Graduation (Parental Advisory) [Digipak] [ECD] - Kanye West

"Graduation" is the most anticipated release by Kanye West. It is the third studio album by the Roc-A-Fella artist and has so much pressure to succeed as it competes aganist the sales of 50 Cent's "Curtis" which released on the same day as this. The later artist also claims that if Kanye out-sells him, he will stop making albums.

Kanye differs from many Hip Hop artists if today as his style is very different to ...
...his dress-sense. West can be seen sporting the glasses shown on the album cover on occassions as well as clothes which are worn to fit the body. He isn't too bothered bout having ice on his wrists either, as he would rather add a plastic retro watch to his arm to remind him of his youth.

The name for the album follows Kanye's life as the previous albums, "College Dropout" and "Late Registration", did. So this appears ... more

"Graduation" is the most anticipated release by Kanye West. It is the third studio album by the Roc-A-Fella artist and has so much pressure to succeed as it competes aganist the sales of 50 Cent's "Curtis" which released on the same day as this. The later artist also claims that if Kanye out-sells him, he will stop making albums.

Kanye differs from many Hip Hop artists if today as his style is very different to everyone else, this isn't just in his music, but also his dress-sense. West can be seen sporting the glasses shown on the album cover on occassions as well as clothes which are worn to fit the body. He isn't too bothered bout having ice on his wrists either, as he would rather add a plastic retro watch to his arm to remind him of his youth.

The name for the album follows Kanye's life as the previous albums, "College Dropout" and "Late Registration", did. So this appears to be the final one associated with school/university life by the sound of it. It doesn't really have a relevance to the album as previus ones with the skits before, in fact this excludes them. I beleive this gives the artist more space to show off his best work.

1. "Good Morning" (intro)

**Four Stars**

This isn't just the intro to "graduation" as it is almost four minutes long. The beat seems to bring the effect named in the title of waking you up, its an original way to say welcome to the album. Its as if he Kanye has just been woken up for the first time since the previous album, "Late Registration" and now he brings you the next, starting here.

I say that the backing sound gives you the feel of awaking because its quite plesant, therefore it doesn't bluntly get you up, he's gently getting us back into his world. Its a good way to do this because I feel that it would be too early to hit the listener with a hard-hitting track.

The track puts us into kanye's position as he is told to get up and is told of his test results, in which he earned Ds. He is woken up to the day of his graduation, which provides the name of the LP. he says how his life has only just begun and it doesn't really matter that he has failed, because many can succeed without such formal tasks as this.

2. "Champion"

**Four Stars**

"Champion" is a short track as it is less than three minutes long. It samples sounds familiar although I have never heard of "Kid Charlemagne" by Steely Dan, which I am told is where it comes from. A few lines from this are played throughout as a hook, they fit in well with the title and its obvious when you here it.

It's a nice bumping track in this he tells us how he feels like a champion in the world of Hip Hop, I'd say that this is true. I believe that he makes somewhat of a half-hearted diss to another Hip Hop legend as he says "...Lauren Hill...I wish her heart was still in rhymin'." It comes after there have been several opinions raised about losing her lyric-writing game.

In my opinon the track ends too abruptly, it feels as though its only half-done and much more could be added to the track. He possilbe thought that the everlasting hook would get too repetitve to be a hit with the fans, especially if they listended to it more than once. I must say that this wasn't the case, if this was a bit longer it could have certainly been I high contender for the best track on the album, even this early in the track-listings.

3. "Stronger"

**Five Stars**

This was the second single to be released from the album and managed to top of this country's charts, a first of Kan(ye), it managed to stay in the top ten in most other English-speaking nations.

This song samples the house/electronica specialists Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", the hook contains the chorus and is heard throughout. The beat is a lot harder than th original, going on the theme of the title. The percussion which allowed this to happen was provided by Timbaland to complete this track.

Ye has noticibly changed his style here in this track as the song was heavily-motivated by the sample, it seems that the rest was shaped around it. It was all centred around the electronica scene of music, something he isn't too familiar with. Luckily he didn't go too far into that style, because otherwise I would never have liked it. His style of rap is mantained here which has him

4. "I Wonder"

**Three Stars**

This one starts to singing before breaking down to a typical Hip Hop track which is based on a sample from another style of music. The genre change is irrelvant as the end result is a typical success from the great producer that is K West.

The track doesn't really start until two minutes into it. In this time Ye follows the best and provides his lyrics in single syllables, before it breaks down prior to the second minute ticking by. I didn't like this wordplay, as it sounds like it could be a cover-up of his lyrics lacking in meaning. This leaves a couple of minute left, in this time he raps to a fast tempo.

Many aspects of his lyrical content seems not to be of his usual standard. Much of it is below what I think he is capable of, it sounds as if he is just saying whatever comes into his mind as a freestyle, but not even a good one. I cannot complain about the beat though. I reminds me of Clipse's "Grindin'" from the beat as it is quite simplitic and has a bassy hit to it.

