unable to sing on key. Modern-day hip hop is characterized by autotune. However, what 808s & Heartbreak really brought to the industry was autotune. Even Drake, one of Kanye’s sharpest rivals, is said to have been inspired by the album.

The album’s sad tones impacted hip hop’s overall style and helped to define rap in the 2010s. Kanye’s combination of hip-hop, emo-rap, jazz, R&B, and experimental styles made a lasting impact on the industry. 808s & Heartbreak’s debut proved that Kanye isn’t going anywhere until he decides so. Kanye wrote the album after a month in which his fiancée called off their marriage, his mother Donda died, and his hip hop career was said to be on the backend of its life. While those three albums were celebratory and cheerful, 808s & Heartbreak dives into heartbreak, loss, and corruption. 808s & Heartbreak is the perfect example of how Kanye sharply breaks from the music industry but still manages to create musical masterpieces.Ĩ08s & Heartbreak was Kanye’s 4th studio album and was a 180-degree turn for Kanye from his debut trilogy: College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation. Kanye’s avant-garde lyricism and use of technology like autotune and the TR-Roland 808 highlight him as not only one of the genre’s elite, but one of the music industry’s best. He uses gospel and mellow tones to evoke emotion to the listener. He introduced jazz and blues to a genre that people thought of as a polar opposite. Even back in 2008, when 808s & Heartbreak debuted, Kanye broke the barriers and norms of hip hop. Kanye has long been touted as one of the musical geniuses of our generation.

Kanye West – 808’s & Heartbreak Cover Art One album is scarcely mentioned and happens to be not only Kanye’s best album but the best album of all time: 808s & Heartbreak. Albums like Kanye West and Kid Cudi’s Kids See Ghosts often make the top 5 with their fusion of psychedelic, gospel, and hip hop influences. When hip hop fans are asked to name their favorite Kanye Albums, Life of Pablo, College Dropout, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy are the names that come to mind.

808s and heartbreak digipak