“Wake up, Mr. West, Mr. West, Mr. Fresh.”

Kanye has risen again; in the midst of his self-obsessive musical career he calls his life. With his fourth studio album, Kanye brings us “808s and Heartbreak,” his first album since his educational trilogy.

Instead of a traditional review in which there is in-depth knowledge of every collaborator on the album, this is going to be a break-down of every song – including the hidden bonus track – and what I think of them. Forget the album as a whole; I’m going to do this the Kanye-way and focus on one thing at a time, which, in his case, is himself.

Enough bashing, let’s get started…

Say You Will – At over six minutes long, it’s tough to listen to the album’s first track all the way through. This is one of the most repetitive tracks of the 12, and with that annoying Pong-like beeping as a key beat, I don’t see why anyone would want to listen to this song more than once. Although the song gives off the tone of a worthy message, the lyrical meaning is a stretch. There are only four verses to this tune, each of which is two lines long. In the last verse, Kanye says he wishes the song would come true; I just wish the song would end about three minutes earlier.

Welcome to Heartbreak – Why isn’t this is the album’s first song? That was my initial thought; it makes more sense to me. Because, for what seems like once in his life, Kanye looks back on all he’s done and realizes that he’s missing so much – children, marriage, life itself – it seems more appropriate to lead off a senior album with a song about revelation. But, then again, it’s Kanye West I’m talking about, he does what he wants. Much like Lupe Fiasco did with Matthew Santos in “Superstar,” Kanye pulls in Cleveland rapper Kid Cudi to help him out on the chorus, adding a voice that doesn’t need to constantly use auto-tune to sing. Although Kanye’s use of auto-tune isn’t anywhere near the over-use of T-Pain’s, it’s refreshing to my ears to hear an unaltered voice.

Heartless – In Kanye’s second single from Heartbreak, he speaks of a woman’s ability to make a man always come crawling back. The age-old game of cat and mouse is a great topic for a song, and Kanye separates each verse with an incredibly catchy chorus. The steadily paced sound, which sounds almost like a high-pitched bottle-top blower losing his breath, creates a great rhythm, and the song as a whole makes for a great third track.

Amazing – Holy auto-tune, Kanye! What’s amazing is how much you can’t sing. If you could carry a note, just once, this wouldn’t sound like a robot was behind the microphone. Thankfully, however, Young Jeezy comes into the song a little over halfway through and gives us a break from Kanye, but that doesn’t last long, unfortunately. Kanye named this song after what he thinks he is. I knew the day would come when Kanye would rap about himself and how no one can stop him from being the self-proclaimed king of hip hop. Kanye, do you ever wonder why so many people dislike what you represent? If you’re still looking for the answer, take a glance at these lyrics, Mr. Amazing.

Love Lockdown – This jam was iTunes best-seller for many weeks after it was released, and there’s a reason why. Firstly, Kanye’s original single from his fourth album speaks of something everyone can relate to: the roller coaster ride that is love. Secondly, Kanye goes back into the 80s to use a Street Fighter-esque jungle beat, which unknowingly gets your head bopping along, and then throws the slightest piano melody into the mix. Thirdly, Kanye inserts an easily memorable chorus with the perfect amount of vocal distortion. Kudos.

Paranoid – In a song about people worrying about all the wrong things, Kanye brings in the unknown Mr. Hudson (of Mr. Hudson and The Library), a musician that Kanye recently signed to his record label. As a strong believer in Taoism, the act of non-action, this song’s message speaks strongly to me, as it says, plainly, that people need to stop freaking out about everything. Kanye says that worrying about everything in life only causes violence and hatred. Kanye, do you mind if I call you, for once, a genius?

RoboCop – This song starts off with one of the most unique beats I’ve heard in a long time, and then switches to a great violin session worthy of a Coldplay concert. If this isn’t one of Kanye’s future singles, then I’m Lil Wayne. Of all 12 songs on this album, RoboCop is definitely one of Kanye’s diamonds from Sierra Leone. RoboCop includes everything a music lover could ask for: an original subject (an overly nosy, psycho girlfriend), a reference to Kathy Bates’ character in “Misery,” mechanical sounds and a stab at every starlet in Hollywood. This could easily be my favorite track from this album, perhaps for the Kathy Bates reference, but more than likely because RoboCop is a clever, laughable, sing-to-yourself recording.

Street Lights – Can a beginning verse followed by two lengthy, identical choruses be considered a song? In Kanye’s eyes, I guess it can. As I mentioned, the song is very repetitive. Although Street Lights has the beautiful background vocals of Canadian musician Esthero, I wouldn’t give this tune any more stars than it has verses.

Bad News – Although this song is four minutes long, the lyrics only run for two minutes, which I find to be pointless. This song holds no real meaning, and is mainly a chorus repeated twice, much like Street Lights. Why these two atrocities were placed one after the other, I’ll never know, but I’ve always found that it’s better to spread out the suckiness.

See You In My Nightmares – Don’t take this as a complaint, but I think Lil Wayne has been on every rap album for the last year or so. (Just thought I’d point that out.) There’s nothing I enjoy hearing more than the raspiness of Lil Wayne as the sole voice of the chorus and one of the last verses. With the growing popularity of Lil Wayne, I can almost guarantee that See You In My Nightmares will soon be the third single from Heartless; unless, of course, RoboCop grabs hold of the spotlight. But with verbal slaps to the face growing more popular every day, it will be hard for RoboCop to take advantage; especially since Lil Wayne calls an ex ‘Mrs. Peeyew.’

Coldest Winter – If only this song had been longer, it would have had the chance to be a hit. It’s simplistic enough – a catchy chorus and a few verses worthy of English sonnets – that if it had had more structure to it, it would have easily attached itself to the brains of frequent Top 40 followers.

Pinocchio Story – In this hidden bonus track, Kanye performs live from Singapore and again takes time to look back on his life. He compares himself to the little wooden puppet, as the title suggests, and explains that he has the same wish as Pinocchio: to be a real boy. He also explains that he no longer has his mother to guide him through life. With the subtleness of the piano keys in this song, I believe that Kanye is singing with his heart and is sincere in his statements. Although Kanye gloats the majority of the time he speaks, I can only imagine what it’s like to constantly have the flash of a camera popping at your eyes. I would imagine that his conceitedness is just a shield. I’m glad to hear that Kanye has a softer side.

…I’ll wrap this up quickly: I enjoyed “808s and Heartbreak.” Yes, there were tracks that I could have done without, but that’s the same with any CD. I see this as an experimental project for Kanye West.

There were some verses that rang through my ears like poetry and some beats that could make a quadriplegic move. However, I hope that he will lay off the auto-tune a little in his next album, but a subtle touch of T-Pain’s ‘invention’ won’t hurt anyone.

In my final words, I congratulate Kanye for the success of his fourth album and I’m already anticipating his follow-up.

“I don’t want to say goodbye to you, so I’ll just say good night to you.”