The production also abandons conventional hip hop sounds in favor of a minimalist sonic palette, with prominent use of the Roland TR-808 drum machine. Guest vocalists on the album include Kid Cudi, Young Jeezy, Mr Hudson, and Lil Wayne.Ĭonceived in the wake of several distressing personal events, 808s & Heartbreak marked a major musical departure from West's previous rap records, instead featuring a sparse, electronic sound and vocals sung through an Auto-Tune processor.

West recorded the album during September and October 2008 at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, with the help of producers No I.D., Jeff Bhasker, and others. It was released on November 24, 2008, by Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records. Written by Cedar Pasori cedar) and Leighton McDonald Creator of YeezyGraffiti.808s & Heartbreak is the fourth studio album by American producer and vocalist Kanye West. The Design Evolution of Kanye West's Album Artwork RELATED: How to Sound Like an Art History Expert (With Kanye West Lyrics) RELATED: Rediscovering Kanye West's Lost Art and Design Tweets

RELATED: 15 Kanye West-Inspired Art and Design Emojis We Wish Existed RELATED: 10 Artists Kanye West Should Work With It took an artistic journey to reach this point, and we invite you to take it with us. Whether including the Dropout Bear mascot, commissioning artists like KAWS and Takashi Murakami, or creating a continuous style for a series of releases like GOOD Fridays, Kanye has shown that he keeps art and design paramount in his projects.įor Yeezus, Kanye told fans at Governor's Ball on June 9 that he's keeping the focus on the music by creating a minimal, Dieter Rams-inspired cover. With the official release of Yeezus tomorrow, in all of its cover-less glory, we decided to take a look back at his album artwork throughout the years, even in the context of his single covers. At Kanye West's speech during Art Basel for his second Yeezus listening party last week, he said, 'I just felt that I would never be one of the great visual artists of the world.' However, as any fan of Kanye knows, that hasn't stopped him from being one of the most important artists of our time OR from working with top-notch visual artists for the delivery of his albums, videos, and tours.

808s and heartbreak album cover hd