Kanye West saw himself as a rock star long before he would call himself “the biggest rockstar on the planet” in 2013. For evidence of this look no further than Graduation, the final album of his Education trilogy and the one least to do with anything about education. The album that was birthed from his time as a supporting act for that other famous 80’s band, U2 (does that joke even work anymore? Fuck it), and whose ambitious size would greatly influence the style of this album. Kanye was already playing to big stadiums, and although Late Registration certainly had a grand and epic sound he wanted something more in line with the arena rock acts that were populating the charts in this period of time. As a result he would move away again from the trusted and reliable style he had cultivated; in fact it’s kind of remarkable to see not just how many musical leaps Kanye has made in the 12 years of his career, but how much he had made with the first three, least experimental albums.
However he didn’t achieve this by pulling samples primarily from arena rock bands like Coldplay or the Killers, though their sounds are accounted for. Indeed Graduation has a more diverse range than even some of the indie acts Yeezy was pulling from, ranging electronica, disco and rock of the classic, hard and even kraut variety in “Drunk and Hot Girls”. Yet despite this experimentation, it is mostly of the same sound. The best word I could use to describe it would be “metallic”, but that would be beyond obvious things like the Daft Punk sample. Where they was once soul, there are synths. Where there were once bongos, there are now cowbells. Kanye has made louder and lusher albums before and after this one, but of Kanye’s whole discography this is the one with the most expansive sound.
Yet it also creates this by scaling down intent. The first noticeable example of this in Graduation is the lack of skits, and although they never bothered me on the last two albums I am not upset by their non-inclusion. The next scaling back is the lack of guest verses, though 2008’s MVP Lil Wayne is still here and guest spots are saved for the hooks instead. The final scale back is of political intent in exchange for something that is more first person. Many accounts say that this album is where Kanye decided to get “more personal”, but I wouldn’t say this is more or less personal than accounts of his family in the previous two. Indeed given how much of a turn his lyrics would take in 808’s and Heartbreak, this lacks the cryptic nature I associate with Kanye spilling his guts out on record.
As a result Graduation is an album caught into between two periods. The sound, intent and lack of education themes on an album called Graduation suggests Kanye’s disconnect with the box he had put himself in with The College Dropout’s immediate success. At the same time its personality is not yet at the compelling, almost solipsistic intensity it would be in future releases. You can almost feel this personality tear in the album itself; the first half is predominately the celebratory, party anthems, and it moves into the second half with more self reflective numbers (but, of all of Kanye’s releases, I think this has the most pronounced drop in the second half in consistency). Yet despite the seeming negative tone of these statements, this is ultimately incredibly successful as West’s party album; in terms of pure aesthetic I prefer this to The College Dropout, and it also contains many of my all time favourite songs from ‘Ye.
Graduation begins with “Good Morning”, the song that is most connected to the education themes of the previous two records. The Elton John sample and synths give the sensation of waking up on a summer’s day as the alarm goes, and the pronounced cowbell hits give the percussion a forceful yet still sleepy feel. Meanwhile Kanye’s lyrics talk about his about education in association with the real world, and comparing his failures in school – with that “D’s motherfucker D’s, Rosie Perez” line that I think is a precursor to the “hashtag” rap that became intolerable in the 2010s – to people who failure due to the homogenisation of American education. Oh, and I really love the music video.
The first half of Graduation sticks very much with that triumphant tone, clearly evidenced by the next song on this album being entitled “Champion”. The lyrics cover a couple topics amidst the celebration, such as growing up middle-class yet still with financial problems, his relationship with entertainment with comparisons to Lauryn Hill and Prince, and the irony of The College Dropout keeping some kids in school. It’s only a short song, but it is among the most creative beats on the album, using the jazz rock from Steelys Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne” and from that adding propulsive synthesisers and a reggae dancehall hook.
Good Morning: “They tell you read this, eat this, don’t look around/ Just peep this, preachers, teach us, Jesus/ Okay look up now, they done stoled yo’ streetness/ After all of that you received this”
Champion: “When it feel like living’s harder than dying/ For me giving up’s way harder than trying/ Lauryn Hill said her heart was in Zion/ I wish her heart still was in rhyming” (Too fucking right, Yeezy).
