808s & Heartbreak

808s & Heartbreak is the fourth studio album by American recording artist Kanye West, released on November 24, 2008, by Roc-A-Fella Records. It was recorded during September and October 2008 at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, with the help of producers such as No I.D., and Jeff Bhasker.

Conceived in the wake of a series of distressing personal events, 808s & Heartbreak marked a major musical departure for West from his previous hip hop records. It featured electropop and R&B music and lyrics about personal loss, alienated fame, and heartache, sung by West using an Auto-Tune vocal processor. For the album's production, he eschewed conventional hip hop sounds in favor of a minimalist sonic palette, which included prominent use of Auto-Tune and the titular Roland TR-808 drum machine to create a distorted, electronic sound.

808s & Heartbreak debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 450,145 copies in its first week. By 2013, it had sold 1.7 million copies in the United States. Four singles were released to promote the record, including the hit singles "Love Lockdown" and "Heartless". Despite varying responses from music audiences towards West's stylistic change, the album received positive reviews from most critics and was named one of 2008's best records in their year-end lists.

Kanye West

Kanye Omari West (/ˈkɑːnjeɪ/; born June 8, 1977) is an American recording artist, record producer, fashion designer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of the record label GOOD Music and creative content company DONDA. West is one of the most acclaimed musicians of the 21st century. He has attracted both praise and criticism for his work and his controversial, outspoken public persona.

Raised in Chicago, West first became known as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the early 2000s, producing hit singles for musical artists such as Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, before pursing a solo career as a rapper. In 2004, he released his debut album The College Dropout, to widespread commercial and critical success, and founded record label and management company GOOD Music. He went on to explore a variety of different musical styles on subsequent albums that included the baroque-inspired Late Registration (2005), the electronic-tinged Graduation (2007), and the starkly polarizing 808s & Heartbreak (2008). In 2010, he released his critically acclaimed fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. He collaborated with Jay-Z on Watch the Throne (2011), and released his sixth album, Yeezus, to further critical praise in 2013. Following a series of recording delays and work on non-musical projects, West's seventh album, The Life of Pablo, was released in 2016.

Kid Cudi

Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), better known by his stage name Kid Cudi (/ˈkɪd ˈkʌdi/ KID KUD-ee, often stylized KiD CuDi), is an American recording artist and actor from Cleveland, Ohio. Cudi first gained major recognition following the release of his first official full-length project, a mixtape titled A Kid Named Cudi (2008). The mixtape caught the attention of American rapper-producer Kanye West, who subsequently signed Cudi to his GOOD Music label imprint in late 2008. Cudi has since gone on to launch his own record label imprints, the now-dissolved Dream On and current independent label, Wicked Awesome Records. Initially a rapper, Cudi has since added singer, songwriter, record producer, guitarist, music video director and film composer, to his repertoire.

As of 2015, Cudi has released five studio albums as a solo artist. In 2008, his debut single "Day 'n' Nite", led him to prominence, reaching the top five of the Billboard charts. Cudi's debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009) was later certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 2010, he released Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, which was preceded by "Erase Me" and "Mr. Rager". Later in 2010, Cudi formed a rock band, now known as WZRD, with his long-time collaborator Dot da Genius, releasing one eponymous debut album, in early 2012. The album debuted at number one on the Top Rock Albums chart. In April 2013, Cudi released Indicud, which became his highest-charting album on multiple charts. In February 2014, Cudi unexpectedly released his fourth album, Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon, exclusively to digital retailers with no promotion.

Saul Williams

Saul Stacey Williams (born February 29, 1972) is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, musician, poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 film Slam and Holler If Ya Hear Me, a Broadway musical featuring music by Tupac Shakur.

Early life

The youngest of three children, Williams was born in Newburgh, New York. He attended Newburgh Free Academy, where he wrote his song "Black Stacey". After graduating from Morehouse College with a BA in acting and philosophy, he moved to New York City to earn an MFA in acting from New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts. While there, he found himself at the center of the New York café poetry scene. He also lived in Brazil as an exchange student from 1988 to 1989.

Career

Poetry

By 1995, Williams had become an open mic poet; in 1996, he won the title of Nuyorican Poets Cafe's Grand Slam Champion. The documentary film SlamNation follows Williams and the other members of the 1996 Nuyorican Poets Slam team (Beau Sia, muMs da Schemer, and Jessica Care Moore) as they compete in the 1996 National Poetry Slam held in Portland, Oregon. The following year, Williams landed the lead role in the 1998 feature film Slam. Williams featured as both a writer and actor on the film, which would win both the Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize and the Cannes Camera D'Or (Golden Camera).