808s & Heartbreak is Kanye West’s fourth studio album, released on November 24th, 2008, and it was a base breaker as far as fans were concerned. The album was formed off the back of an extremely difficult time for West; his mother died due to complications after cosmetic surgery, his relationship with on-and-off again girlfriend/fiancé Alexis Phifer finally ended for good, and Kanye was struggling to adapt to his celebrity status, often being criticized from the media. Emotionally drained and feeling somewhat lost, Kanye dealt with his pain by channeling it into a sonically stripped-down album, one dominated by his use of the titular Roland TR-808 drum machine and Auto-Tune. Kanye said: It was just what was in my heart. The type of ideas that it was coming up with, the melodies that were in me — what was in me I couldn’t stop. The album is heavily influenced by 1980s synthpop and electropop. Kanye used the “808” sound and altered its pitch to create the unique distorted and electronic sound you hear throughout the album. He called this effect the “heartbreak,” and said that it was ‘representative of his state of mind’. Kanye had previously used auto-tune, for example on his 2004 hit “Jesus Walks”, but it was never a focal point of the music. Kanye was taught how to use auto-tune by T-Pain. Kanye also credited up and coming rapper Kid Cudi who had recently signed with his label, G.O.O.D. Music. He became a fan after receiving a copy of his 2008 mixtape A Kid Named Cudi. Kanye flew Cudi out to Hawaii to work on the album. He was eventually featured on the album’s second track, “Welcome To Heartbreak.” On September 18th, 2008, Kanye released the album’s lead single, “Love Lockdown.” Kanye first announced the album’s release date on September 24th, 2008, saying: I changed my album to November something cause I finished the album and I felt like it..I want y'all to hear it as soon as possible. On October 16th, 2008, Kanye teased a portion of “Coldest Winter.” On November 4th, 2008, he released the album’s second single, “Heartless.” The album had a major influence on modern hip-hop music, having influenced most notably Drake, Future and Travis Scott.