But that sample is nowhere near as iconic as “Stronger”, which was based around Daft Punk’s already famous “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”. Unlike many of those kind of examples where it is essentially only picked for recognition purposes, it instead used to enhance the exultant tone of the song. It allegedly took eighty mixes to get the version that eventually made it on to the record – with some help from Timbaland before credit went to Kanye production mainstay Mike Dean – which is impressive as it almost sounds like a straight up lift from the original song. But with the added 808 drums and synths it becomes its own entity, using an old Nietzche quote and building a straight up club classic. It also stretches his rhymes further, with such examples as rhyming “Apollonia” with “Isotoner” (and “Klondike” with “blonde dyke”, which is much less successful and is the kind of corny line that becomes more common). Hey, remember when people would actually wear those stupid shades? Crazy times.
After the banger of “Stronger” comes the calmer anthem of “I Wonder”. This quiet piano hook contrasts a lot with Kanye’s diction in the verses, all the words of which are very loud and pronounced. though that does fit with the drum’s and synths for the majority of the song, which by the end mixes with some actual violins to show the song as a Late Registration/Graduation hybrid. At first glance one might think this is going to move into a Kaye sex anthem, but instead the majority song speaks to women about following their own dreams without having to feel the pressures of men or family. Though he still tells them that their breasts arouse him. Oh Kanye, you sly dog!
Stronger: “Bow in the presence of greatness/Cause right now thou hast forsaken us/You should be honored by my lateness/ That I would even show up to this fake shit
I Wonder: “On that independent shit/ Trade it all for a husband and some kids/ You ever wonder what it all really mean?/ You wonder if you’ll ever find your dreams?
This moves on to maybe the most obvious club hit of all, with the always drunk and always horny T-Pain (the male Ke$ha) lending his trademark autotuned voice to the hook of “Good Life”. This meeting would be important for the direction of Kanye’s next album, but you wouldn’t think from what a good time this song is, using the “P.Y.T” sample and continuously building upon as the party atmosphere increases. This is the most obvious party anthem that Kanye ever wrote, but is no better or worse for being so. And that dumb “Snakes on a Plane” line makes me laugh every time.
The final song of this run of quality was also the album’s first single, “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”. A direct response to critics of his more controversial media appearances – of which there would be many more! – this song was the template for the album to come, the cowbell rhythm sounding like the hammer to anvil of Gradution. Surprisingly rare for Kanye is not built on an existing sample (though still has though Connie Mithcell vocals to add texture), instead the horn and strings sound rise and decline like the best of arena rock. Kanye’s lyrics here are both passionate and sarcastic, and I’ve always liked how Kanye incorporates his dlievery into the very context of the song (“they say I talk with so much emphasis/oooh they is so sensitive”).
Good Life: “Have you ever popped champagne on a plane, while gettin some brain/ Whipped it out, she said “I never seen Snakes on a Plane”
Can’t Tell Me Nothing: “I’m just saying how I feel man/ I ain’t one of the Cosby’s, I ain’t go to Hillman/ I guess the money should’ve changed him/ I guess I should’ve forgot where I came from”
Unfortunately the quality run ends with “Barry Bonds”, and its broken by the fact that Kanye broke his own guest verse rule. The first half is not too bad, mainly for the dark bouncing beat with light keyboard lines over the top, and Kanye’s braggadocio is in line with the rest of the album so far. No, as always the stench comes from professional turd comparer Lil Wayne. It’s not just that the “Best Rapper Alive” is nearly always terrible, but he’s terrible in a completely uninteresting way. The forced “typo rhymes”, rhyming “bitch” with “shit” and of course rhyming words with themselves are abound here, and of course his delivery which sounds like he just woke up in the studio and talking about the only three topics he ever talks about. Still, at least he isn’t playing guitar.
I wish I would say this is just a blip, but unfortunately “Drunk and Hot Girls” is not hugely better. Now, I can never truly dislike something that samples Can, and indeed the sample built from “Sing Swan Song” has a real swaying beat to it and with the interpolations really has the inebriated atmosphere the song is going for. And Kanye keeps his traditional of getting conscious performers (Mos Def) to do silly songs. My main problem with this song is that I wish that the beat was used, if not for a different song, then at least for something where the sing-song rhythm is not the same throughout. Why is this the one Jon Brion had to be on?
Barry Bonds: “I done played the underdog my whole career/ I’ve been a very good sport, haven’t I, this year”
Drunk and Hot Girls: “Love the dangerous necessity that people seek/Without regard to where they are” (was stretching for these two”
Thankfully the next song, “Flashing Lights”, makes up for the previous two with what is probably the best beat on the whole album. It has the chilled out feel of old school hip-hop, has the graceful orchestral strings building up throughout the song, and then of course the synths and 808 claps that combines all the best elements of this period of Kanye’s production into one song. The flashing lights in question are both of the club and the camera’s of the paparazzi, and through this story of Kanye’s break up is both critical of the press and, in a flip of the chorus, himself (proof that music Kanye is definitely more self aware than tabloid Kanye).
