Kanye West really likes himself and isn't afraid to show it. But all his ego-driven rants aside, his new album "Graduation" feels more like the genius of a producer who needed a ghost writer. "Graduation" will still blow up, and the most popular single, "Stronger," will be stuck in your head for the next few months, but the album as a whole is a hit-or-miss work that survives only because of Kanye's undeniable ability to create memorable beats.
The promotional hype to "Graduation" was huge. Kanye's fan base has been waiting almost three years for 'Ye's junior installment. The album dropped on Sept. 11 along with 50 Cent's new album "Curtis." Even more publicity followed when Fiddy promised to give up his solo career if Kanye outsold him. Kanye's up 125,000 and counting. But 50's not going away anytime soon; his next album is set to be released in 2008.
The competition with 50 aside, "Graduation" shows again why Kanye is such an acclaimed producer. He samples just about anything, including Elton John, Steeley Dan and a Daft Punk loop on the catchy "Stronger." The one consistent part of the album is the unbelievable production quality that really deserves to be heard on something better than iPod headphones.
The good parts of the album really are worth a listen. Kanye starts with "Good Morning," which is his only throwback to the scholastic theme of his last two albums. The Elton John sample and piano dominated beat gently introduce the listener to the album.
His collaboration on "Homecoming" with Coldplay front man Chris Martin, whose voice is perfectly complimented by Kanye's beat, makes for an instantly lovable song. "Stronger" and "Champion" are such great showcases of modern hip hop beats that you can ignore the mediocre lyrics just to hear the synthesizer-laced beat.
One of the best tracks is at the end of the album. "Big Brother" is somehow both a challenge and an ode to Jay-Z. Angry at being held out of the limelight, but thankful for the exposure he gained as a successful producer, Kanye pulls it off without sounding too angry or too emo. Many of the other tracks, like "The Glory," "Everything I Am" and "The Good Life" featuring the Tallahassee hero himself T-Pain, seem fairly bland at first, but by the second or third listen you'll be humming the tunes.
Kanye's inventive beats can cover a lot of holes, but some of the lyrics are so bad that they can't escape notice. He changes his style to a slower, more deliberate flow in this album, which is fine when he says things like "Heard they'd do anything for a klondike/Well I'd do anything for a blonde dyke/And she'll do anything for the limelight" in "Stronger."
The slowly delivered lines on the chorus of "Barry Bonds," however, are simply terrible, and not even the hot boy himself Lil Wayne can save it. Mos Def should be ashamed to waste his talents singing on the song "Drunk Hot Girls," which should have been hilarious but flops worse than anything Kanye has ever released.
A disjointed track listing doesn't hide the misses on "Graduation." Instead of staying with the cantankerous black man in the skits and expanding on the school theme of his previous two albums, Kanye goes in a completely different direction.
This album has 13 tracks, and with no skits, has a haphazard feel to it. Is this a statement about the unpredictability of life after college, a treatise on the intransitive nature of existence, or just a bunch of tracks that didn't make the cut in previous albums thrown together with a few new singles? Who knows, but it could have used a funny skit and a theme to tie it together.
"Graduation" is worth listening to, and it's definitely worth buying if you're already a Kanye fan. But don't expect anything powerful from the non-singles. There are no amazing surprises like "Spaceship" or "Crack Music" whose lyrics will move you, make you think, or make you laugh. Kanye has given us another showcase of ridiculous beats, but this album is only marginally better than "Late Registration" (2005) and can't compare to "The College Dropout" (2004). So thanks, Kanye, but please check the ego a little, and for the next album, write those truthful lyrics that made your entrance into hip hop so amazing.
