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intereact!Kanye West
Retail Price (not our price): $13.98
Release Date: 2007-09-11
Manufacturer: Roc-A-Fella Records
Format: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Track List
Now here, for your listening pleasure, the tracks...
| Disc 1 |
Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
1) Amazon.com
Kanye West's third in a whimsical trilogy of "scholarly" albums, Graduation wears its predecessors' badges of success on its sleeve. Matriculation has its rewards, apparently, and it's time to take stock. Lyrically, there's plenty of self-congratulation to attend to, but the real fun comes in the collabs, and West chooses co-conspirators like a kid in a candy store--John Legend ("Good Life"), Coldplay's Chris Martin ("Homecoming"), Mos Def and the Section Quartet (both adorable choices for the foreboding "Drunk and Hot Girls")--and plucks samples with A-list braggadocio: Elton John, Steely Dan, Daft Punk, Can, Michael Jackson, Public Enemy. Nothing here quite captures the superlative symbiosis of West's past best beats (think "Gold Digger"), but the central motif remains: No one ever accused Kanye West of being too cool for school, and Graduation still knows how to party. True, Kanye West will happily whine about the pitfalls at the top of the heap, clear his throat and try to rhyme it with Barry Bonds, or diss fish in a barrel all day, but that can't stop a shameless good time, and Graduation maintains an unshakeable knack for producing it. --Jason Kirk2) Album Description
Graduation is the 3rd installment in the Kanye West series of ground breaking albums, targeting every school kid, from those that have dropped out (Debut Album, College Dropout), to those late registrants (sophmore album Late Registration), to those that have gone on and completed school (current album Graduation). Though technically this earmarks a junior year, West's approach to crafting this album was very much senior. Kanye teams up with veterans Daft Punk and Edwin Birdsong on "Stronger"- Graduation's forthcoming single; as well as enlisting a little help from current chart topper T-Pain on "Good Life". Chris Martin of Coldplay appears on a track called "HomeComing" as well. Kanye has continued to prove his understanding and appreciation for a wide array of music and musical influences. What makes GRADUATION so special? Like most Kanye titles, his fearlessness and blindness to inhibiting boundaries, coupled with his fan driven core competence is evidence that he knows exactly what people yearn for...great music, perspective, and a voice to be heard.3) Album Description
Graduation is the 3rd installment in the Kanye West series of ground breaking albums, targeting every school kid, from those that have dropped out (Debut Album, College Dropout), to those late registrants (sophmore album Late Registration), to those that have gone on and completed school (current album Graduation). Though technically this earmarks a junior year, West's approach to crafting this album was very much senior. Kanye teams up with veterans Daft Punk and Edwin Birdsong on Stronger- Graduation's forthcoming single; as well as enlisting a little help from current chart topper T-Pain on Good Life. Chris Martin of Coldplay appears on a track called HomeComing as well. Kanye has continued to prove his understanding and appreciation for a wide array of music and musical influences. What makes GRADUATION so special? Like most Kanye titles, his fearlessness and blindness to inhibiting boundaries, coupled with his fan driven core competence is evidence that he knows exactly what people yearn for...great music, perspective, and a voice to be heard.
Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5
1) Impressive CD [Rating: 5 out of 5]
I first noticed Kanye from Late Registration, well let me go further back than that. When he had the accident and did "All Fall Down". Then my daughter kept playing Big Brother, and I had to finally ask look, who is that? and she told me, I finally sat down and listened to the cd myself and I am impressed. Kanye has a good album and I love "Welcome to the Good Life",#6 "You Can't Tell Me Nothing","Flashing Lights"(like Katrina with no FEMA, like Martin with no Gena, like a flight with no visa etc)#10 "Everything I Am",#11(the title escapes me), and the last and certainly best "Big Brother" to his mentor Jay Z.Folks may say what they will, but the fact that he just took home a couple of Grammys say that the brother has talent.2) Don't get it [Rating: 1 out of 5]
Music plays and he just talks over it. Can't believe I own this piece of junk.3) The man's almost single-handedly expanding hip hop's boundaries [Rating: 4 out of 5]
As far as mainstream rap music goes, Kanye keeps putting it down for all the legions of "underground" hip hop acts whose talent and creativity get marginalized because they're not dropping hip hop nursery rhyme crap that's downright crippling radio airplay lists these days.I bought this release when it dropped but deliberately put off a first listen (minus the inescapable singles "Can't Tell Me Nothing," "Stronger" and "Good Life" which you'd have to be living under a rock to have not heard out at a party/club/bar/lounge/hot spot) until now.Now that the 50 v. Ye hype is history and the Grammys have past, here's what I understand about "Graduation." It's another strong release from Kanye who keeps getting better and better as a rapper and continues to be bold enough to experiment with hip hop's sound. This album, conceptually, is nothing like the refreshing "College Dropout" or the more emotion-driven "Late Registration" (both great albums). The highlight of "Graduation" is most definitely the success he has blending a more funky, almost alternative rock-edged sound and making it hip hop.To make a third hip hop album that's still worth your money in this day and age of throwaway music is no small feat. Afterall, look at what most of this decade's quote/unquote new hip hop superstars did on Album 3(note: Trick Daddy, Lil Wayne and Eminem don't count b/c technically they all dropped in the '90s) -- 50 Cent's "Curtis" (garbage, not that I'd even consider buying a 50 album), Nelly's "Sweat Suit" (more crap), Chingy's "HoodStar" (self-explanatory). That leaves T.I. and Ludacris as Kanye's only peers by my count.My only wish is that the blazing hot track "Classic" he did with Nas, Rakim and KRS-One over a throwback-sounding DJ Premier beat had made this album (visit youtube if you haven't heard this song).I would've given this LP five-stars alone for that one!Otherwise, Kanye succeeds in delivering an album worth the money and a third straight project that goes above and beyond anything else that's out at the moment.4) The Soundtrack To Scanners [Rating: 1 out of 5]
I had to turn this off because I thought my head was going to explode.5) Oh So very Close to PERFECT. [Rating: 4 out of 5]
BOTTOM LINE:There are two songs on here I cared NOTHING FOR AT ALL. I think we all know what they are...other than that I thoroughly enjoy this album.Compared to his other joints: Bcompared to rap music: A+on its own merit: B+