5. "Good Life" (Feat. T-Pain)

**Five Stars**

This is to be the third single released from "Graduation" and it features the vocals of the R&B artist, T-Pain. This is the second collaboration from the two, and I hope to see more of this, because this time it seemed to work very well.

The track contains a samle of Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T." (Pretty Young Thing). I feel that this makes the track very funky therefore it brings a pleasant mood about. This mood is enhanced to a further extent by the great lyrics from Ye. In it he speaks on a topic he doesn't ususally comment on his wealthly life. By the time he has reached his third album, which is likely to be as successful as the preceeding ones, so he feels its time to take a look back from where he has come and comment on life now. he feels its a good life as the money comes with little effort now. He speaks of how he switched up his style to make the money pile up, something likely to continue.

The artist uses his signature voice box in the track as ususal. I feel that this adds to the uplifting sense, which surrounds the track. It is my opinion because the sound is warming to the listener. This brought about a good impression on me, and probably most other people.

6. "Can't Tell Me Nothing" (feat. Young Jeezy)

**Five Stars**

This was the first release from the album and didn't sell too well in this country, due to the lack of promotion, with few video plays on music channels it was likely to turn out this way.

Vocal snippets from Jeezy appear here which come from "I Get Money", Connie Mitchell of the Australian electronica group Sneaky Sound System appears as well for an added impact.

Just for the reason that it didn't do to well in the country should not be a put off, because I feel that it is one of the better tracks on the LP. It is a great track as the Connie Mitchell vocals are very haunting and create the impression of a highly voice speaking to Ye who he ignore. It was very effective.

7. "Barry Bonds" (feat. Lil' Wayne)

**Three Stars**

As you probably don't know, the title refers to a baseball player who managed to achieve the most career home runs, 756, this record was set this year. The track was inspired by the journey this athlete took throughout his life to hitting the home run which surpassed hank Aaron's previous record.

Kanye uses Barry Bonds as a metaphor as his name stands for so much, he's saying that he is the athlete because, he is breaking records just as him but in music rather than sports. It goes inot detail about himself as an underdog before reaching the level he is at now, competing against 50.

The track is quite a funky one by the beat isn't very regular, I can't say that it was one I enjoyed for this reason however, I found it very interesting how he managed to extend this metaphor throughout the track.

8. "Drunk & Hot Girls" (feat. Mos Def)

**Three Stars**

I was excited once I saw that Mos Def was making an appearence in the album as he is one of the last remaining Hip Hop artists with alternative lyrics that most will not get. This leaves a minority which can understand him ghetto mentality which doesn't make the listener want to pick up a gun. he is similar to Kanye in this respect, but there styles contrast heavily if you consider other aspects.

As he is an Islam-follower, I doubt that Black Dante (Mos Def) edulges in any of this activity at all. He speaks in this one how he goes around looking for people of this description to pick up. Its very clever as he sings what he would say to these women, he says phrases which are very common when you consider their state. Things are said which are humorous as you can relate well to not understanding the slurred speach and getting annoyed by the women vomitting whilst he drives.

The beat is dropped for a while as Def goes for an a cappella, I found it quite disappointing in terms of my anicipation for his inclusion in the album because the input was very minimal. The track has a very slow tempo an it reminds you of a drunken state, which borders on falling asleep.

9. "Flashing Lights" (feat. Dwele)

**Four Stars**

Dwele is an R&B singer, he was born and raised in Detroit. I didn't have thoughts before listening to this track as I hadn't heard of Dwele previous to this track. I can say that this one was pretty good.

This sounds quite similar to the Brandy's track, "Talk About Our Love", in which Kanye produced and rapped. The sound is much more like an R&B track than Hip Hop.

What Dwele brings is quite nice, he sings a short chorus which is full of soul, however I feel that his part in the song could have been done by a more well-known name though. This would have added to the overall star power of the LP without listening to the album, something required when competing againsts a rap giant, in terms of 50 Cent's prescence in the genre. It's something John Legend would have been useful for, I feel that he would have been just as good as Dwele in providing the brief melodies.

10. "Everything I Am"

**Three Stars**

This one is a slow one that is very somvre, in it Ye claims that "Everything I'm not, made me everything I am". It's my understanding that this means that he has taken influence from everything around him in order to do what others have done to succeed, resulting in what we see now in Kanye.

I must say that I prefer the up-tempo tracks a lot better, but this one has a lot of meaning to it, therefore its better to make the beat less important than the words he spits. I feel that he made this too depressing, and I feel that this isn't what he was trying to bring out, so its my opinion that it would have been better if the way he performed it was slightly more energetic.

