Kanye West - 808's & Heartbreak 2008 x2 lp Roc-A-Fella Records OG 1st Deluxe NM

$

30

Welcome to EnfieldRecords auction (we are EnfieldRecords on Discogs, we choose EnfieldVinyl for eBay), no reserve price, see below for grading information, shipping info, etc.
This week is our Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop, Electronica sale, for ease of use in browsing, we have ordered it by year, with some exceptions to group artists, and we begin with 12" singles, going on to LP's, then cassette's, ending on CD's. The vast majority is original vinyl, we have everything from Kurtis Blow, Mantronix, Run-DMC, Public Enemy, the original Wu-Tang Enter The 36 Chambers 1993 lp, rare random rap, indie rap, Aesop Rock, Madlib, Cypress Hill, N.W.A., Newcleus, the 45 King, Biz Markie, Kanye West, Eminem, BDP, Nas, DJ Shadow, Danger Mouse's "The Grey Album", and much more! Approximately 100+ items :). 

* After this week's auction, we'll need about 2-3 weeks to begin our subsequent three major auctions, our highest end sales with an even greater quantity of listings, lots of grail pieces: Modern Soul / Gospel / Boogie / AOR, to 60's-Early 70's Soul / Funk, Jazz-Funk / Spiritual Jazz / Soul Jazz / Fusions, so stay tuned, we'd be honored if you saved us as a favorite seller, we a couple thousand items coming down the pipeline in total!*
All soundclips used are unedited directly from the item up for sale :). See below for detailed grading!
All records are vintage, originals, in extraordinary exceptions, it will be noted if it is a reissue multiple times. Feel free to message any questions!
**For 12" singles, we aren't going to grade generic sleeves, or company generic sleeves, but we will grade any picture sleeve, sleeve specific to the exact release :)



Media Grade: NM
Sleeve Grade: NM (original poster, inserts, CD, all included!)
Year / Label / Catalogue #:  2008  /  Roc-A-Fella Records   /  B0012198-01
Brief Comments: OG 1st press, to help sway folks to vinyl (this was before the "vinyl comeback"), the 1st US press was the deluxe edition with the CD. The Poster, inserts all included. I bought it new, but there really was no keeping the shrink on the way the cover is designed (unless you keep it sealed).
So, what do you do after Graduation? On Kanye's 3rd release, he did something unprecedented, very few artists in any medium, let alone in music genre's have done it.... Having the crown, the throne, after Late Registration, a cemented multiplatinum artist, household name, he does for the 2000's (era of 2004-2010 in this case), what on some level the Beatles, Michael Jackson, or Elvis even had done, with Graduation he shows the world he can hit a Grand Slam with both hands tied behind his back if he wanted to, bringing millions over to Daft Punk with Stronger, doing a beautiful "power ballad" with Coldplay's Chris Martin on "Homecoming", probably "Flashing Lights" was a sign of things to come, maybe in more ways then one.... 
Heartbreak strikes, a terrible tragedy, his Mom dies, and the next album (tentatively called "G.O.O.D." or Valedictorian, I can't recall off the top of my head) is scrapped in his head, he goes to Hawaii, brings an 808 Drum Machine to have something to make music with, skeleton tracks, he rents a studio because he can afford to indefinitely.
All of a sudden, the sorrow, pain, second-guesses, comes out, channeled artistically, poured out, into "808's & Heartbreak", which when it first dropped, with the single "Love Lockdown", it was controversial, plenty of us at first were like, where is the Jesus Walks, Diamonds From Sierra Leone, Stronger, or sureshots like "Spaceship", "Touch The Sky", "Celebration", "Can't Tell Me Nothing", etc. 
It was autotuned, some initially made the 2008 equivalent of Meme's, by taking to Myspace, and cracking jokes about Robot Voice, etc.
It kept playing, the album dropped, Kid Cudi was making his mark "Day N' Night", and it began to sink in, faster for some, slower for others, Kanye had broken new ground not just in hip-hop, but changed the entire landscape of popular music, this lp influenced virtually everything that would come after it, not just in hip-hop, but in pop music period. 
The brooding / braggadocios within one line type of emotional swagger oscillation, the electronic post new wave romance, a sort of x-ray sincerity of human complexity, from a position of fame few could imagine, but also from a position of pain practically everyone could identify with in their own way. From subject matter, delivery, music, flow, the singing.... There would be no Drake or Kendrick* without 808's & Heartbreak (*Kendrick less so, but I don't think as much of a major superstar, it took Ye to carve out that confessional mainstream hip-hop lane). 
Rubber Soul, Thriller, Nevermind, these three albums would transform, change the landscape of music, their influence for a generation and then some, always remaining classic, groundbreaking. I know we could add Dark Side Of The Moon, and 100 other legitimate contenders, bare with me, switch out in your head if it helps illustrate the point...
Kanye West with 808's & Heartbreaks, defied gravity, landed on the moon, and invented sliced bread all at once, and it was so....unlike anything, most of us wouldn't catch up to this fact, but in stages, at first diggin' it (Amazing was one for the older school hip-hop heads, the one track, that the most Timb'd out, Wu-Tang logo tattoo hip-hop head would say "well, I liked "Amazing", but that's it! Also the drums on Robocop, every crate-digger, even the most "cracking autotune jokes, wtf is this" would say, "ok Amazing ain't bad, those drums on Robocop tho...damn").
I know because I was closer to that camp, living forever in Illmatic, Madvillainy being our "Thriller" of the 2000's. 
I eventually in a year became a fan of the whole album, but it would take time to realize, over and over, to see that 808's & Heartbreaks literally changed music, in a myriad facet of ways, an 808 drum machine, the Island state, and heartbreak....
So amazing :)
Peace! - AC


