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Kanye West - GraduationAlbum Review by:
John Burnett
Monday, September 10, 2007
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Graduation is looked at as a time of ending one phase and transcending to the next i.e. graduating from college and moving on to the real world, which makes it an apt title for Kanye West’s latest offering. Mr. West was forced to prolong his debut as an emcee on Roc-A-Fella only to witness the development of his label mates Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel and at one point, Cam’ron, while his material was shelved without a tentative release date only to gather dust. Now, his movement casts a shadow on his past cohorts and with Graduation West plans on not only bumping shoulders with his mentor, Jay-Z, but surpassing him.
“Good Morning” reintroduces us to the cocky wit of West who humorously deems himself “the fly Malcolm X/buy any jeans necessary/Detroit Red cleaned up” over the pounding drums and wailing vocals of an Elton John sample. He briefly explains the concept of Graduation stating “you graduate when you make it up out of the streets/from the moments of pain, look how far we done came/hater’s saying you changed, now you doing ya thang.” The last verse has West revisiting the caricature of the career student who has numerous degrees but lacks practical knowledge. Ok, I think we get the point Kanye. But, “Good Morning” sets an unusually grave tone for an emcee whose work has been steeped in humor up to this point. “Champion,” which supplies a much lighter mood, picks up the pace a bit and provides some insight into why Kanye puts so much emphasis on his choice of clothes stating he was deprived of fashionable clothes as a youth until one of his father’s “hair-brained” schemes finally paid off. Kanye also intends on leaving the youth with an inspirational message concluding the track with “they used to feel invincible, now they know they’re invincible,” an optimistic and moving conclusion.
The motivation continues on “I Wonder.” The crux of the track is an anecdote about a woman trapped in a dysfunctional relationship and Ye relates to her it’s never too late to pursue your dreams when he says, “you can still be who you wish is/it ain’t happened yet and that’s what intuition is” providing an inspirational and insightful maxim for dream- seekers like himself. The album begins to lag in the middle portion with a lazy effort on the uninspiring “Good Life” and the awkwardly placed humor of “Drunk and Hot Girls.” Fortunately, the album regains momentum on the DJ Premier assisted “Everything I Am” where Kanye, in a very forthright manner, proclaims he does not understand why artists wear facades and that he cannot be anything but himself. The track comes off as honest, genuine and soulful. The album concludes with “Big Brother,” the most intimate moment on Graduation. The ballad is an elaborate discussion of the big/little brother relationship dynamic Jay-Z and Kanye have developed over the years, which begins with Kanye’s admiration of Jay from afar. Then, Ye gains confidence as his beats began to gain exposure through his work on Jay-Z’s album, Blueprint. Kanye’s high is crushed when he receives the unvitation to Jay’s Madison Square Garden concert. Next, Kanye takes the listener to his rise to fame and “sibling rivalry” with Jay that came to a halt when Jay-Z out-rhymed Kanye on the “Diamonds (Remix).” Ultimately, Kanye pays homage to his mentor by bowing down and showing due respect. “Big Brother” proves to be a special moment on this album and in Hip Hop.
Graduation’s sound production-wise is by far the most advanced of Kanye’s three albums. It has Kanye distancing himself from his usual soul samples and venturing out beyond his typical repertoire with futuristic synths and samples that show musical influences that span beyond Kanye’s usual batch of Gil Scot Heron and Nina Simone. What’s evident throughout the LP is that Kanye hasn’t found that balance where his production and emceeing combine to make extraordinary tracks yet. In most cases, the production is so elaborate and grandiose that it captures the listener’s whole attention while Kanye’s rhymes are left to play the background. With so much attention paid to the production, Kanye’s lyrical growth on this album is minute, but Kanye’s lyricism may never catch up with Jay’s but his biggest strength, which is evident in Graduation, is that he’s able to connect with the listeners in a way that Jay-Z will never be able to do because he is, for lack of better words, the average Joe. Kanye’s message of inspiration and perseverance rings true for almost anybody and on Graduation Kanye surpasses Jay-Z, artistically, but has a long way to go before he can even be mentioned in a conversation of comparison with his big brother and in the end is still one album away from a classic.
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