Record Review

Album: 808's & Heartbreak

Artist: Kanye West

Record Label: Roc-a-fella/DefJam

Rating: 3.5/5

Kanye West recently followed up his first three critically acclaimed hip-hop albums by venturing into a new world of music. Kanye has often proclaimed himself to be an international pop star and not just a rapper. This new album reflects that vision and direction. West recently dealt with the loss of his mother and a rough break up with his fiancee. 808's & Heartbreak, named for the drum machine used to make the beats, is a glimpse into the mind of a superstar who is reeling from these emotional times in his life.

The main difference between this album and other Kanye albums is the obvious lack of "rapping." West sings on every track using the autotune software popularized by T-Pain. While this software does give West's voice an eery tone that fits the subject matter, I get tired of it by the end of the album.

Another difference is that in the past, Kanye's albums have been quite diverse, featuring a wide variety of sounds and moods. 808's & Heartbreak is brooding and dark throughout. Fortunately, this works to West's advantage because it allows the listener to connect emotionally with West's experiences. This is quite possibly one of the most personal albums I've listened to in a while. The soundscapes of each song are supported by the simplistic 808 drums.

Overall, 808's & Heartbreak is an exciting trip into the mind of a broken-hearted superstar. West tries things that haven't been tried in pop music before and breaks through boundaries that separate genres of music. Despite all this, I still miss the old Kanye. I miss the more soulful tracks and quit-witted rhymes. Hopefully, this album has given Kanye to get all the pop out of his system and when he drops the rumored follow-up to Graduation in June we will get a real hip-hop classic.

My favorite songs are Street Lights:

and Amazing:

Record Review

N*E*R*D - Seeing Sounds

2008 Star Trak/Interscope Records

Noel's Rating: 4/5

N*E*R*D is by no means new to musical success and critical acclaim. The band was formed by super producers Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo (collectively known as the Neptunes) and their childhood friend Shay Haley. In 2002 they released the cult classic, In Search Of... which fused hip-hop beats with hard rock instrumentation. This effort was followed up by the more eclectic Fly or Die in 2004. Fly or Die featured tracks influenced by almost every popular musical genre. Seeing Sounds shows the band's continued growth and their new focus on live performance and does it in short but really fun album.

The album opens with a monologue by Pharrell explaining the album title. Apparently, at the age of 7, Pharrell started "seeing sounds," which I still don't completely understand but he said in a recent interview that it is in reference to a scientific field of study called synesthesia. The intro leads into the opening track, Time for Some Action which is a hard rock tune with vocals from Pharrell, Shay and the lead singer of the Hives. The second track is the lead single Everyone Nose (note: I know that the spelling is funny, I'm not an idiot, listen to the song). This song is a bouncy fun track warning young females against a life of partying and club hopping. This one is followed up by the poppy Window which makes Pharrell sound like a somewhat creepy "peeping Tom," but I think it's really his inner 13-year old boy self coming out. After Window, comes one of my favorite tracks from the album the hard rock/hip hop fusion track, Anti Matter. This track brings the heat that the Neptunes are famous for, banging beats and catchy hooks. The next track, Spaz rounds out the head banging hard and fast first 5 songs. By now you've probably heard this song a few times as it is on the Zune commercials and on the MTV new music week commercials. This was my favorite song that N*E*R*D performed at the Glow in The Dark Tour.

After Spaz, you can finally catch your breath with the smooth and jazzy, Yeah You which features Pharrell and Shay trading verses about psycho groupie stalkers (something we all can relate to right?). Sooner or Later is next and it is being hailed by many critics as the best song on the album. It features the Pharrell crooning that we've all come to know and love over a simple beat and piano solo before a crazy guitar solo at the end. Happy and Kill Joy are sandwiched between Sooner or Later and the politically charged Love Bomb. You Know What, another jazzy disco type track, and Laugh About It, a punky dance jam, close out the album's official track list. There's one bonus track, a real gem for fans, the Everyone Nose Remix featuring Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and Pusha T. This hip hop track makes everyone hope that those rumors about a CRS (Kanye, Pharrell, & Lupe) album will one day come to fruition.

Overall this album is a ton of fun to listen to. The great thing about N*E*R*D is that you know what you're going to get: futuristic sounding space-age production, corny (but fun) lyrics, and a good time. Seeing Sounds picks right up where Fly or Die and In Search Of... left off.

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Tonight I think I'm going to try a running diary of Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Ashley's away at girls camp so I'll be here by myself watching the game. We'll see how it goes.

Record Review

THE ROOTS - RISING DOWN

Def Jam Records - 2008

Noel's Rating:

4.5 / 5.0

Review: This is the Philadelphia based hip-hop band's 10th studio album and it's probably their most heavy, dense, and political album. Each track is charged with emotion and most of the songs up until the very last song are extremely dark. The album starts out with a sound bite of an argument the group had with some record label people back in '94. This heated argument makes the listener slightly uncomfortable but it's the perfect intro to the album.

The next two songs are two of my favorites on the disc, the title track featuring Mos Def and Styles P and Get Busy featuring Peedi Peedi and Dice Raw. The title track touches upon almost every social ill that Americans face from global warming to prescription drug abuse. The thing I love about this song though is that none of these things are glorified like you would see on most "rap" songs, but these conscious MC's show what is wrong with our country. Get Busy is a classic Boom Bap track with dope verses by each MC.

Other tracks that stood out to me are the bouncy I Will Not Apologize and the closing song Rising Up. Apologize's infectious beat and hook left me putting that song on repeat. I also liked the Talib Kweli cameo on the hook. Rising Up is a go-go inspired conclusion to the album and keeps the ending of the album lighter in mood than the rest. My favorite part of that song is Wale's guest verse. This up-and-coming DC hip-hopper drops some sick lines including "you other rappers ain't eatin'/ you're Olsen twinin'." You gotta love it!

The only knock I have against Rising Down is that it's too short. I really wish that there had been 2 or 3 more songs. That's a good sign for the Roots though. Although they may never see commercial success, they've perfected the craft of putting together hip-hop albums that have a message.