“Everything I Am” is also of the contemplative ilk, moving to a quieter piano ballad in the manner that many of the arena rock anthems would also move into. Bringing DJ Premier to bring his record scratches over a calm Prince sample (and not produce the thing? Hey, Yeezy is Yeezy) which perfectly contrasts with Kanye’s tight and stressed personality as he raps on his fame and position in Chicago, as well as comments on his behaviour before the world reacted as though the VMA Awards were important in any way. The last verse seems the most personal, showing both his frustrations with the violence of Chicago and continuing his ongoing complicated relationship with religion.
Flashing Lights: “til I got flashed by the paparazzi/ Damn, these niggas got me/ I hate these niggas more than a Nazi” (Don’t hold your thoughts in Kanye. Say how you feel).
Everything I Am: ” People talk so much shit about me at barbershops/They forget to get their hair cut/ Ok, fair enough, the streets is flaring up/ Cause they want gun talk,”
The religious nature of the ending moves on nicely to to the spiritual themed sample of “The Glory” (Laura N’yo “Save the Country”). But, in a proto-“Blood on the Leaves”, ‘Ye uses this spiritual base to talk about materialism and the search for fame. A good idea, but although the rest of the accompaniment is nice (particularly the strings), this is a definite drop off from the previous two. I also have to admit this is the one Kanye song where I cannot stand the pitched up sample. Makes sense in the context of the album, but considering both songs in between it are piano based, I think this is a nice piece of variety instead of a great track in its own right.
That piano based follow is “Homecoming”, the final single off the album. This song was around as early as the Get Well Soon mixtape, but this one replaces that traditional chipmunk soul beat with a bouncy piano beat supplied by Coldplay’s Chris Martin. The central metaphor – using the framework of Common’s “I Used to Know H.E.R” to talk about Chicago instead of rap music – is admittedly badly structured (I must admit I thought for a long time I thought this was the hip-hop equivalent of “Disco 2000”), but it contains some individually great lines that some up his relationship with his hometown with emotional honest. The message might be muddled, but the sincerity still comes throughout the song in abound.
The Glory: “So yeah, at the Grammys I went ultra Travolta/ Yeah that tuxedo might have been a little guido/ But with my ego/ I can stand there in a speedo/ And be looked at like a fucking hero
Homecoming: “And from that point I never blow her off/ Niggas come from out of town, I like to show her off/ They like to act tough, she like to tow ’em off/ And make ’em straighten up their hat cause she know they soft.
This is also true for “Big Brother”, his tribute song to Jay-Z in the aftermath of some turbulent times of Rockafella records (and links to the Coldplay connection in the last song). Of course that doesn’t matter too much now, and his story that he tells is noticeably clunkier than other sincere tributes like “Hey Mama” (and we don’t learn much more than we did on The College Dropout). But the beat here is still good, with synths that almost be described as wilting, and beautiful piano lines over a big 808 beat. Between this and “Everything I Am”, the melancholy that would permeate 808’s and Heartbreak.
“Good Night” is officially a bonus track on the album, but as this album opened with “Good Morning” I’m not going to entertain the idea that this isn’t the finale. It has a stranger and higher sub bass compared to rest of the album, and just as “Good Morning” sounded like a sunny day, the lead samples of this song feel very much like a lullaby. It works conceptually, being both a goodbye song that engages with the triumphant tone of the first half, even if it is a bit anticlimactic as the end to such a big sounding album (though maybe that’s why it’s the bonus track; to avoid those criticisms).
Big Brother: “And I’m like “Yeah, yeah, we gon’ be there” but/ Not only did I not get a chance to spit it/ Carline told me I could buy two tickets.”
Good Night: “But it’ll fade before I get to get a hold of that/ Man I wish I could stop time like a photograph/ Every joke that they told I’d know to laugh/ Man (man), I wouldn’t let a moment pass
Despite some weaker tracks in the second half of the album, Graduation works best when it manages to combine that self grandeur and reflection with epic music that is still perfect for parties today. It showed Kanye’s continued willingness to push with experimentations in both sound and perspective.
But those descriptions would not be much compared to what happened next. After such a celebratory album was the big comedown; between albums Kanye would separate with his longtime fiancé, and his mum would tragically pass away during a plastic surgery operation that Kanye had helped to pay for. With all that tragedy built up in such a short amount of time, would go into the studio with musical ideas he thought best to reflect that. The result was an album that no one knew what to make of…
What did you think, though?
Kanye West Album Rankings
- Late Registration
- Graduation
- The College Dropout