Ett av de mest banbrytande albumen någonsin, enligt Rolling Stone.

Kanye West är utan tvekan en av de största influenserna i dagens musikvärld, men när tog han egentligen steget dit? I en nyligen sammansatt lista kallad “The 40 Most Groundbreaking Albums of All Time”, inkluderar musiktidningsjätten Rolling Stone Kanye Wests autotune-tunga platta “808s & Heartbreak” från 2008. Det är det senast släppta albumet som figurerar på listan, som sträcker sig ända bak till 1940-talet.

Det innebär att Yeezys fjärde album står med bland en stor del av musikens legendarer: Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, James Brown, Miles Davis, Michael Jackson och The Beatles – en stor ära i sig. Dessutom placerar Rolling Stone “808s” bland album som Run D.M.C.s självbetitlade album, Public Enemys “It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back”, Dr. Dres “The Chronic” and Mary J. Bliges “What’s The 411?”. Nedan följer själva nomineringen av plattan:

“Kanye West’s Auto-Tune-heavy, emotionally naked fourth album came after a brutal year during which his mother died and his engagement broke up. But the album’s cavernous sound and exposed-soul lyrics confused even those who had been aware of West’s recent trials. Its core aesthetic was like nothing in Hip Hop: freshly butchered feelings enumerated in detail, but masked by digital processing; beds of spare synths used to balance a mix of singing and rapping. However, over time it served as a new template for up-and-comers in Hip Hop and R&B. Drake cited West as his budding sound’s ‘most influential person’ when he was hustling mixtapes, while artists like Future further tweaked the idea of using Auto-Tune as a way to convey emotions that evoke too much feeling when spoken of explicitly.”

Ett starkt uttalande om en skiva som till en början var hårt kritiserad. Vad tycker du om inkluderingen av Kanye på listan?

// Niklas Thander

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