The aforementioned Say you Will is an exceptionally sparse song, lyrically as well as musically, allowing the listener to imprint their own experience onto the song. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is arguable. The album’s temporary dalliance with personal, confessional lyricism does not extend far beyond the song’s first two songs.
But it is the moments of forced celebration and boastfulness that provide the albums weakest moments. If this is an eulogy to loss relationships, a shift away from superficial bragging in search for the answer to deeper questions, an attempt to create ‘art’ was it really the best idea to invite Lil’ Wayne along for a guest spot? One can only suppose that talking in such deprecating and self-pitying tones is only comfortable for so long West has always been an egotist, his music always unapologetically about himself, so it makes sense that he wouldn’t want to dwell on the dour for too long. Things don’t always stay on theme though the album suffers from a jarring lack of focus. Unlike other mournful Kanye West songs – such as Hey Mama and Roses – Say you Will features no bittersweet undertones or undercurrent of optimism it’s a pretty unrelentingly hopeless song by most standards, let alone Hip Hop ones. ‘Say you Will’ opens the album in an extremely sombre and restrained tone a relentless, unchanging three minute outro of a mournful choir and sparse programmed beats evocative of a heart rate machine – sets the scene, creates an atmosphere rarely seen in Hip Hop and appears to answer the critics more than any Multi-syllabic rhyme could. When listening to 808s these expectations initially appear to be justified. The surprise announcement of an album release this year, little more than 12 months after Graduation along with talk of a pop art aesthetic dominating the album, Kanye West’s new obsession with auto tune and his unashamed announcement of ‘mastering’ Hip Hop, only heightened feverish expectations. However, the death of his mother and the breakdown of his long term relationship with fiancé Alexis Phifer immediately changed expectations for West’s 4th album. After Kanye West’s trouncing of 50 cent in last Autumn’s album to album ‘feud’ most would imagine the outspoken Chicagoan’s next release would be unbearably triumphalist – especially from someone as normally triumphalist as Kanye West.
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