'I'm pretty upset about it, but that's the way life is sometimes!' rapper blogs.
By Gil Kaufman

Kanye West
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage

Kanye West wasn't kidding when he said his new album would feature the sound of the retro-rific 808 drum machine on every track. Over the weekend, a new song from the upcoming 808s & Heartbreak leaked: "Robocop," the one 'Ye collaborator Mike Dean said is supposed to get some added magic from Grammy-winning keyboard legend Herbie Hancock before the album drops November 25.

But West swears he wasn't behind the song's sneak peek. "I did not leak Robocop!!!" he wrote on his blog on Sunday. "That's not even the finished version. I'm pretty upset about it, but that's the way life is sometimes!"

The leaked version does sound a bit rough, but from the heartbeat drum pattern to the emergency siren effects to 'Ye's Auto-Tuned vocals, it fits right in with the future-shock motif of "Love Lockdown." In the tune, a deadpan West laments that a love has turned cold and, from the sounds of it, kind of surveillance-y. "Who knew she was a drama queen/ That'll turn my life to Stephen King's/ Checking everything like I'm on parole/ Up late night, like she on patrol/ I told her it's some things she don't need to know/ She never let it go," West sings over the spare track, which also features a thrumming bass line and some strings near the end.

At a listening party earlier this month, the rapper debuted a number of the album's tracks, including "Amazing" with Young Jeezy and "Tell Everybody You Know," featuring Lil Wayne, who Dean said sounds "a lot like Axl Rose" on the track. One of West's previous collaborators, rock producer Jon Brion, provides strings on "Welcome to Heartbreak," while a song called "Say You Will" is said to be reminiscent of early George Michael. "Heartless" is currently slated to be the second single from the album.

• Kanye West