Born to Ray and DondaWest, Kanye West was raised in Chicago, Illinois. According to his mother, Donda, West exhibited incredible artistic ability from a young age (Williams 2007, 22). Once he picked up the piano in high school, West became dedicated to his goal of professionally pursuing music. After facing rejection from multiple record labels on his way to becoming a rap artist, West was finally signed to Roc-A-Fella Records at the age of 25 as a producer. Just six years and three albums after being signed, in 2008, West released 808s & Heartbreaks under Roc-A-Fella Records. The album was born from the emotional tragedy of West losing his mother, Donda, and ending a long-term relationship with his fiance at the time (Holmes 2008). Every track on 808s & Heartbreaks includes snippets of autotuned sound. According to producer Jeff Bhasker, the distorted sound of West’s voice created by Auto-Tune was meant to signify the heartbreak he was feeling (Holmes 2018).