Takashi Murakami designs the cover of the year for the third and final chapter that completes the educational themed album trilogy by Kanye West, producer and rapper from Chicago, Illinois. Originally, there should be a fourth chapter in a tetralogy, "Good Ass Job", but this LP, the first of a long series in West's career, will never see the light of day. Kanye West is the lead producer, guests are Mos Def, Dwele, DJ Premier, Lil Wayne, T-Pain and Chris Martin of Coldplay.
The rapper understands how the most successful artists don't have complicated songs lyrically, and decides to simplify the lyrics in order to make them more accessible to a wider audience, from this point of view the tours with U2 and Rolling Stones are illuminating. He also decides to limit rapping in his record as much as possible: among the guests, only Lil Wayne delivers in rapping, the others are singing. Also Mos Def. Twice.
Musically, the album takes so many steps in the opposite direction of the sound he started the school trilogy with, chipmunk soul, that it almost feels like a marathon, and allows him to form more popular music inspired by indie rock, disco music, electronic, pop, house music and the tours of major mainstream pop singers, in particular after having done the Vertigo Tour with Bono's U2 (the same singer who embarrasses himself in listening to his discography on the radio), managing not to completely alienate the fans conquered with his first two studio albums and, at the same time, attracting an even wider audience from other musical genres. There's an orgy of synths, distortions and audio effects on beats that are a triumph of electro-pop, house and disco dance.
West reduces rapping to the bare essentials, his style is skeletal in every respect and this is considered to be one of his worst rap and lyrical performances. Personally, some songs sound better than others, with the low points being represented by the Grammy winners "Stronger" (the homage to Daft Punk, multiple award-winning single, #1 on three continents, #1 in the Hot 100 and certified diamond as of this writing) and "Good Life", with T-Pain's autotune. DJ Premier's talents aren't fully exploited for "Everything I Am", although, thanks to the production, the track is one of the best on the record. The performances of Dwele and Mos Def take a back seat, Lil Wayne offers one of his laziest performances in "Barry Bonds", while uncredited singer Connie Mitchell is wonderful and is the main reason, in addition to the glossy pop production and performance of West, for some of the best moments on the CD ("Good Morning", "Can't Tell Me Nothing", despite the rapper's bland-dead flow, and "Flashing Lights", where Mitchell says only two words, but in a wonderful way).
Postponed several times by Def Jam, the album is brought forward by a week and comes out on the same day as 50 Cent's "Curtis", with which it's in direct competition: the New York rapper comes from two albums in the previous four years that have made impressive numbers that West cannot compete with, and strong of that, announces retirement in case "Graduation" sells more copies of his LP. Both on their third studio album, after the first week there's no match, for 50 Cent: the amazing new album by Kanye West makes numbers that go beyond the already high expectations of the insiders and approaches the million copies sold, one of the best commercial achievements ever in hip-hop for a first week. In the weeks leading up to the release, 50 Cent had retracted his retirement statements, but for gangsta rap's favorite son, the thug, it's the end, because "Graduation" marks a sudden turning point in hip-hop, ends the gangsta trend in mainstream music and paves the way for alternative rappers and hip-hop singers.
First in the US, UK and Canada, certified on four continents, the album is featured in many albums of the year lists and awarded as best rap album at the Grammys (his third album out of three to win the award) and it's considered a masterpiece by both audiences and critics alike.
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