LoveLockDown: A Review

808s and Heartbreaks, Kanye's newest addition to the music world. Initial reactions to the LP were of concern and confusion - Why is Kanye singing? Why the voice box? A love album? What? But if you serve anything up with a little attitude and a lot of confidence, people are bound to follow. Enter: Lil Wayne. Upon the release of 808s, Lil Wayne said "Kanye made it ok for a rapper to sing, about love." I bought the album, to show my support, and determined to figure out what the hell Kanye was thinking.

Diagnosis: Dub 808s a West-Experiment, an arrogant display of his creativity. If looked at with this lens: 808s is not the end of the world; its by no means College Dropout status. Also: the live performances of 808's have been painful to the max (e.g. SNL, GMA). Painful.

Recommendation: Kanye should have followed Pharell's lead with "Neptunes Presents....Clones" in which the Neptunes produced the album and had hella artists guest on it. I say this, because some of the tracks were for a diva with vocals, and Yeezy is just a diva.

Some honorable mention tracks:

Welcome to Heartbreak: His struggle between achieving fame but not family, and the surprise of unfulfillment found in his riches.

"my friend shows me pictures of kids, and all i could show him was pictures of my cribs...chased the good life my whole life long, looked back on my life and my life gone. Welcome to Heartbreak."

just saw this quote on FADER.com, as one of the sappiest lines sung by a male rapper.... told ya.

Paranoid: this track is an eco-royalty favorite, sooo $F-$ynthe too. To me, it represents what Kanye was trying to accomplish with this album.I can't help but notice how similar the beat is the Paul McCarnety Xmas song: Wonderful Christmas Time http://bit.ly/laz4

$treet Lights: is Kanye's comin of age track. This song could be the backround track for a movie scene: Kanye runs towards the camera, arms reaching in front of him - or - he runs down the street chasing his woman, but she's gone. The chorus and background singers are uber cheesy, but its a tear-jerker-track, and I can't hate on it.