*Tariffs aren't going to impact used vinyl records / music media, we wish they were never in place at all, so for international buyers, don't worry on that account!
For our record grading, we stand by the merits outlined in the scale below, anything VG or below will have a detailed explanation in brackets next to the grade.
For sleeves, we will mention anytime there is split, or defect not visible in the photos in brackets next to the grade, otherwise we refer to the photos for the merit of the grade. Of course any questions, concerns, are always welcome :) 
Our media grading scale is as follows:
NM = Essentially a pristine album, like new, rarely used.
EX = Under bright light if there is any scuffs or mark, which will be inaudible, most collectors and sellers would tend to consider it closer to NM, EX is also the grade others might call VG++ under the same level of conservative scrutiny.
VG+ = More then a small handful of scuffs, light marks, nothing feelable, will have high-gloss, a thoroughly enjoyable copy that may only have tiny moments of barely perceptible surface noise overpowered by the music. Our VG+ will satisfy the vast majority of collectors as a nice keeper copy, as collector's ourselves for nearly two decades, this grade is aimed to be a great keeper. Note if say the record has a light DNAP warp, but otherwise is NM, we will automatically put it to VG+ and detail that. Another scenario is if a copy plays at a solid EX, but visually is VG, the composite grade will be VG+, and detailed as such.
VG = More hairlines, more marks, maybe a few visible scratches, no more then two feelable scratches (which automatically lowers to VG-), there likely will be surface noise, but will play through, still being an enjoyable copy, the audio quality will satisfy most collector's (the golden rule: if it doesn't satisfy us, it won't be VG), if a record is otherwise EX, but has a slight momentary skip, where 99% of the record is EX, we will note that, and put it at VG. Usually will retain a nice gloss.
VG- = More Scratches than VG, surface noise will jump out more, it be overpowered for longer stretches, or compete with the music in places, it will likely play all the way through on most turntables, a copy that you can still get a decent play enjoyment from.
G+ = Lots of scratches, deeper ones, surface noise now mostly overpowers or competes with the music. It may skip in some places. We don't tend to sell G+ copies, unless the rarity is so great, and that will be precisely detailed.
Thrashed = Pretty much a "Theoretical Grade" for us, it be for all intents & purposes virtually unplayable, it would be for display purposes, or perhaps if you needed the cover but not the record. It's "theoretical" because so far we haven't sold or identified anything intended to sell at this bottom level.
Every item is guaranteed to YOUR satisfaction, no questions asked, 100% refund. We stand by our integrity, our goal is to make sure you are absolutely delighted with your purchase, to deliver a cherished album to your collection :). On the slightest chance of human error, if we make a mistake, we take accountability for that, we don't anyone to have a record they aren't happy with! Bid with confidence :)
If you have multiple items, please wait for us to combine shipping for you! We can combine up to 4 items for the standard shipping rate, and save you $ on additional items. We don't charge a single penny over what the shipping costs, so you are paying only the amount the postal service receives!
Default shipping is USPS media mail, USPS International mail. If you prefer a different carrier, or expedited shipping, please message us before payment, so we can set up the invoice for you :)
We have it set to 5 day shipping / handling time, as a just in case, typically about 98.7% of our orders are shipped out the day of payment (first day the post office is open), with the vast majority being the second day. We'll message on the extraordinary off-chance if doesn't go out on Tuesday (our auctions mostly ending on Saturdays, Sundays), with the reason and day it will go out, so far that's only happened once on a giant order, and all was well.
Thank you from EnfieldVinyl, a family business, and the auction venture of EnfieldRecords :)
Kindly,
-Alec :D
&
-Ellie :)