#150 kanye west – street lights

as mark from unity song has rightfully pointed out, kanye west was sorely missing in my best songs of 2008 list. this was for the simplest reason that i’d just been too slow to get my hands on his 808s and heartbreak album released late last year (i’m just slow that way, but that’s how it is i guess). written and recorded in the wake of his beloved mother’s death and a relationship breakup, this album dwells emphatically on the expected themes of loss (and, yeah) heartbreak, not unlike its other distant predecessors like the mountain goats’ get lonely. the difference for kanye, however, is the trading of his accustomed mode of expression (rap) for what really is his strength as a musician (production). while the singles released so far, “heartless” and “love lockdown” represent this shift in terms of the emphasis on melody and west’s voice sung through auto-tone, other less noticed tracks like “street lights” seem to articulate his predicament most subtly but accurately, letting his ordinarily upfront personality take a backseat for once. i know my destination but i’m just not there, he repeats through the song, reminding us that ridiculously rich pop stars, like us, do feel lost and empty sometimes.

mp3: kanye west – street lights