It was inevitable that Kanye West would eventually namecheck Patrick Bateman. Great suits, delusions of grandeur: the über-yuppie from Brett Easton Ellis's Eighties satire American Psycho is an ideal touchstone for someone whose self-regard and addiction to shopping had grown so out of hand that even other rappers might have thought him a bit flash. West announced Bateman's influence on his fourth album, 808s and Heartbreak, earlier this year, sidestepping feminist outrage by citing the way his role model 'was all about labels', rather than admiring his creative approach to butchering women.

West has also clocked the moral of Easton Ellis's tale: there's more to life than buying stuff, even cool Japanese stuff you can picture on your blog (something West does himself with alarming frequency). The twin wake-up calls were the sudden death of his mother, Donda, following plastic surgery last year, and the demise of his engagement to designer Alexis Phifer in April. Hence this album-long bout of emotional stock taking. Ten of the 11 tracks are inspired by the break-up, one by his mum, and the tone is that of a globe-trotting millionaire picking at the gold bars of his luxurious cage. 'My friend showed me pictures of his kids/ All I could show him was pictures of my cribs,' he confesses during swooning opener 'Welcome to Heartbreak'. West's restraint is admirable for one so used to getting what he wants: some of his peers would have nipped to Africa and blown a few grand on an orphan.

In the world of hip hop, introspection rarely lasts more than one track, although this is barely a rap album at all, even though each song is constructed with the genre's classic drum machine, the Roland TR-808, as well as its latest gizmo, the Antares Auto-Tune, popularised by backing singer turned robot-voiced star, T-Pain. The 808 and vocal pitch-shifting are also features of house, techno and drum'n'bass, all absorbed by West's radical electro-pop; he is finishing the work begun by producers Timbaland and Pharrell Williams in drawing on areas of black music thought sissy by rap's still macho core audience. The frosty synths of 'Coldest Winter' are pure Detroit techno, while 'Say You Will' is R Kelly does Kraftwerk, a slow jam built around a simple radioactive pulse.

Predictably, the hardcore are baffled (sample internet response: 'Has Kanye gone crazy?') but West stopped appealing to them after he toured with U2. He's a pop star now, and, thankfully, an iconoclastic one. In fact, he hardly rhymes at all, half-speaking, half-singing, his wobbly vocal endlessly warped by the Auto-Tune. It suits the mood: if the modern world has turned you into a consumer automaton, then an acoustic guitar just won't cut it.

Disappointingly, West's take on his troubles is less sophisticated and the complaints are standard male celebrity griping. So it might be 2008 but women are still frightening. 'You're like the girl from Misery,' he chides over 'Robocop's terrific jackhammer rhythm (in reality you'd probably need to down his bodyguard before breaking his legs, Kathy Bates-style). According to 'Love Lockdown', female companionship is not conducive to megastardom either ('I can't keep myself/ And still keep you too'). However, 'Streetlight' is a heartfelt ballad, so magnificently Eighties it might as well be blaring from Don Johnson's Ferrari as he heads out on another lonely moonlight drive around Miami.

Killing the pain by throwing himself into his work, West is promising another record soon, although it's unclear whether it will be an Amnesiac-style companion to what is essentially his equivalent of Radiohead's Kid A, a slate-cleaning exercise that allows for creative, and in this case personal, rebirth. It might seem harsh but let's hope he doesn't find too much happiness in the meantime. Loneliness is proving quite the muse.

Download 'Heartless'; 'Coldest Winter'; 'Robocop'

808s & Heartbreak review

Kanye West’s Thanksgiving present

Nowadays the name of Kanye West can be found on famous performers’ albums almost as often as the names of Timbaland and Lil Wayne as the tracks collaborated with him prove to be quite successful. The singer Estelle is one of the recent bright examples of that - the hit American Boy was one of the most popular this summer and still is rotated on the world’s radio stations. As for West’s solo creative work everything is almost faultless here, too, only the artist himself is not content with everything his ambitions requiring certain awards which for some reason he does not get. Nevertheless he has already three rather successful records behind and this year, right in time for Thanksgiving celebrations in the USA his fourth work 808’s & Heartbreak is released and it has quite a chance to make its creator’s dream of the best album statuette come true. The point is that 808’s & Heartbreak proves to be Kanye West’s most emotional and sincere album offering melodious and soulful compositions and, as is clear from the record title, of the broken heart topic.

West provokes the audience again on 808’s & Heartbreak

It is not long since Kanye parted ways with his fiancée Alexis Phifer and judging by all this breakup has hurt the singer so bad that one song about that just could not do it for him so he devoted practically the entire new album to the topic. The only exception is the song Coldest Winter dedicated to West’s late mother who died last year. 808’s & Heartbreak is also interesting for the fact that West provokes the audience again on it using the special equipment Auto-Tune that helps leveling the incorrect tune sounding to record absolutely all the tracks and instead of beats adopts the recordings of tribal drums. Surprisingly combined with Kanye’s great vocals these techniques do actually work. One of its brightest examples is the first single Love Lockdown with an expressive chorus on which a video is already shot featuring Kanye surrounded by the ghost of the past in the form of bellicose Indians. Welcome To Heartbreak is refined with a classic cello sounding and rapping from Kid Cudi while on Heartless the artist addresses directly to the girl that left him. A verse from Young Jeezy on Amazing combines splendidly with West’s sad singing and brutal backing vocals whereas a complicated ballad Street Lights is one of the album’s highlights due to wonderfully heartfelt singing and lyrics filled with despair and deep grief. Lil Wayne joins the artist on See You In My Knightmares, an example of how one can use the computer voice processing with a success. The album closes with a real surprise for the fans Pinocchio Story, a recording of West’s freestyling on a concert and the best way to demonstrate his incomparable talent.

An original, interesting and honest album

Kanye West has been always accompanied by scandals on his way to fame in fact doing nothing but attracting even more attention to his extraordinary person. Yet the artist has remained faithful to his beliefs in spite of everything continuing to cultivate his inimitable style. His fourth work proves to be the most demonstrative in this respect. Unusual arrangements, unique drums and vivid collaborations are only the external attributes which still make 808’s & Heartbreak original and interesting. Besides although the same technique is used throughout the whole album the tracks do not result to be all the same and the album can by no means be called monotonous. As for the content it is Kanye West’s most personal and honest record on which he has expressed his most secret feelings associated with the people who are dearest to him. It is worth mentioning that the artist himself has never confessed to whom he has addressed most of the tracks on 808’s & Heartbreak even though no words are needed to understand it. Hopefully Kanye’s next creation will be inspired by some more pleasant events and prove to be no worse quality work than 808’s & Heartbreak.