What is the name of Kanye West's 2008 album that heavily uses Auto-Tune?

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Kanye West’s 2008 album that heavily uses Auto-Tune is 808s & Heartbreak.

The record was West’s fourth studio album and marked a dramatic change from the sample-driven rap style of The College Dropout, Late Registration and Graduation. Instead of relying mainly on conventional rapped verses, West used heavily processed singing, sparse electronic production, synthesizers and prominent drum-machine patterns. The Auto-Tune effect gave his voice a deliberately artificial, vulnerable and sometimes robotic quality.

The album’s emotional setting was unusually personal. It followed the death of West’s mother, Donda, in November 2007, and the end of his engagement to Alexis Phifer in 2008. Those experiences shaped songs about grief, isolation, romantic loss and fame. The “808” in the title refers to the Roland TR-808 drum machine, whose deep bass drums and synthetic percussion define much of the sound. Although West had experimented with Auto-Tune on earlier background vocals, 808s & Heartbreak was his first major project to place Auto-Tuned lead singing at the center.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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