I'm not going to bore you with the Kanye West biographical rundown, but I have to mention the circumstances this album is most widely associated with: the sales battle with 50 Cent. (The reason I chose to even write about Graduation today is because I was listening to Animal Ambition this morning and thought about how funny this situation was) I can't even remember how this little scuffle started, but at some point in 2007, Curtis Jackson had enough of Kanye West's antics and decided to do something about it. Instead of any physical confrontation, he promised that he would retire from rapping if Kanye's upcoming project outsold his own album entitled Curtis, which would be released on the same day as Graduation. Obviously, this wouldn't be much of a competition today, but seven years ago, 50 was still holding on to musical relevance, so people seemed to care about this piffle. Hell, I even remember myself heading out to Target in hope of contributing to the impending retirement of Curtis Jackson.
As we all know, Graduation would end up selling a shit load of copies, while Curtis would end up selling not a shit load of copies (which is completely justified by the way; Curtis was a fucking atrocious album). What did that mean to hip hop? Not too much to be honest. Kanye would continue his rampage through the music landscape, while 50 basically said "never-mind" and continued rapping. I'm sure there were a few other significant events surrounding the release of Graduation, but I don't care about any of them right now, so I'll just get into the review.
1. Good Morning
Kanye has always impressed me with his opening songs and aside from "Dark Fantasy", this is his best one. Kanye was really coming into his own as a rapper at this time, and the beat is so damn cheerful that its impossible for me to imagine someone hearing this and not liking it just a little. One thing I never realized is how he samples Jay's voice from "The Ruler's Back", which helps bookend the album with his Hov dedication ending the album. And the line, "I'm like the fly Malcom X, buy any jeans necessary"? Shit, this would have been great without the video, but the addition of the audio complement makes this one of the better entrees to the entire Kanye catalog.
2. Champion
Am I the only person that caught the "additional lyrics added by Kanye West" tags in the liner notes? Did he not write his own verses? I highly doubt Kanye would hire a ghostwriter for these middle of the road lyrics. Either way, I've never cared for this song, which may be blasphemous in the eyes of some fans, but you're lying to yourself if you think the beat and hook aren't just a tad ridiculous. Its like we got some weird scenario where Kanye was producing the lead single for the Lion King soundtrack. I doubt I'll ever give a fuck about this song.
3. Stronger
Its good, already proven to be one of the most pivotal songs in his catalog, but this song annoyed the hell out of me after about a month of hearing it. After giving "Stronger" its proper time away from my headphones, it seems to have aged fairly well. It certainly doesn't do the original Daft Punk song any favors, but this alone signifies our host's shift from soulful samples to making more experimental tracks. One thing that's always bugged me is that Timbaland supposedly reprogrammed the drums on the album version to sound different from the single, but it sounds the exact fucking same. I mean, that's not really a problem or anything, but what the hell, man?
4. I Wonder
Ugh, this is such a waste of an amazing beat. I love the sample that doubles as the chorus and Kanye's instrumental is probably the ideal sound that is associated with Graduation, but for the love of God, Kanye himself could not have possibly sucked any more cock on this song. His lyrics, while completely lazy, aren't really the problem. It's that fuck ass flow he uses that really screws this whole thing up. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of someone giving him the okay for that delivery. I guess that's a testament to the flaws of having too many yes men. Still, everything else is too damn good for me to not like this thing a little bit. It just could have been so much more.
5. Good Life (Feat. T-Pain & John Legend)
I never really saw the big deal about this song. It sounds relatively weak and T-Pain is on it, do I really need to expand? Probably not, but I'm going to anyways. At this point in Kanye's career, it was a given that there would be a feel good song popping up somewhere, but I'm just surprised by the positive response this got. And John Legend's pitiful contribution is almost laughable. What's even more laughable is that he getting paid more than most people get in a year for walking into the studio and singing a simple note a couple times. I will say that it was somewhat amusing that 50 Cent's "In Da Club" was sampled, but that's where the fun stops. This isn't the worst song Kanye has ever done, but it's not doing anything for me. Like, not even a single positive thing, this shit sucks.
6. Can't Tell Me Nothing
Obviously a great song that contains one of the best bass drops in hip hop history, but it actually took me a while to appreciate the genius behind this song. This album is so overly produced that it was actually refreshing to hear a minimalist take on Kanye's blossoming ego. I'm just thankful that Kanye resisted the urge to replace this with the remix with Young Jeezy, which undeniably would have sold more numbers. Young Jeezy doesn't ruin the song or anything, but I simply prefer Middle Aged, Chiseled Veteran Jeezy. Now that dude can write a fucking song. Whatever, this is a classic Kanye song that rightfully deserves that elevated status its gained over the years.
7. Barry Bonds (Feat. Lil Wayne)
Beat: good. Hook: interesting enough. Kanye: carries his portion well. I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this and now asking yourself, "did Lil Wayne really do enough to completely ruin this song?" You bet your sweet ass he did. That's not even me being on some hating shit either, because Wayne was actually really good around this time period (or whenever Da Drought 3 came out), but he was so fucking bad on this song that I can't imagine myself ever willingly listening to this again. I remember people making a big deal over this collaboration and the overwhelming feeling of "what the hell is Kanye thinking", but considering out host's previous taste in features, was this really all that much of a surprise? Paul Wall appeared on Late Registration, people. Paul Fucking Wall.
