Graduation Review

"Graduation" is the 3rd studio album from hip-hop star Kanye West.  This album marked the final educationally themed album as his two previous albums were "The College Dropout" and "Late Registration".  "Graduation" is deemed his most consistent and mature album up to that point as he shifted over to a more conceptual approach creating more anthemic music utilizing synthesizers and electronic production methods.

"Graduation" has a lot of attention paid to detail.  The album feels a lot tighter than his previous albums and in addition to that, Kanye's writing has improved as well.  The album starts off strong with three inspiring songs "Good Morning", "Champion", and "Stronger".  They start the album on a positive note as you feel uplifted by the airy anthems Kanye pieced together with effect use of sampling.  Kanye brings the pace of the album down with songs like "I Wonder", "Everything I Am", and "Flashing Lights".  These songs provide great contrast to an album filled with excellent uplifting songs as Kanye brings you back to reality with tracks taking a deeper, introspective look on Kanye's frustrations and issues.  

Chris Martin from Coldplay also makes a guest appearance on "Homecoming" as one of the standout tracks on "Graduation".  The song grows on you after a while and the collaborative effort between the two provides another satisfying moment.  The different direction Kanye took on this album really paid off as the production value is picture perfect, the songs all have depth and deeper meaning, and overall, "Graduation" happens to be Kanye's most complete album to date (2008).  

Final Summary:

Although "Graduation" isn't considered the best album Kanye put out, it can be considered the largest step forward in Kanye's musical career.  Instead of creating an overextended compilation a la his previous two albums, he took steps forward to condense his records giving each song more care than before.  "Graduation" combines the airy, inspiring influences of bands such as Coldplay and U2 with the hip-hop craft that Mr. West takes very seriously.  "Graduation" was the stepping stone Kanye needed to blast off into his prime.

Rating: 8.6/10