What does 808 mean in the lyrics to both beyonce and kelis new singles?

Question

kelis lyrics
"I told Young Stunna he should switch to bass
I'm back with an 808 cause i'm bossy "

BEYONCE]: Hi hat
[JAY-Z]: Uh
[BEYONCE]: 808
[JAY-Z]: Uh

Answer 1

808 is the North American Numbering Plan area code for the entire state of Hawaii in the United States.
808 is a slang terminology for the entire state of Hawaii in the United States.
808 is a reference to the Roland TR-808 drum machine.

Answer 2

An 808 is a classic drum machine that was made famous in the 80s and early 90s. It still is used today.

Answer 3

Or it could refer to the 808 drum machine used in the song? Not heard the songs so can't speculate on that though :)

Answer 4

Its most probably a reference to the Roland 808 drum machine, very popular in the early eighties because of its killer (for the time) sounds. There was even a band called 808 state, and they were pretty cool too

u can see one here
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=roland+808&fr=FP-tab-img-t-t500&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8

Answer 5

808 is a reference to the Roland TR-808 drum machine.

Answer 6

808 refers to drums/bass. Refers to the Old (still in use?) Roland 808's that were used to create the beats and heavy bass.

Answer 7

an 808 is the TR808 drum machine by Roland

Too Short is in that song, not Jay Z btw

Answer 8

I think 808 is a type of bass... used to produced the music for a song

Answer 9

haha EXACTLY!!! i mean, i dont know the answer to this but i had this exact same question but i never asked, i figured it was an area code cuz here everyones all proud of there area code for some reason. any way like when ever 8:08 in time comes up that part of that kelis song pops in my head.

Answer 10

he Roland Rhythm Composer TR-808 was one of the first programmable drum machines. Introduced in late 1980, ("TR" is an acronym for "Transistor Rhythm"), Roland originally intended the TR-808 as a tool for studio musicians to create demos. Like earlier Roland drum machines, it does not sound very much like a real drum kit. Indeed, because the TR-808 came out a few months after the Linn LM-1 (the first drum machine to use digital samples), people generally considered its sound inferior to sampling drum machines; a 1982 Keyboard Magazine review of the Linn Drum indirectly referred to the TR-808 as sounding like "marching anteaters". However, the TR-808 had a significant advantage over the LM-1 in that its $1,000 pricetag was much more favorable to musicians (compared to the LM-1, which was priced at almost $5,000).

One of the earliest uses of the TR-808 for a live performance was by Yellow Magic Orchestra in December 1980, in the song "1000 Knives", composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto in 1978. The "Hand Clap" sound was later publicized by YMO's innovative album BGM released in March 1981 in Japan, used on "1000 Knives" as well as in another of Sakamoto's songs, "Music Plans".

The TR-808 was an important step forward from Roland's previous CR-78 drum machine; although both have developed a dedicated following, the sound of the TR-808 is generally considered to be more powerful and have more "punch." The TR-808 also featured more sounds (sixteen in total) and better controls to allow the user to control the sounds in real time: volume knobs for the level of each sound, and tone-shaping controls for the more important sounds. The memory capacity for storing patterns was increased substantially: 32 pattern locations were available, and furthermore, these could be "chained" together to produce "songs", 12 of which could also be stored in memory. The memory was non-volatile (maintained by three AA batteries). The programming interface was hugely improved: a row of 16 buttons allowed the user to employ a very intuitive "step programming" method—the pattern is divided up into 16 steps, and, and the buttons and LEDs indicate whether a drum sound plays on each step. The unit also feature Roland's new "DIN-Sync" clock interface for synchronization with other equipment, plus various analogue clock-outputs for slaving other devices. The TR-808 predated the invention of the MIDI interface, however such is the TR-808's enduring popularity that several third-party manufacturers provided MIDI-retrofit kits for it over the years.

It was only in the mid-to-late 1980s, years after the TR-808 was discontinued, that its sound became popular. One factor leading to its popularity was its kick drum sound, which could produce a very deep sub-bass. By the end of the 1980s, the TR-808 was very popular within electronic music and Hip-Hop genres. As with many analogue electronic musical instruments, a great deal of effort has been put into sampling the sounds of the TR-808 for use in modern devices; however, due to the nature of analogue circuitry, the result is rarely sufficient and can sound overly "static" and "digital." The desire is such for the "real" 808 sound that street prices for a used TR-808 are nearly as high as the cost of a new TR-808 upon its initial release in 1980.

The TR-808 also was the inspiration for the name of the British electronic outfit 808 State. The sounds of the TR-808 were and still are very often used in drum and bass, Hip-Hop, R&B, House, Electro and many forms of electronic dance music. On the track Super Disco Breakin' off their Hello Nasty album, the Beastie Boys quip that "Nothing sounds quite like an 808." Outkast's Big Boi also boasts "Cuz' I know y'all wanted that 808/can you feel that b-a-s-s bass?" in the 2004 hit "I Like The Way You Move," and in the song My Posse's on Broadway, Sir Mix-a-Lot proclaims: "The 808 kick drum makes the girlies get dumb". As well, 808 kick samples provided the basis for the majority of the basslines in early jungle/drum and bass tracks in the early to mid '90s.