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Love Lockdown

"Love Lockdown"
Love lockdown.jpeg
Single by Kanye West
from the album 808s & Heartbreak
Released September 18, 2008
Format
Recorded 2008
Glenwood Studios
(Burbank, California);
Avex Recording Studio
(Honolulu, Hawaii)
Genre
Length 4:30
Label
Writer(s)
Producer(s)
  • West
  • Bhasker
Kanye West singles chronology
"Stay Up! (Viagra)"
(2008)
"Love Lockdown"
(2008)
"Heartless"
(2008)

"Love Lockdown" is a song by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released September 18, 2008 as the lead single of his studio album 808s & Heartbreak. Written and produced by West and musician Jeff Bhasker, it was premiered by West at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards prior to its release as a single. Primarily a minimal pop and R&B song, "Love Lockdown" contains elements of synthpop and electronic music, and is characterized by the Roland TR-808 drum machine and auto-tune vocals sung by West.

Despite being a drastic departure from his previous work, the song was well received by critics, and was frequently cited as a highlight of the album. Time magazine critic Josh Tyrangiel named "Love Lockdown" the best song of 2008. The single was also successful commercially, as it managed to debut at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and has since sold over three million copies in the United States.

Kanye West debuted "Love Lockdown" on September 7, 2008, as the closing performance of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. On September 18, he released it as the lead single of 808s & Heartbreak. After announcing it as the album's first single, West posted free copies of the song on his blog for fans to download. A week later, he also posted six downloadable stems, each featuring isolated song portions of "Love Lockdown", on his blog, with the intention of enabling fans to freely remix the song for themselves. These portions include an a cappella, distorted background vocals, 808, percussion, piano, and the outro synth-beat. The song is featured in the first episode edition of Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned on the in-game contemporary hip-hop radio station, The Beat 102.7 hosted by DJ Green Lantern. In 2016, poet and musician Saul Williams revealed that he worked on the track, but was uncredited.


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