808s & Heartbreak

Kanye West

2008

The 808 of the title is a reference to the Roland TR-808 drum machine, used heavily in the album. Drawing inspiration from 1980s synth-pop and electropop, West felt that the 808 was a resourceful instrument that could be used to evoke emotion and the concept was introduced to him by Jon Brion.

West utilized the sounds created by the 808 and manipulated its pitch to produce a distorted, electronic sound, an effect he referred to as “heartbreak”.