michael at-large

Kanye had pretty much fallen off of my radar recently. I loved Late Registration and College Dropout, but when I heard the outright theft of Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, I decided to completely ignore Graduation. Honestly I ignored it so much I had to look up the name of the album so I could sound like I know what I’m talking about.

That said, I’d heard a lot about the new album, 808s and Heartbreak, and figured I’d eventually check it out. I hadn’t heard anything from it other than people’s very polarized opinions about the album until I saw his abysmal performances on SNL. More on that later.

A friend assured me that the album was better than what I had seen on TV, so I got ahold of it to try it out. 

My first impression was complete disappointment. I listened and heard nothing but auto tuners and totally flat and uninteresting beats. Honestly it was a struggle to listen to any of it, but I wouldn’t let myself pass judgement on just five tracks that I felt might as well have been dead air.

And then something wonderful happened – after Love Lockdown (which, believe it or not, was better on SNL because it actually had energy) the album actually started. Hearing Paranoid made me feel like I’d finally escaped a 25 minute prelude and come across an actual pop song on an honest-to-God pop record. The beats became more complex and songs actually had body and substance. I can’t say I care much for the vocals (I don’t care about you trying to grow up K), but at least he’s trying to make an effort. On that subject, I can appreciate and respect that Kanye realized that he’s not a rapper, or a singer, but the auto tuner gets to be a bit much after a while. It’s even more grating once the album starts to slow down again.

In the end, after a few pretty good listens, I gotta say it’s very hit or miss. I can see how some people will like it, and some will hate it, but I think I’ll just uncheck the songs I can’t get into so iTunes will never ever play them. Gotta say that I really like the parts I like, but there aren’t many of those.