Graduation - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Album Description
Graduation is the 3rd installment in the Kanye West series of ground breaking albums, targeting every school kid, from those that have dropped out (Debut Album, College Dropout), to those late registrants (sophmore album Late Registration), to those that have gone on and completed school (current album Graduation). Though technically this earmarks a junior year, West's approach to crafting this album was very much senior. Kanye teams up with veterans Daft Punk and Edwin Birdsong on "Stronger"- Graduation's forthcoming single; as well as enlisting a little help from current chart topper T-Pain on "Good Life". Chris Martin of Coldplay appears on a track called "HomeComing" as well. Kanye has continued to prove his understanding and appreciation for a wide array of music and musical influences. What makes GRADUATION so special? Like most Kanye titles, his fearlessness and blindness to inhibiting boundaries, coupled with his fan driven core competence is evidence that he knows exactly what people yearn for...great music, perspective, and a voice to be heard.

Album Description
Graduation is the 3rd installment in the Kanye West series of ground breaking albums, targeting every school kid, from those that have dropped out (Debut Album, College Dropout), to those late registrants (sophmore album Late Registration), to those that have gone on and completed school (current album Graduation). Though technically this earmarks a junior year, West's approach to crafting this album was very much senior. Kanye teams up with veterans Daft Punk and Edwin Birdsong on Stronger- Graduation's forthcoming single; as well as enlisting a little help from current chart topper T-Pain on Good Life. Chris Martin of Coldplay appears on a track called HomeComing as well. Kanye has continued to prove his understanding and appreciation for a wide array of music and musical influences. What makes GRADUATION so special? Like most Kanye titles, his fearlessness and blindness to inhibiting boundaries, coupled with his fan driven core competence is evidence that he knows exactly what people yearn for...great music, perspective, and a voice to be heard.

Amazon.com
Kanye West's third in a whimsical trilogy of "scholarly" albums, Graduation wears its predecessors' badges of success on its sleeve. Matriculation has its rewards, apparently, and it's time to take stock. Lyrically, there's plenty of self-congratulation to attend to, but the real fun comes in the collabs, and West chooses co-conspirators like a kid in a candy store--John Legend ("Good Life"), Coldplay's Chris Martin ("Homecoming"), Mos Def and the Section Quartet (both adorable choices for the foreboding "Drunk and Hot Girls")--and plucks samples with A-list braggadocio: Elton John, Steely Dan, Daft Punk, Can, Michael Jackson, Public Enemy. Nothing here quite captures the superlative symbiosis of West's past best beats (think "Gold Digger"), but the central motif remains: No one ever accused Kanye West of being too cool for school, and Graduation still knows how to party. True, Kanye West will happily whine about the pitfalls at the top of the heap, clear his throat and try to rhyme it with Barry Bonds, or diss fish in a barrel all day, but that can't stop a shameless good time, and Graduation maintains an unshakeable knack for producing it. --Jason Kirk

Customer Reviews: Read 284 more reviews...

1 out of 5 stars

I'm tired of hearing this album already September 11, 2007
78 out of 117 found this review helpful

What can I say about this album. I will never understand what the hype is about Kanye. I get tired of hearing how great his album is because he sampled some obscure band from the 80s. Lets talk about Kanye's rapping talent. The rhymes on Can't Tell Me Nothing remind me of some white kids "rapping" in their cafeteria. "I feel pressure, under more scrutiny, And I do, What act more stupidly?" Under more scrutiny, Kanye should work harder not to make whack rhymes. For an artist that's fan base talks about his humility and internal strife, Kanye does nothing but declare himself God and announce his greatness on the "hit" Stronger. I hope this is the last of the trilogy. Maybe now that Kanye is graduated his next contribution will be "Getting a Real Job."

4 out of 5 stars

A more conscious and mature effort. September 11, 2007
72 out of 77 found this review helpful

Kanye West is thoughtful ("Everything I'm not, made me everything I am," he explains on "Everything I Am") and has a voice like honey and a breathtakingly broad musical palette.
On his third album, West wants that acceptance on a big piece of paper, rolled up in a ribbon and presented to him in front of the applauding world. To make sure that everyone had the date in their diary, he pulled the release forward to clash with his nemesis, 50 Cent. But why bother? If anyone was going to get the prize for coming top of the class right now, it would be West.
"Graduation" sums up the qualities that made West a star: smart sampling, funny pitched-up vocals, a new found maturity, sagacious rapping and a finely attuned ear for infectious beats and rhythms.
There are also a couple of new ingredients: steely, electro synths from Daft Punk on "Stronger" and Caribbean lilts on "Good Life".
He's even got rappers' favourite indie boy Chris Martin doing his best Gilbert O'Sullivan impression on "Homecoming".
Despite all this, something about "Graduation" feels a bit cold.
The goofy glamour of "Gold Digger" and "Touch the Sky" have been edged out by over-earnest, gratingly repetitive self-promotion and an underlying sense of isolation and paranoia. And for all his right-on credentials, "Drunk & Hot Girls" veers close to hip-hop's tired old misogyny.
Kanye West is a 'conscious' rapper whose album samples Steely Dan and kraut rock beards Can; who muses on the stress of success; and who likes speeded up chipmunk vocals.
"Graduation" will leave some fans cold (it's a pop album that takes hip hop further into mainstream dance culture).
The album has magnificent moments (the Daft Punk-sampling "Stronger", the wonderfully upbeat "Good Life") but is weighed down by navel-gazing and pales in comparison to "Late Registration" and "College Dropout".
And yet, the record is beguiling and addictive: you want to go back and listen again as all those shiny, unexpected layers reveal themselves.
"Graduation" might yet to turn out to be as important as West thinks it is.

1 out of 5 stars

Tasteless September 11, 2007
66 out of 117 found this review helpful

Very tasteful of Mr. West to release his work on 9/11. I hope no one every tries to capitalize on his misfortune someday.

1 out of 5 stars

1 because i can't give it negative stars September 11, 2007
64 out of 84 found this review helpful

or else it would be "-5 stars". This cd is ridiculously disappointing. I only half way like TWO of the songs. I should have spent my money on the 50 cd instead. This cd made me not like Kanye anymore.

1 out of 5 stars

Kanye Killed Hip Hop September 12, 2007
64 out of 83 found this review helpful

The most depressing thing about this album to me is the fact that people believe this is "real hip hop." Not that it is my place to in any way decide what is categorized as "real" and what is not but for one to make that decision I believe they must have a wide perspective of the genre. I have been in rap production for several years and I understand that sampling is as much a part of modern hip hop as anything else but there is a fine line between a sample and a remix. I think Kanye's work on "The Blueprint" was some of the best producing in modern hip hop, and it is clear he has headed in a different direction from that. With that being said most people, even his biggest supporters, will agree Kanye is in the "lower end" of rappers when it comes to his lyricism. Not that everyone should sound like a carbon copy of Blackstar, but to me Lyricism means putting meaning behind what you say. So when I look at this CD all I really see is a collection of over the top beats and mediocre rhymes.

When alls said and done I believe this CD epitomizes the war cry of "hip hop is dead" because it shows fans with no perspective outside of what it thrown at them on MTV. If you like this CD that's great, I understand its catchy and easy to listen to, just please also listen to Illmatic by Nas, Reasonable Doubt by Jay Z, Ready to Die by Biggie or All Eyes on Me by Tupac before you grace this with five stars.

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