Kanye West - Graduation
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Music Reviews of Graduation
Music Review: Valedictorian
Rating: 4 Stars
Clearly this is his greatest effort to date. To be honest, and fair, his best album was Late Registration, hands down. In much the same manner as the best ball is played BEFORE a kid reaches the pros, the same applies here. However, just like a pro player, this is a polished effort. He clearly has in sync the soul sound with his lyrics, to where he feels comfortable trying new styles (he even mimicks what a star hears when he talking to a groupie-regardless of what she says. Clearly the funniest part of the whole album). Kanye even taken the soul sound one step further, enlisting T-Pain, in true Roger Troutman fashion, singing a soul chorus OVER a soul sample on the "Good Life". In addition, Kanye also goes it alone for the majority of the cd, with only Lil Wayne assisting on "Barry Bonds". This is truly the complete evolution of the man named West.
The only drawbacks to the album are few, but keeps it, to me, from a 5 star rating. For one, the Principal from the previous 2 albums intro is missing, as it goes RIGHT into the music. Granted, i want to hear more music too, but DeRay could have played that intro one more time :). Also, the fact that he only got 1 other rapper on the CD is great, but Kanye has a VERY limited sense of conversation, and appears to be talking about the same things just on different tracks. As for that one assist from Lil Wayne, he did better off leaving Wayne off. I'm thinking, you making a song named Barry Bonds, why not get a true heavyweight that COMPLIMENT your style, ala 50 or Jay or Nas. I'm thankful that the skits are missing (rip Jimmy :)), but a little more subject matter and color would have been helpful. All in all though, a very great album, Rocafella 07 standard, just not Def Jam95 classic.
Music Review: Kanye has graduated, but not necessarily with honors
Rating: 4 Stars
This album provides a handful of instant Kanye classics, but does not live up to the usual hype that Kanye builds before he drops an album.
This album will undoubtedly surpass 50 Cent's Curtis in their album war, on lyrical content alone without even considering the impressive production from track to track.
The opening is solid, giving you a vibe for the rest of the album, and "Champion" is very fun and high-tempo with a catchy sample interlaced.
"Stronger" is one of my very favorite Kanye tracks of all time, with biggest hook he's ever used in his catalog, coming from a sample of Daft Punk. This is a club track that translates into your car with no problem.
Some of the tracks in the middle are more gritty and hip hop oriented, which works very well with the guests he uses on them.
"Barry Bonds" features Lil Wayne and "Good Life" features T-Pain, both great tracks with excellent beats and hooks.
"Cant Tell Me Nothing" was the street single before he gave us "Stronger" and is not one of my favorite tracks on the cd.
"Flashing Lights" is a great track, with a "flashy" instrumental backing a track about the finer things.
The real standout is "Homecoming" with Coldplay's Chris Martin. Chris was on a Kanye produced track called "Beach Chair" on Jay Z's comeback album Kingdom Come and it's obvious that he's capable of providing a memorable track.
Overall, I think this album is an achievement for Kanye who doesn't rely on huge names to carry his album, but to add to what he already brings to the table, lyrically.
I'm curious to see what happens after Graduation!
Music Review: Kanye West - Graduation
Rating: 3 Stars
I've been a fan of Kanye's previous two albums. I thought they were very well-put-together, very solid start-to-end. And while his newest "Graduation" is good, I'm a little confused by all of the 5-star reviews on here. I just don't see this going down as an all-time hip-hop classic.
The beats as always are great. He is one of the best producers working in the game right now; I particularly loved his work on Common's "Be" album. Kanye's rapping, as some reviewers have already stated, is alright. His style of rapping is really laid-back, you either like it or you don't. He does drop some clever verses here and there though.
The one thing that kills me though about this album is that there are some utterly unlistenable songs on here, Drunk & Hot Girls in particular. I can't imagine such a garbage song appearing on his previous two albums. It's just painful and downright disappointing. Who allowed that to go to print?
And that song helps make another point, that this album just feels too short. I listened to this on my way to work and had to take a second look to see that "Wow, I'm already back on track 1." I think they let some of the bad songs onto the album just to add some filler. Then the record company could say "Look, now it's a full-length album." Again, this would have never happened on College Dropout or Late Registration.
So overall, despite my complaints, I did actually enjoy the album. Kanye has reached the point where we have such high expectations from him, that this album just wasn't going to live up to them. It's good, yes, but not great. Kanye's Graduation gets a C+ from me. (The cover though gets an A+)
Music Review: top of his class
Rating: 4 Stars
Many years some young kid up in the bronx took an extremely simple synth part by an german techno group. put some 808 drums on it and the rest was history, before this time all mc had to rap too was straight disco and rock instrumentals(whole records not just samples). THIS IS THE TRUE HISTORY OF HIP HOP LIKE IT OR NOT.
Being a good student, Kanye studied this formula and mastered. For my true hip hop heads( not just fans) out there we know no one "chops" samples like kanye since the days of pete rock, easy mo b, and primo. You can clearly see that some of his teachers have been RZA, Puffy, Pete Rock, Easy Mo B, J dilla, and Eric Sermon
He's not rakim, nas, biggie,or eminem lyrically, but neither is most of today's mc's. please be honest most of todays mc's are very bad ( crank that soldier boy!!), but they still have there place in hip hop, like bizmark did back in the day.
But kanye is not afraid to be original, like that young kid up in the bronx (circa 81) no one in the bronx was playing german techno in the early 80's and are not now for that fact. Bambaataa's daring creativity basically laid the foundation for hip hop( musically speaking).
Kanye uses artist from across the sea's because he's the same kind of music visionary that the early hip hop founders were.
There are some weak points on the cd, of course being creative can go terribly wrong, kanye also proves this on some tracks.
Too me it's not a classic, but it a very good cd and I think it will grow on many people and win new hip hop fans, It shows another side to hip hop that 50 just doesn't show.
Music Review: Not as Great as College Dropout, But Still Good
Rating: 3 Stars
First of all, I want to clear up that this is not a bias review. I bought 50 Cent's album too. They are two entirely different albums and two different artists. Anyway, Kanye West's "Graduation" is a solid album. It is made up of 13 good songs that do not need to be skipped through. Every song should hold the interest of the listener. He pushed his creativity on his third album. The beats are not as polished as his recent efforts, however they still are very intertesting. I would rank this album his second best after his debut album, "Late Registeration."
I think Kanye, just like many other artists, bank on their star status too often. Like I said, his beats are very well produced on this album, but his lyrics are sub-par. Beats can only take you so far, just ask Pharrell. I could name many albums that have been released this year that are overall a better product than "Graduation." Kanye has transistioned from the backpack rapper (much like Talib Kweli, Mos Def) from his first album to the celebrity he is on this thir album. It is hip-hop, yet not considered rap in my opinion. Clipse's "Hell Hath No Fury", Talib Kweli's "Ear Drum" or Common's new one. Kanye is not as great as an MC as he thinks he his. He even solidifies himself as being in the top 5 MCs alive. Yes, he is a beatsmith master, but he is not a legend just yet. I do enjoy listening to his new album, but it is not the best of the year by any means. It is worth picking up, but don't expect a masterpiece.
Stand out tracks:
Stronger
I Wonder
Drunk and Hot Girls
Everything I Am