Kanye West's 'retardedly good' album

Nov 22, 2008, 11:00 GMT

Kanye West says his new album is "retardedly good". © Pixplanete / PR Photos

Kanye West says his new album is "retardedly good".

The hip-hop star is delighted with new record '808s and Heartbreak' and claims some of the tracks are so good rappers everywhere will be desperate to sample them.

Kanye said: "That hook in 'Heartless' is like retardedly good. If I'd had rapped on 'Love Lockdown' - it would've just been a rap song and it wouldn't have sounded quite as different.

"But any rapper would've loved to rap on 'Heartless', from a Wu-Tang rapper to a West Coast rapper to a down south rapper. 'Heartless' is a perfect rap beat and the hook is like straight Broadway melody. The message is just incredible - it could be an opera."

Kanye credits Phil Collins with helping him make the record so good, as the Genesis rocker provided much of the inspiration for the album.

He added to MTV: "I listened to Phil Collins, Boy George and The Police and I ended up getting more polished.

"The track 'Say You Will' is one of my favourite songs I ever did. I don't even know if people appreciate how good that is yet.

"Just to have those ominous monk choirs and the snare's a little bleep noise. Any producer that hears that should be like, 'That's incredible, listen to that snare, what is that?' "