But he really hit big with “Buy You a Drank,” which pushed his sophomore set to the top of the charts. T-Pain, who went from mediocre rapper to Voltron Luther Vandross when he found his vocoder, had already achieved some notoriety with his first album. Let’s go back to 2008, where the “snap” era of ringtone rap was on its last legs and fans were ready for something new. But I said what I said: 808s & Heartbreak is Patient Zero for the illness that crippled modern R&B. Yeah, I’m bout to go on one of my old man rants. Unfortunately, that tonal shift kicked off a decade of events that all but erased soul music from mainstream airwaves. I wasn’t moved.Ĩ08s represented a turning point for musical culture, no doubt. Arthur Baker 6.Last weekend, Twitter celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Kanye West’s landmark 808s & Heartbreak album. This record was definitely the blueprint for all those Def Jam LL Cool Jay & Beastie Boy Records to follow. I signed it on the spot and put it out as the first Def Jam Records release through my Partytime/Streetwise label. And that booming kick drum-I had never heard anything with a sub low end like that. Here was a rap record that sounded like it was recorded live at a hip hop club. But I do remember immediately thinking it was a real game-changer. It was probably at my Streetwise Records office on Madison Avenue where Rick played it for me, or maybe it was Jazzy Jay, whom I had worked with. Unfortunately, I don't remember many specifics of my first hearing of the Rick Rubin production of "It's Yours" by T La Rock & Jazzy Jay. The enthusiasm of the Beastie Boys when talking about it still today shows that this track is rightly one of the landmarks of their awesome discography. It's featured in the film and still blows my mind every time I hear it.
It's crazy to think how mad this track is. Reversing the beat was a moment of genius. This track is an emblem of 808 creativity. I remember hearing it when I was starting high school and it just resonated with me, literally! The decay on the kick-as with the rest of the LL Cool J tracks that used the 808-is just so beefy, and along with his trademark lyricism you just can't help but sit up and take notice.
This was one of the tracks that really got me interested in hip hop. Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force, "Don't Stop. In anticipation of the documentary's release, we asked Dunn, Noyer, co-producer and Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman, and legendary producer Arthur Baker, who helped convince Dunn and Noyer to make the documentary, to give us a tour of some of the songs that define the story of the Roland TR-808 drum machine. As Noyer notes, though, there was no way they could have painted anything close to a complete portrait of the 808's influence in a single documentary. The only artist whose insight Dunn and Noyer coveted but weren't able to get was Kanye West, whose 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak represents the majority of the public's exposure to the actual name of the machine responsible for 30 years of iconic beats.
"You get all of these guys, these big, big names throughout music, and they were all willing to give us time to talk about a drum machine," says Dunn. The documentary, which premieres Friday on Apple Music, includes commentary by everyone from Lil Jon, to Pharrell, to the Beastie Boys, to Rick Rubin, to Afrika Bambaataa himself. Though even diehard fans of the music it inspired are largely unfamiliar with its story, the 808 is revered within the industry. They're twisting that sound and going with that.
"How many artists and producers now, 30 years since the 808 came out, are still using sound?" asks Alex Dunn, who along with Alex Noyer made a documentary about the surprisingly captivating history of the machine. Developed in Japan as a user-friendly way to produce an electronic drum beat, the 808 grew into one of the foundational elements of hip-hop after Bronx rapper Afrika Bambaataa used it on his seminal 1982 track, "Planet Rock." The 808's sound has been sought after across genres ever since, and so elemental are the textures of its kick drum, snare drum, and high-hat effects that producers have never really needed to upgrade. Even if you've never heard of the Roland TR-808 drum machine, you've definitely heard it.
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