West 's third studio album , '' Graduation '' , garnered major publicity when its release date pitted West in a sales competition against rapper 50 Cent 's '' Curtis '' . Upon their September 2007 releases , '' Graduation '' outsold '' Curtis '' by a large margin , debuting at number one on the U.S. '' Billboard '' 200 chart and selling 957,000 copies in its first week . '' Graduation '' continued the string of critical and commercial successes by West , and the album 's lead single , " Stronger " , garnered his third number-one hit . " Stronger " , which samples French house duo Daft Punk , has been accredited to not only encouraging other hip-hop artists to incorporate house and electronica elements into their music , but also for playing a part in the revival of disco and electro-infused music in the late 2000s . Ben Detrick of '' XXL '' cited the outcome of the sales competition between 50 Cent 's '' Curtis '' and West 's '' Graduation '' as being responsible for altering the direction of hip-hop and paving the way for new rappers who did n't follow the hardcore-gangster mold , writing , " If there was ever a watershed moment to indicate hip-hop 's changing direction , it may have come when 50 Cent competed with Kanye in 2007 to see whose album would claim superior sales . " West 's life took a different direction when his mother , Donda West , died of complications from cosmetic surgery involving abdominoplasty and breast reduction in November 2007 . Months later , West and fiancée Alexis Phifer ended their engagement and their long-term intermittent relationship , which had begun in 2002 . The events profoundly affected West , who set off for his 2008 Glow in the Dark Tour shortly thereafter . Purportedly because his emotions could not be conveyed through rapping , West decided to sing using the voice audio processor Auto-Tune , which would become a central part of his next effort . West had previously experimented with the technology on his debut album '' The College Dropout '' for the background vocals of " Jesus Walks " and " Never Let Me Down . " Recorded mostly in Honolulu , Hawaii in three weeks , West announced his fourth album , '' 808s & Heartbreak '' , at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards , where he performed its lead single , " Love Lockdown " . Music audiences were taken aback by the uncharacteristic production style and the presence of Auto-Tune , which typified the pre-release response to the record
2008 MTV Video Music Awards
2008 MTV Video Music Awards
Kanye West