And bless mommy and daddy and Kanye West...

So I have 808's and Heartbreak (yes, a few days early but that's beside the point), and I can't help but feel awful for Kanye Omari [West]. Clearly his mother's death, as it would have done to any of us with half an emotive inkling in our bodies, affected him greatly. Coupled with the end of his 18 month engagement with Alexis P, he's going through some deep shit. While searching for the album art on the Goog, I came across this interview he did with the Telegraph.

"The reason why I feel I had to give a little introductory speech before you heard the album is because this is not hip-hop music," he says. "Taking a sample, looping it and doing all that 'throw your hands up in the sky' thing has become such a cliché. Hip-hop is over for me. I sing, not rap, on this album. I now want to be grouped among those musicians you see in those old black and white photos - the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles. And I'm not going to get there by doing just another rap album full of samples. I've had to create a whole new musical genre to describe what I'm doing now and I'm calling it 'pop-art' - which is not to be confused with the visual art movement. I realise that my place and position in history is that I will go down as the voice of a generation."

I'm happy for him for being/ thinking himself an evolutionary, even though I will forever love all his cliche stuff too. Howevs, this album is not up to his standards of excellence. Far be it from me as an adoring fan to have high expectations for a quaternary effort. There's parts of certain songs where he channels everyone's voice from Ozzy Osbourne's to Phil Collins', unintentionally unearthing their best kept autotune vocal secrets. Some of the efforts sound unfinished, and more importantly, there's not one cocky, sophomoric, or braggadocious rhyme to be heard. Come on 'Ye! Are you telling me that lines like "You remind me of my Jeep but not no Kia, we can talk on my cell but not Nokia" are beneath you now? Is this bland hologram of your former self all we have to look forward to now? Are you done with your era of being America's favorite sore winner? I sincerely hope not.
Well, he gets a soul clap from me for his efforts. And a trip to Targ on Tuesday to get the actual jewel cased LP. I implore you to buy the album as well, this time I think he needs the money...