808s & Heartbreak

A definite departure from his prior works, 808s & Heartbreak reflects an artist struggling with great loss after a series of incredible highs and trying to make something of it. As a complete work, it is simply not as good as the albums that came before, but, that does not take away from the artistry and the real attempt at something new here. While many of the songs on this album feel like they could’ve used some more time in the studio, but a lot of the same sounds and emotions we hear and feel here would be expanded on by other artists in time. This work was the first of its kind from a mainstream artist, and we can see its downstream impacts on artists today.

Paranoid and RoboCop are fantastic and remain among some of my favorite songs period. Unfortunately, a lot of other songs don’t really do it for me.

TL;DR: An important album, even if it wasn’t that great.