Im black, Im from Chicago and Ive a lot of cred going on, but as the biggest hip-hop artist in the world right now I want to make a statement against it by bringing out an album that sounds like this.But the tragedy has inspired him to make one of 2008s most daring albums.
Brian Boyd met him. Instead of the hip-hop with which he made his name, the new album mixes a kind of science-fiction synth-pop with an RB undertow. It sounds like Michael Jackson fronting the Human League in Studio 54. It is not an overestimation to regard his second album, Late Registration, as raps White Album. Modesty is not his strong suit: when he lost out on an MTV award two years ago, he interrupted the speech of winners Justice vs Simian to shout out, This award should have gone to me He also once posed as Jesus Christ on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. He deviated from a speech he was giving at a Hurricane Katrina benefit to say on live TV that George Bush doesnt care about black people. He is also one of the few artists to speak out about rampant homophobia in the rap world. Theres one other proviso: If you ask me which do I prefer - producing or singing - I will walk straight out of this room. She remains at the forefront of Wests thoughts: his first action on hearing that Barack Obama had won the US presidential election was to post a message on his blog which read: Hi Mom, Obama won Today West is in a sombre, workmanlike mood. He casts a baleful look at an assistant who has the temerity to talk during the album playback, but rather sweetly writes a note with the albums track listing for me and whispers clarifications into my ear between tracks. Taking a sample, looping it and doing all that throw your hands up in the sky thing has become such a clich. 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. 808S And Heartbreak Review Full Of SamplesAnd Im not going to get there by doing just another rap album full of samples. Ive had to create a whole new musical genre to describe what Im doing now and Im 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. But in his native America, he represents the voice of a confident black middle class that will assert their self-belief in blunt terms. Moreover, he can walk the walk as well as he talks the talk - his ego may be the size of Illinois but he has the sales figures to match. Hes a 10-time Grammy award winner whose four previous albums have shipped 12 million worldwide, with each album going double platinum in the UK charts. And Michael Jackson desperately wants him to get involved in his long-delayed comeback album. Auto-tune - used in much of todays pop music - corrects the pitch in a singers voice but also gives it a slightly distorted, robotic feel (not too dissimilar to how Cher sounded on her big 1998 hit I Believe). The other really different thing here is that there are no natural drum sounds on the album. Ive called the album 808s Heartbreak because all the drum sounds are made by the Roland TR-808 drum machine which was really big in the 1980s. Most drum machines use samples of real human drumming but the Roland doesnt so youve got that MTV-in-the-1980s feel throughout the whole album. But pop has given us the best ever musical moments - just look at the Beatles, he says.
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