8. Drunk And Hot Girls (Feat. Mos Def)
In all honesty, I think I may be the only person in the entire world that really likes this. Its not a classic song or anything, but I really didn't find anything objectionable on here. It's got some dark humor and I've always kind of liked Mos Def's signing. I think a large majority of the passionate hatred towards this songs stems from the fact that we didn't get to hear a Mos Def verse. Cry me a fucking river. If you want to hear these two rap together so damn bad go listen to "Two Words" again. I know I'm probably the last person you'd ever expect to hear defending this song, but here I am. Let Kanye live, dammit!
9. Flashing Lights (Feat. Dwele)
Depending on what day of the week it is, I'll tell you that this is my favorite song on Graduation. During the recording of this song, flashing lights were something Kanye was very familiar with, so it was only fitting that he write a song about them. He couldn't step out of his house without paparazzi lenses and flashes snapping his every move. Moreover, Kanye was spending his nights at exclusive clubs all around the world only illuminated by fluorescent lights. Kanye raps about complicated relationships with the opposite sex, but the real reason everyone knew this was a game changer was the magnificent electronic-tinged monster of a beat. If you recall, the video was every bit as memorable as the song, and I'm still trying to figure out just what the hell happened.
10. Everything I Am
When I first heard this song I dismissed it as an cheesy attempt for Kanye to get emotional, but my viewpoint has since changed. I don't know if its in light of the recent string of controversy surrounding Kanye, but in my eyes, this song exemplifies everything the man is about. He's been able to become one of the greatest artists of all time by excelling at everything people told him he couldn't do. I also love that he used this a a rebuttal towards the people complaining about how "suburban" he is. Killing people isn't exactly something to be proud of and the line about the Chicago caskets puts a lot of it into perspective. Like everyone else, I was a little disappointed by DJ Premier's scratches, but fuck it, the rest of this song is so damn perfect that I'm not going to waste your time complaining.
11. The Glory
Kanye apparently gave this beat to Common before taking it back, which is more than a little rude, but it was probably a good call; this doesn't sound too bad. The thing about Kanye's chipmunk style of sampling is that it can either be really good or kind of annoying. This seems to lean towards the former. For the record, Kanye is one of the only producers that can do this style well, and unless its part of a Dipset record, every other producer should be banned from doing this type of thing.
12. Homecoming (Feat. Chris Martin)
For what its worth, Graduation marks what I think is the only CD in my collection that contains contributions from two people named Chris Martin (Primo being the other). The lead singer of Coldplay fails to make any more of a mark than the first Chris, which makes this whole album a colossal failure of Chris Martins. Kanye makes things a little better with some fairly obvious metaphorical verses comparing a girl to Chicago, but he really should have replaced this song with the earlier version that appeared on some of his mixtapes. Either that or he should have used that song from Late Registration where only Common rhymes; the beat sounds the exact same anyways. Still, I do find it very funny that some of the best rapping Kanye does on the whole albums came from the College Dropout sessions.
13. Big Brother
Here's the Jay-Z ode that I referenced at the beginning of this review. I love when Kanye takes time to clearly address the loads of rumors that constantly surround his life. This time its an entire song about his relationship with Shawn Carter. One of my favorite little details about this song is that the night after Kanye was denied free access to be on stage with Jay, he went home and recorded "Never Let Me Down", one of my all time favorite Kanye songs. So that's pretty cool. Most people take this as a classic example of dick-riding, but its really just a thank-you note more than anything else. What would Ye even gain from sucking up to Hov? Regardless, this was a great way to end the night.
Rating: 4/5
Graduation is an album that largely gets lost in the shuffle of Kanye's discography. Upon release, it was viewed as his "pop" album, and while it it certainly has the feel of an album going for mainstream appeal, that's not really the case. On his third studio album, Kanye made the pivotal move from producing soul heavy instrumentals to crafting more experimental, electronic songs. Perhaps most importantly, he was able to take these risks without sacrifices actual song quality, something his more recent work wasn't able to do (*cough* Yeezus *cough*). While there's a couple song that I really just don't give a fuck about, Graduation manages to be one of Kanye's most consistent works, as its the only one of his albums I can sit down and listen to all the way through on a regular basis. Another reason Graduation holds up is our host's rapping ability. Kanye doesn't go full spitterific-mode like he would on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but its a natural progression from Late Registration, and he's not taking himself all that seriously, which makes for some flat out fun songs to hear, as three of his best songs ever ("Can't Tell Me Nothing", "Flashing Lights", "Everything I Am") appear on this disc. Hell, I even enjoy "Drunk And Hot Girls", which is damn near unanimously considered to be the mans worst song. I'd say you all just need to loosen up a little, but that'd be hypocritical. Anyways, Graduation may be the second least important Kanye album (the least being Late Registration, which is coincidentally my favorite of his records), but it's still a vital moment moment in Mr. West's career. Its my third favorite Kanye album and I'm quite pleased with how its held up.