On November 10 of 2007, Kanye’s mother, Donda West, passed away after a heart attack product of a failed plastic surgery (from which Kanye blamed himself) this was followed by the end of his on-and-off relationship with designer Alexis Phifer which started in 2002 and officially ended in early 2008 and, of course, it was the issue of fame: with Graduation seemingly kick-starting a new era of hip-hop above the ashes of gangsta rap ( Graduation outsold 50 Cent’s Curtis by more than one third in their coinciding debut week), Kanye should have been, theoretically speaking, happy of having archived everything he ever wanted, however he was alone at the top, subject of constant public and media scrutiny and surrounded by the kind of unwanted attention most overnight superstars struggle to accept.

Kanye West started as a producer wanting to become a rapper… after touring as the opening act of U2 in their Vertigo Tour he wanted to become a rock star… after the release of his third studio album, Graduation, Kanye didn’t know exactly what to do next: Although another education-themed follow up (known as Good Ass Job) was planned to complement the trilogy of albums that started with The College Dropout and continued with Late Registration, destiny will change those plans for the Chicago rapper.

808s and heartbreak release date