Kanye sends out a very important message about what he isn't, this is a rapper, obsessed with promoting guns. This image reversal makes him everything he is because this makes him bigger and better than the others out there. He speaks about thing which others wouldn't such as Chicago's murder numbers last year being over 6000. the reason that others would say this is because generally rappers promote getting your own back on others and kiling them just because they dissed them.

11. "The Glory"

**Four Stars**

This one starts with a sample of "Save the Country" by Laura Nyro, it then breaks down with a typical Kanye beat, hard-hitting and full of bass. kanye then goes into a pretty general rap from him, just about himself, the Louis Vuitton Don. He claims that the main objective to get here was for the glory.

The hook lasts throughout, and contains a single line from the song mentioned previously. It can be compared to Jamie Foxx's input into "Gold Digger" in that it can get quite annoying after a few listens, because of the line being replayed throughout.Although there voices arn't recognisable from the song itslef, in the chorus Jehireh Williams, Jalil Williams Mos Def and John Legend sing. What they bring is minial, but it definately improves the chorus, otherwise it would be quite empty.

Kanye says that he would like to be compared to Big, not leaving it there assuming he means Notorious he means any of them, Big L or Pun. This leaves me wandering, because all of these died in the prime of their career, possibly he would like to follow this istead of fading out of the game.

12. "Homecoming" (feat. Chris Martin)

**Two Stars**

Chris Martin in this is the lead singer from Coldplay, as you will probably know. The track syarts with a beat that sounds very 80s, of the American pop variety, this put me off somewhat.

The song is about Ye meeting with a girl when he was three years old. This girl is who he sings about, he stars by telling of their first meeting and how there continued from there. He speaks of how he will return, I believe that this means go back to the old life without being a celebrity at the same time because the stardome alters the relationship.

I n't say that I enjoyed this track too much because the story was quite hard to grasp, the lyrics were not connecting with me and the music from Ye and Warryn campbell's production seperated me from the track further. I doubt that many could get into this song from Kanye, its my opinion that this is the only major weakpoint of the LP.

13. "Big Brother"

**Five Stars**

This refers to Jay-Z, the president of Roc-A-Fella, the person who allowed Ye to be as successful as he is by signing him to the label. He goes through the whole track talking about Jigga, because all that he has done for him. He goes through all the various stages of his relationship with him from Jay's "The Blueprint" when Ye started working with him for productions. He goes on to explain when he was once snubbed by him at Madison Square Garden, but he can understand this as the "little brother" to him.

Ye speaks on how he always felt as if Young Hov was his idol, and as West wasn't a name many had heard of, he could take advantage of him by stealing ideas and such. There is a huge prescence of bitterness in this track and the way he performs it makes it seem as though he is over it now, but he obviously isn't otherwise he wouldn't have made a track about this. The basic aim Ye was trying to explain was that Jay-Z is always going to headline and Kanye is going to have to back him up as his little brother if he wants to continue him success.

Despite all of what surrounds the track, you can tell that he is greatful for all that he has done to get him to the level he's at now, giving him mother a home and he is raking in money easily.

The production work sounds as if he has taken influence from the "Hood Rock" movemnet in Atlanta, including artist such as Montana Da Rock, DJ Unk and Shop Boyz. This is because it has a rock input despite it being rap in its primary form. This one is slow and bassy, I enjoyed it a lot. This one will never reach the level of fame of a hit like "Gold Digger" for example, because of the content explored, its also hasn't got a beat that a popular audience could relate with, I feel that this was I good idea because I'm sure Jay wouldn't like too much exposure for it.

I would have liked to see more collaborations in this album as many of them in the past have been extremly successful, most of his most recognised tracks did have other artists feature in then, for example, "Gold Digger" and "Slow Jamz". I'd say that with just a small alteration such as this, there would be a lot more going for this album.

To me, "Big Brother" is the biggest track on the album and is definately one that I'd say is of the standard of the others singles "Stronger", "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and "Good Life" in terms of how much it sticks out as a great track on the album.

Overall, "Graduation" isn't an album that anyone could just pick up and play, it has a greater depth than that, this is something you must consider because, most of it is pure Hip Hop in the original form of the genre, so many wil not be able to relate to it. I can say that a propotion of people may get into it out of curiousity, and may find a spark between yourself and it.

I will not compare this to "Curtis" because I havn't heard all of it, however, without listening to it I can probably say that there's a lot more potetial from Ye's album. The more mature audience will favour Kanye's album as much of the music is in the lyrics. Its a shame that it has to be this way because Kanye produces, or co-produces, in all but one track on the album. I probably won't listen to the rest of 50's album, because I haven't got much interest in what he has to say, and i doubt it will compare to "Graduation".

I must say that I've seen a lot more advertisement for "Curtis" than "Graduation", however I feel that this is desperation from Fiddy to get as much exposure as possilbe, because his career is on the line. I can say in response to this that Ye has been on TV, in the UK especially, around this time and so these appearances may have aided him in this battle for record sales. 

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