After originally being scheduled for a December 16th release date, hip-hop superstar Kanye West is now planning to drop his highly anticipated fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreak a month early.

“I changed my album to November something cause I finished the album and I felt like it,” the rapper revealed today (September 24) on his personal blog. “I want yall to hear it as soon as possible.”

This decision squashes any rumors that West would be having a SoundScan rematch with 50 Cent, whose fourth LP, Before I Self-Destruct, was slated to be released a week before 808s & Heartbreak on December 9th.

Last year 50’s album Curtis dropped on the same day as Kanye’s Graduation and 50 vowed to SOHH that he would retire if ‘Ye outsold him in first week sales. Kanye wound up winning the battle, selling a whopping 957,000 units to 50 Cent’s 691,000. Ye’s first single off the new project, “Love Lockdown,” currently holds the number 1 spot on iTunes’ top songs list.

well he is just a big ol peeeeYUHMP

This was pushed up more for the fact that the industry is forecasting the worst sales for a fourth quarter in history, he is lining this cd up to coincide with either election day or thanksgiving to take advantage of holiday sales, albums released in December have a history of not having shelf life, since promo departments stop pushing releases after that first week of the holiday season.

lastdecember said:

cuz they on holidays

lastdecember said:

it must suck horse keester then

I wouldn't mind a break from Kanye.

Cinnie said:

Looks like we'll be adding another album to our lists

not to mention another ipod for me since mine was stolen yesterday

bboy87 said:

i'm sorry to hear that!

with your musical taste, can you really blame them for jacking it?

Cinnie said:

It's pretty fucked up. I was in the locker room and someone stole it while I was changing.

I'm gonna try to get another one tomorrow. I'm in serious withdrawal

banks said:

Damn ...some people just can't keep their word !!!!!

bboy87 said:

wow man... sorry

I'd be ready to spray hollow points
if somebody so much as LOOKED AT
my ZUNE the wrong way

DirtyChris said:

even though I have all of
that music backed up on the HD
(the one advantage of the ZUNE)

it'd be more about the "pink machine"
as I like to call it
but with it being pink
I don't have to worry about
too many dudes tryin to jack me for it
unless they jack it for their girl

Cinnie said:

I see he got hip to
Mary J. Blige's
Black Friday stunt

love MJB but it is what it is

I hear Beysus is dropping
in November also...
the last quarter might end up
pretty proper

DirtyChris said:

my mind is in the gutterrrrr

Cinnie said:

i thought his 4th album was supposed to complete the "quartet" and be called Good Ass Job.

College Dropout
Late Registration
Graduation
Good Ass Job

not a Kanye fan, dont' have any of these. and i do wish 50 would keep his word and hang it up

datdude said:

that's funny

bboy87 said:

Looks like i need to make a trip to the left coast.
When you fuck with sumthin that belongs to the NWO, whether it
be our cheddar, women, or ipods you fuckin with the whole NWO fam.


On a serious note, i hope that muthafuckers ears bleed. I hate a thief.

phunkdaddy said:

Hell yea! get on a plane so we can solve this

I got another one yesterday so I feel better now because I was going through serious withdrawal

Cinnie said:

I think 808's & Heartbreak is a pretty interesting title

Here's some fan artwork




The official single cover of Love Lockdown

http://www.mtv.com/overdr...vid=272698

above is the mtv music awards performance, featuring Taiko drummers

like this new song a lot

JackieBlue said:

I dont like that weird new song. I heard it on the radio and at the end they said it was Kanye...I was like..... no no noo noo nooooo...not my kanye doing some mess like that. I gotta hear it again and maybe I will appreciate it just because it's Kanye.
[Edited 9/29/08 7:17am]

IMO the MTV Live version was better than this version.

Bishop31 said:

The Live version blows the studio version away

Now looking at it i think Kanye bumped up his street date to get away from Britneys album and comes within the same week. Last laugh may be on him because they are now trying to get Britney in on the Tuesday before thanksgiving. though they are totally different genres, in terms of label and marketing thinking they can only handle one thing ata time

Kanye's New Album: No Rapping!
Link
October 15 , 2008


Kanye West knows one way to make guests pay attention at an album listening party: a room full of live nude women, standing and posing in silhouette against a wall of bright colored light in a performance designed by artist Vanessa Beecroft.

That was the scene in a Los Angeles loft Tuesday night, as West unveiled his brooding, emotional 808s & Heartbreak album, set for release November 25.

More than 700 invited guests watched and listened as Beecroft’s 40 models slowly changed position with each song, some of them wearing fuzzy wigs that covered their faces.

Just as provocative were West’s new tracks, including the singles “Love Lockdown” and “Heartless,” mostly obsessed with romantic pain and loss. All vocals were sung and treated with the electro “auto-tune” effect. But there was no rapping or overt sampling, just emotional waves of electronic sound, beats and occasional strings.

“You want to tell your friends you’re leaving me,” Wests sings on one stormy, lovesick track. “You’ll never find nobody better than me.” Later, his voice is wounded as he surrenders, “Goodbye, my friend. Will I ever love again?”

When the album was over, West grabbed a microphone and stood beside Beecroft’s models and called 808s & Heartbreak a very personal project. “These are pieces of real life that I’m putting out for people to judge,” West said, and then ridiculed how it might be rated by critics. “It’s from my heart. I don’t give a fuck if someone rates it ‘hot’ or ‘not.’ I’m here to bring positivity that cannot be judged. It’s like judging a grandmother’s love, and someone says ‘Your grandmother gets two and a half mics.’ Or, ‘You grandmother didn’t sell a million the first week.’”

West, who said he has another album coming in June, noted that the closing song, “Cold As Winter,” was written for his mother, who died at age 58 last year following complications from cosmetic surgery. “The irony for me, someone who has talked about so many labels — Louis Vuitton this, Benz that, this girl look good, I’m not going out with you if you don’t look good — the irony, for me to lose the most important person to Hollywood. And now it’s time to deliver ideas in the most naked form possible.”

He put his arm around Beecroft, who created the living art installation on short notice. “When he contacted me a month ago, he caught me off-guard,” she told the crowd. “But when I heard the album, I heard things that touched my own life.”

Among the guests was Jimmy Kimmel, who arrived after West performed two songs on his show earlier that afternoon. “I’m sure it’s beautiful art, and many people can appreciate it on a much deeper level than I can,” Kimmel said of Beecroft’s work. “But I look out there and see a lot of good-looking naked girls and it makes me happy.”