
There's something up with Kanye. You can hear it in his latest album, 808's and Heartbreak. You can see it in his latest interviews with Angie Martinez, Conan O'Brien, and Jimmy Kimmel. The vibe is wrong. His tone is somber and his smiles seem manufactured-and all of this is extremely noticeable.
This is the reality for West, whose mother passed in a very public plastic surgery incident. West has blamed his mother's death on his acquisition of fame. While 808's and Heartbreak speaks to this tragedy, it mainly chronicles the break-up with his ex-fiance. All this tragedy has lead to the new sound in Kanye's fourth album.
While the autotune sound has been the main criticism of this album there are other stark differences to notice. The lyrics are simpler than in past albums and don't always seem coherent. The tone is also noticeably dark, which West himself has pointed out.
Perhaps this is merely West dealing with life and nothing more.