West has played with puppet-like personae throughout his career. West seeks a similar effect on “808s and Heartbreak,” a heavy trip indeed. Watching the dance of a beautiful marionette, which has no sense of self, we begin to ponder our own self-awareness - the very essence of humanity. That is, in the puppet or in the god,” wrote the German poet and philosopher Heinrich von Kleist in 1810. “Grace appears most purely in that human form which either has no consciousness or an infinite consciousness. This in itself already has some fans dismissing “808s and Heartbreak” as self-indulgent or even crazy: Why would someone so skilled at making smart hit songs tone down his golden touch? And why would a rapper who’s not a great singer insist on singing on every track? Instead, West reins in his natural wit and frothiness in search of a more contemplative experience. He also resists the impishness so artfully deployed by his friend T-Pain (and his forefather, Zapp’s Roger Troutman) in many Auto-Tuned hits. Although several tracks - the oddly peppy “Paranoid” and “Robocop,” about a monstrous ex - are danceable, “808s and Heartbreak” heavily endorses the rave scene’s concept of “chill.” Its mood comes closest to the vaporous electronica of obscure artists like the Junior Boys and M83.Ī Tears for Fears song forms the melodic basis for one track, but West never reaches for the primal release of that band’s New Wave classics. This is high-concept stuff and likely off-putting to the casual listener.
Pinocchio story kanye live software#
On an album that he has said is “about emotional nakedness,” West finds his beating, bleeding heart in inanimate objects - the Roland TR-808 drum machine that revolutionized electronic music of the 1980s and the Antares Auto-Tune pitch correction software that’s such a prevalent tool in today’s pop sound. Wrought in hushed mechanical beats, computer-altered vocals and samples so subtle they’re barely noticeable, it’s West’s foray into confessional music.īut this star’s constant craving to be original leads him away from the rawness that characterizes such revelations. “808s and Heartbreak,” out today on Roc-A-Fella Records and streaming on MySpace, is a meditation on realness as it’s been defined by materialism and machismo in the hip-hop world and by love and sorrow in the larger one. On “Pinocchio Story,” the bonus live track that turns out to be the key to his audaciously introspective fourth album, he freestyles about the character, repeatedly singing, “I want to be a real boy.” The tale of the puppet who longed to be human obviously resonates with Kanye West.
Of all the stories Donda West read to her little son at bedtime, “Pinocchio” must have been a favorite.
0 kommentar(er)
