Customer Reviews

Graduation

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The most impressive thing about the latest album from Kanye West is it's ability to distinguish itself from it's previous counterparts.

"Graduation", the assumed final piece in West's school-themed artistic endeavours, draws much of it's potent lyrical & musical prowess from the artist's own struggles with how he's perceived within the music industry. While standout hits such as "Stronger" and "Good Life" are surefire chart toppers, songs such as "Everything I Am" and "Big Brother" reflect West's own struggles with trying to be appretiative (not upset over not winning all the awards) of his influencial position within the music industry.

With such variety and range being presented on this album, Kanye West has once again positioned himself in the running for the much coveted Album of the Year award at the 2008 Grammy Awards. The major difference between "Graduation" and his previous efforts is that his best songs lack the extremely overused musical tool, the collaboration. Kanye West has in the vast majority of cases, developed songs which have been assembled, produced, and performed solely by West himself. For the times that he does use the collaborative genius of another artist, he is capable of stretching the boundaries and encorporating individuals such as Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin, a lesson he learned in his previous album with Maroon 5's Adam Levine.

All in all, Kanye West has created an individualisitic musical journey on the "Graduation" effort and quite possibly may earn that award which has eluded him for so long.

I truly enjoy listening to this album. It arrived promptly and in perfect condition. I wanted the edited version, and fortunately, explicit words have been muted out of the songs. The only downside is that a few words were left in the songs for a couple of tracks. Still, the CD is good, and I['m satisfied.

What can I say about Kanye's genius on this album. Knowing this is not his opus, and knowing Kanye has more creativity to spill from his mind. This album marked the beginning with his love affair with instrumentation blending deep into his samples, cuts, and screws. This album is Hip-Hop for the overachievers that know the streets, but choose to stay out of them.

This was the mark of Kanye entering musical and life madness. Celebrity started to set in, and this album was the start of his release therapy. In between the the smart punchlines, love vs. misogyny lines, shameless regrets, and laments about fame, Kanye steadies the course to always self-reflect and deliver a message that we all can relate to as average joes with plus-sized IQs.

Alright so we get it, he's an awesome producer, and somewhat of a musical genius among sellout pop artists. But, Kanye's definitely not a great rapper, and if you think that you clearly haven't listened to anything besides Britney Spears and Lil John.

Anyways, I like the album, it's solid, great beats, each track is well organized and catchy. But I wouldn't say it's a modern masterpiece, just a really great pop-rap album. For the record, I'm a big Kanye fan, but I like his beats, not his rhymes, there's an enormous difference in the quality of the two.

I purchased the CD for my son and he likes it. Although I would not have purchased the CD if it had been after the awards when Kanye West humiliated Taylor Swift when she was given her award. Besides that, we like the CD just fine.

this is awesome
Good songs
Stronger
champion
i wonder
Good morning
good life
homecoming
flashing lights
can't tell me nothing
Lame songs
Every thing i am
big brother
the glory
barry bonds
overall b-
if it had only the good songs A-

I wasn't a K.W. fan before this CD. From listening to samples of his prior recordings, I think that K.W. has came a long way in the recording process and the production department.

On this disc, nearly every track is of the utmost quality regarding the writing, recording and production.

I like rap, yet I like it fused with dance, pop and r&b. 'Graduation,' has this going for it, the mix is great.

The entire CD has good music to vibe to. If you are looking for something to ride to or to get crunk to, this is it. Kanye always brings us the real side of him and that's why I appreciate his music. And for sure if I had to chose between Kanye and 50 - it's Kanye HANDS DOWN!

ShaniReviews
Keepin' It Tight
Mocha Chocolate: Taste A Piece of Ecstasy

What Kanye West has done with this album, Graduation, is give us the third part of a concept album. His previous albums were, despite their incredible quality, the first and middle acts for this, the conclusion. West is trying to take hip-hop into a place its never been before, with a sound and image its never had before. Flashing Lights, the highlight of the album, layers the standard drum patterns with string arrangements popular on Late Registration with a Euro-dance synthesizer sound which results in an incredibly layered song that only gets better the more you listen.
True, no song on this album is as introspective or political as "Jesus Walks," "All Falls Down," "Family Business," "Roses," "Crack Music" or "Hey Mama," none of the songs are supposed to be. At first, West's disappointment and frustration with America are all he can see (The College Dropout), but then he grows up a bit, and starts to ask questions about things around him and expands his sound (Late Registration) and by 2007, he has again grow up enough to recognize problems and ask questions, but doesn't try and answer those questions and has matured, allowing him to relax a bit and making him music more accessible.
Considering also the sheer quantity of music he's made outside of his own records, its amazing to listen to all three albums together. Graduation is an amazing listen, and it will be fun and interesting to see where West goes after this, now that he feels his education is complete.

I really enjoy listening to this CD, I am glad I purchased it. The price was great also and it was delivered before Christmas. Thanks Amazon.