Kanye On Third

When I heard that Kanye West was coming out with a new album, my intention was to go out and pick it up. I am a fan and I really think his tracks are hot. He has this way of putting them together and adding this soulful element to his music that makes me able to sit down and really want to listen.

Graduation is the third album released by Kanye West. The cover art is appealing, though I think it would attract more a child because it has cartoons on it. If I was younger and walking through Best Buy with my parent, I would probably grab it off the shelf and ask my parent to buy it for me. My idea of cover art that is appealing to a young eye would mean the lyrics are as well. Kanye says these lyrics on there that really stuck to my mind, "Lauryn Hill said her heart was on Zion. I wish she had a heart for still rhyming. Because now who the kids going to listen to. I guess me if not you." Yet he still talks about b's and hos and I think kids don't need to be listening to stuff like that. Yet, Kanye delivers to the ears of the public a pretty good album.

On the album are 13 tracks of funky beats. Throughout, I found myself listening to some hot melodies, catchy hooks, walking bass lines, rhythmic drum tracks and harmonious soul. He speaks about things like who's the best, gear, girls, and life. Most of the lyrics are positive and are topics that people can relate to like in his song Everything I Am when he says Here we go again but when the shhhhhhhhh hits the fan, everything I'm not makes me everything I am. I like how he smooths this track out and speaks about things that I haven't really heard anybody else spit. My other favorite lyrics he uses is People talk about me so much at the barbershops they forget to get a haircut. I admire the fact that his tone is not so serious and he has the ability to add a sense of humor into his songs.

Track 8 which is Drunk N Hot Girls features Mos Def and has a quality to it that reminds me of something Outkast would put out. I think it is the samples that Kanye uses that really makes me like the songs because he has a way of putting them into the song that make the song more meaty. Stronger is one of those songs that I liked the hook a lot because it had some really good and catchy lyrics in it. The track was pretty hot and had an 808 through the track. The hook is something like "That, that don't kill me can only make me stronger." If you really listened to the way this track sounds, you would almost be able to compare it to something A Tribe Called Quest might put out.

I liked the track Big Brother as he really pays his respects to Biggie, Jay and the people who really gave him the inspiration to go from being a College Dropout and having a Late Registration to being able to have a Graduation. I guess that is why you can greet your listeners with a steady, Good Morning, the first song on the album. You can never forget who helped you along the way. It is a part of our culture and I think that is one of the reasons I think that he is so soulful.

I heard there was rumor going around that 50 Cents said if Kanye West sells more albums, he would retire. I also got a chance to listen to 50 Cents new album Curtis and I must say, both are pretty good albums. Both have great tracks and a good variety of featured artists involved in each project. Kanye's album is hot to me because the tracks are just heavy hitters. Even if the words weren't that great, the tracks really hold it down, not saying that the lyrics weren't good. Kanye didn't only talk about the norm but added something that I could blast in my car if I was driving with my kids.

50 Cents albums is a little different. He reminds me of Mobb Deep when after so many albums I can say, is it possible for you to write something other than blasting gats and killing people. The tracks may be hot but this wouldn't be a cd I would wrap up and give to my little cousin for Christmas because at least the first 5 songs are about killing people and shooting guns. I could see how he could get caught drunk driving in a Bentley through the streets of New York in the middle of the day. It was like how R Kelly went over board after people liked his love slide song and then released an album with 10 songs that all had the same type of love slide music on it. 50 though makes up for it with hot collabos that featured Timberland, Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke and Mary J. Blige.
I guess we will never know because even though music is universal, the way music hits a person's soul is an individual thing and what one person may really love might turn somebody else off.

Kanye West's new album Graduation is a good album to listen to. It has a lot of hits and some club bangers. You could bop to and sing along to almost every track on the album. He has some pretty hot collabos with Lil Wayne, Dwele, T-Pain, Chris Martin. I found myself singing La, La, La, La, Wait til I get my money right all the way home today and I think that is going to be my new theme hook. With an album that you can relate to lyrics and really feel what the rapper is saying, you know that the album has to be real good. If this is his graduation I hope that he gets his degree or Grammy for it. He deserves at least one. Kanye West makes good music.