The album was born out of profound personal tragedy: the sudden passing of Kanye’s mother, Donda West, and the end of his engagement to Alexis Phifer. Unable to express his grief through traditional rapping, Kanye turned to the Roland TR-808 drum machine and heavy Auto-Tune.
Feeling that traditional rapping had limitations for expressing his pain, he chose to "sing his growth" through a cold, minimalist sonic palette. Sonic Innovation: The 808 and Auto-Tune 808s & Heartbreak is defined by two key technical choices: The Roland TR-808 Go to product viewer dialog for this item. kanye west 808 and heartbreak best download zip