That same energy was brought to the studio every night, as Yeezy and his collaborators exchanged trailblazing ideas that would ram their head against the metaphorical brick walls of the genre. “Oahu set the precedent for this album and Dark Fantasy. Mornings were filled with competitive pickup basketball games, a favorite hobby of West’s.

The goldmine of creativity would also serve as the jumping off point for West’s decorated My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album, which would arrive two years later. Stumbling upon Oahu during the summer of 2008 provided West and his collaborators with a creative safe haven that allowed the Yeezus artist to hone in and flesh out his wrathful vision free of distractions. West would find peace and serenity on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, which happened to ironically fall under the area code of 808. It was the end of the Scott Storch era of hip-hop.” It’s either got to be in the song loud as s–t, or not in the song at all. “He was like, ‘We’re going to use this technique,’ which was no hi-hats, Taiko drums and no more than four to six elements in composition of a song. “I think this was the first time he decided beforehand the components of the project,” Killhofer tells Billboard.

Ye 808s and heartbreak release date