jacked from wikipedia
The entire album is sung by West with the aid of Auto-Tune, aside from one verse by Young Jeezy, a duet with Lil Wayne, additional vocals by Kid Cudi and a freestyle by West at the conclusion of the record. West has stated that he loves using Auto-Tune and is dismayed that the term has been commonly a**ociated with being "wack". He considers the technology "the funnest [sic] thing to use." West compared the situation to when he was a child and thought the color pink was cool until someone told him "it was gay". He went on to state how the views of society can rob people of their confidence and self-esteem.[14]
West cla**ified 808s & Heartbreak as pop music and expressed that, "People think pop is bad, but Michael Jackson was pop and who can compare to him?"[14] He later stated that he wishes to present the music as a new genre called "pop art", not to be confused with the visual art movement of the same name.[17]
West revealed that the song "Coldest Winter" is about his late mother, Donda West, who pa**ed away in 2007. He also stated that the other songs on the album deal with another person he was close to, but had not specified a name. This person was speculated to be West's ex-fiancée Alexis Phifer.[14]
Mike Dean noted that during the Hawaii sessions for the album, West insisted that each track had to feature TR-808-generated drumming. "[N]o typical hip-hop beats. They've gotta be tribal drums." Dean also stated that the song "Robocop" is expected to receive additional treatment by Herbie Hancock before the album's release
