Rolling Stone Lists Kanye West's '808's & Heartbreak' As 'Most Groundbreaking Album'

by HHL Editors

When it comes to Kayne West's special talent, Rolling Stone and Kanye West are in agreement

The music mag named West's 2008 album 808's & Heartbreak one of the forty most groundbreaking albums of all-time. The forty aren't ranked, and 808 & Heartbreak is the most recent addition to a list that spans back to 1959.

Says Rolling Stone of the album:

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.
There were three other Hip Hop albums in the forty: Dr. Dre's The Chronic (1992), Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988) and Run-DMC's Run-DMC (1984.)

Do you agree?

Check out the whole list here.