вЂњScott Storch was down the street having a party and so вЂYe and I decided to go and check it out,вЂќ Esthero said. Esthero, the Canadian singer-songwriter who voiced Jane the spaceship on The Glow In the Dark Tour, remembers the Chicago artist telling her his plans for his next career move after the L.A. вЂњThe main things that triggered the idea of 808s was when we were doing the Glow in the Dark tour, and there was the вЂGood LifeвЂ™ part of the show, and he said, вЂI want to do the T-Pain part in the show.вЂ™ So we put the Auto-Tune on so he could do it live, and when he had that, it was like Christmas, you know? Because now all of a sudden he could play an instrument.вЂќД«y April of the tourвЂ™s first month, Kanye had solidified the idea for his singing album, his first departure from rap.

Jeff Bhasker - a keyboardist and producer who was part of WestвЂ™s live band and would end up producing and writing on nearly half of the album - witnessed the project taking shape as West began trying new things in his performances. The space opera via stadium tour found West experimenting more live, especially with his singing voice. The genesis of 808s & Heartbreak began on 2008вЂ™s The Glow In the Dark Tour. You gotta go through the process and heal. He wanted to get the project out, but some people were like, вЂGive Kanye time to heal.вЂ™ IвЂ™m like вЂNah, man.вЂ™ You gotta heal through it. вЂњAnd yeah he went deep inside himself and addressed those utterly dark, sick emotions that exist, the doubts, the fears, which makes for obviously a great tale. So him trying to go inside himself is difficult, because he could easily write from a place of stardom, of fame, of the industry.вЂќ Yusef said. вЂњHim fighting his fear, fighting depression, kind of for real, for real thrown into the public eye. вЂњThat was the first time that we knew exactly where he was emotionally.вЂќ -Tony Williams The achievements of 2007вЂ™s Graduation - beating 50 Cent in a highly publicized first-week sales battle, selling 957,000 copies in the first week, the crossover success of вЂњStrongerвЂќ and вЂњGood LifeвЂќ - turned West into what Yusef describes as вЂњnot just rap fame, superstardom.вЂќ

Malik Yusef, one of KanyeвЂ™s oldest writing partners, remembers an inflection point between the tragedy of WestвЂ™s personal life and his ascension to a new level of fame. вЂњA lot of it was not ever voiced verbally to us in those situations.вЂќ вЂњI think because he doesnвЂ™t wear his emotions on his sleeve a lot of time that a lot of us that are very close to him in his inner circle, that was the first time that we knew exactly where he was emotionally,вЂќ Tony Williams, KanyeвЂ™s cousin and frequent collaborator said. For WestвЂ™s closest confidantes, his early, raw and unfiltered recordings were the first time they heard how he was coping with the losses. According to its well-worn inception story, 808s & Heartbreak is part self-examination, part-exorcism of two tragic and life-defining moments for Kanye: the death of his mother, Donda West, on November 10, 2007, from cosmetic surgery complications and the dissolution of his 18-month engagement to Alexis Phifer.

Kanye 808s and heartbreak flower