November 24, 2008
Def Jam
2xLP
The first record in the second phase of Kanye's career, and his fourth overall, 808's is where he made the leap from rapper/producer to full-blown auteur. With rap's greatest breakup record, Kanye made downtempo, minimalistic sad-boy raps the standard — not to mention the titular drum machine. It's arguably the single most influential record in 20th century popular music. Rarely has music this cold sounded so lively. Over a decade later, it still sounds like it's being pulled from some poor, futuristic saps broken heart. Like it or hate it, this is ground-zero for a decade+ worth of contemporary radio.