Kanye's Graduation: a well-crafted hip-hop dissertation

By: Jeremy Kollie

Posted: 9/18/07

Graduating is a celebratory experience. It's the culmination of the previous four (or five, in some cases) years of hard work, hard times and its rewards all captured in one event.

It comes as no surprise that Kanye West's new album, Graduation, fits that mold almost to a T. It's been four years since West first enrolled in the game with College Dropout, and he's showing signs that he might be leaving magna cum laude.

Graduation gives us a first glimpse into what West calls "stadium music," an idea he conceived after performing with U2 and realizing that there was no such longevity for artists in hip hop.

The often-controversial MC shakes his audience out of their sleep with the album's intro, "Good Morning." The song pairs an airy, angelic voice sample with thumping kicks that allows West to speak on his ambitious ways with clever lines like, "Good morning and look at the valedictorian, scared of the future while I hop in the De Lorean."

The skilled rapper-producer switches up the tempo with the uplifting "Champion" and the 80's-style throwback "Stronger." The former uses a reggae rhythm to craft a gem that easily becomes an anthem for depressed and downtrodden people who have hopes aimed toward the stars.

The latter samples electronic music duo Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" for a track that is sure to send listeners on a cyber-sonic trip that differs from anything heard in today's hip-hop environment.

West changes speeds with the introspective "I Wonder," where the five-time Grammy winner ponders "what it all really means" over sweeping violins and synthesizers that give this selection an ambience all of its own.

West then gets the party in gear with the T-Pain-assisted "Good Life." The dreadlocked R&B sensation aids the G.O.O.D. Music label head with his famous synthesizer voice effect, crooning the lyrics, "Better than the life I lived, when I thought that I was gonna go crazy / Now my grandmama ain't the only one calling me baby ," while West describes all the good things life has to offer.

The scene then becomes dramatic when the first "Laaa, La, La, La's"' of "Can't Tell Me Nothing" come seeping through the speakers. Samples of Indian vocals and Young Jeezy's infamous adlibs set the backdrop while West gets his tough talk on with lines like, "Excuse me, are you saying something?/ Uh-Uh, you can't tell me nothing."

The album takes its first dips with the Lil' Wayne-assisted "Barry Bonds" and the Mos Def-featured "Drunk and Hot Girls." The former makes use of a lackluster Weezy F. Baby verse that the album, in all honesty, could have done without.

The latter, unless you are in the mood to hear about drunk and hot girls (repeatedly, I might add), gets a bit annoying after a while and reduces lyrical savant, Mos Def, to singing backup.

West is able to right the ship, however, as he delivers the brilliant Dwele-featured selection "Flashing Lights," in which he speaks on that all-to-common celebrity relationship killer, the Paparazzi.

West addresses his haters with the ragtime-piano sampling on "Everything I Am," a beat that G.O.O.D. music artist and Common passed on and West "made into a jam."

West does a good job of describing just how entranced people are with his every move with lines like, "People talk so much **** about me at barbershops, they forget to get their hair cut."

The "Louis Vuitton Don" picks it up with "The Glory," a track that lets fans know just why West does what he does with bars like, "The hood love to listen Jeezy and Weezy, and oh yeah Yeezy ... I did it for the glory."

Mr. West winds the album down with probably two of the most brilliantly written songs of his career, save for "Jesus Walks" and "Through the Wire." The first, "Homecoming," which features the styling of Coldplay's Chris Martin, serves as a story about West's beloved hometown Chicago, much in the same vein of Common's classic "I Used to Love H.E.R.".

West even goes as far to borrow the opening lines from his label mate as he spits, "I met this girl when I was three years old, and what I loved most she had so much soul / She said 'Excuse me, little homie, I know you don't know me, but my name is Wendy (Windy) and I like to blow trees.'"

The last song on the album, "Big Brother", is an ode to label head and longtime collaborator and friend, Jay-Z, who West admits he has always strived to be like with rhymes like, "At the Grammy's I said 'I inspired me', but my big brother who I always tried to be."

Kanye makes his point with Graduation and lets the world know that he's a far cry from that nervous freshman just trying to make a name for himself.

Now he's a confident, (and sometimes cocky) senior and if he keeps churning out records like this, he has a very bright future in the institution of music.