As any music, art, or literature enthusiast knows, very rarely does an artist’s work remain the same over time. Picasso went from his Blue Period to Cubism; Mark Twain first wrote travel journals for a newspaper before writing Tom Sawyer. Like any great artist, Kanye West’s career has been one marred by change, much of it met with harsh criticism. His fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreak, represents change in many ways: hero to villain, soul to electronic, rapping to autotune. While many love Kanye’s music and many hate it, 808s & Heartbreak seems to fall firmly in between; an album with spectacular moments, but not enough to put it up there with the best of Kanye’s work.

From 2004’s The College Dropout, with its old-school soul samples, to 2013’s Yeezus, featuring harsh and abstract garage-style music, West’s music changes as he does. Many Hip-Hop purists have become disillusioned by West’s move away traditional Rap music as well as his very controversial personality, both of which began to manifest themselves on 808s & Heartbreak. While many were heavily critical of West’s new personality and sound, they make sense given what he was going through at the time. In 2007, Kanye lost his mother, Donda, after complications during cosmetic surgery, and later in the same year, ended his relationship with then-fiancee Alexis Phifer. On November 24th, 2008, West released 808s & Heartbreak. Both the album’s sound and context represent a departure from the ordinary for West. On past albums, West prominently featured old-school soul or gospel samples in his beats, but on 808s these were nowhere to be found, instead being replaced by new-age synthesizers and heavy bass.

One of the most controversial aspects of the album was its use of autotune, which Kanye fell in love with while working on a previous album. While many view it as ruining the “purity” of the music, West viewed it as a useful tool to get his message across. In theme, the album is a departure from the triumphant themes of Kanye’s previous album, Graduation, in which Kanye declared himself at the top of the music world. The album begins with the track “Say You Will”, which feels a bit too drawn out at over 6 minutes long. While it does feature some angelic background vocals, as well as some nice subtle piano chords, the track is dominated by two alternating tones, sounding very similar to a heart monitor next to a hospital bed, which might be West’s intent.

The next highlight of the album is “Heartless”, arguably its most commercially successful song. The track heavily features the album’s signature autotune, and, like it or not, uses it to create an instantly-recognizable and singable chorus. You can hear the pain in West’s voice as he belts out the song’s chorus, which is enough to win over even the biggest skeptic; I would consider this one of the better tracks on the album. Following this is “Amazing” featuring Young Jeezy; this is one of my favorite songs on the album, and Young Jeezy’s feature is brilliant, with his tough and raspy voice providing a stark contrast to the emotional themes of the album, while the song’s sound and style still matches the rest of the album. Next is another one of the album’s most recognizable tracks, “Love Lockdown”. Similar to “Heartless”, this song effectively uses autotune to convey emotion and create a concert-friendly chorus. As a piano player myself, I can appreciate the driving piano chords that keep the song moving and harmonize with West’s vocals. While the song is solid, it can tend to feel like a lesser version of “Heartless”. Next is “Paranoid”, which despite its name, is one of the album’s more upbeat tracks, sounding much more like Kanye’s previous work. Unlike the previous 4 tracks I mentioned, I had no prior experience with this song, and it was a surprising highlight. The bright synthesizers really pop, and the song is all in all very catchy. These highlights comprise 5 of the album’s first six tracks; unfortunately, this album is front-loaded, with the last six tracks being largely forgettable. The album ends with “Pinocchio Story”, performed live in Singapore. This song epitomizes the last six tracks of the album; fitting with the album’s theme of heartbreak and sadness, but is not unique and seems altogether unnecessary to include.

No matter your opinion on 808s & Heartbreak, one cannot deny the influence the album had on the greater hip-hop community. From its pioneering use of autotune to its emotional themes, it was clear with the album’s commercial success that rap was moving in a new direction. Some of hip-hop’s biggest young stars, such as Lil Uzi Vert and Juice WRLD, have cited the huge influence the album had on them. As a lifelong Kanye West fan, I am sometimes guilty of blindly accepting any music he releases as a piece of genius; at the same time, however, I often hold him to a higher standard because I know what he is capable of. When thinking of Kanye’s music, 808s & Heartbreak is often an afterthought to me. As the album celebrates its 10-year anniversary this week, I felt it would be fitting to take a closer look that I had never given it. What I found was an album that certainly has its moments, but largely falls victim to a lack of depth–only about half its tracks are listenable. For many artists, this ratio would be more than enough. From Kanye, however, I expect better; his next album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, is one that I can easily listen to front-to-back, without skipping any tracks. That being said, however, the album was an important building block in perfecting Kanye’s signature sound. While 808s & Heartbreak was certainly a turning point for Kanye West, in terms of success, it was only the base of the mountain he continues to climb.