Graduation [PA] by Kanye West

With his first album, Kanye West had to prove that he could hang with the big boys. After all, he only bugged the heck out of Jay-Z to give him a chance to rap. Failure was no option. On College Dropout he called all of his friends and put together an album that raised a few eyebrows for it's great hip hop production and overall fun ambiance. Jesus Walks put money in his bank. With his second album, it was about putting his stamp on not only being a producer, and not only being a serviceable rapper, but being someone who could take the reigns and put together a complete work of art. And if you go back and listen to Late Registration, you'll hear eclecticism in his production and style. I think it's underrated musically.

Now it's time for graduation. He's no longer a young up and comer. He's no longer someone whose stardom is in question. He's someone who is now expected to sell a million records every time out. Maybe even two. It's a place where he wants to be though. He's mastered his craft. And with his new album Graduation, he's created what he calls stadium status. What Graduation isn't is the best lyrical album of the year. What it is, is an album full of hip hop anthems. The sound is huge. The sound is high and low. You hear new things in the instrumentation at every new listen. You hear things you've created on your own, like the "bang your fist on the school benches" beat in the opening song Good Morning.

The qualms people have with him are simple. He's arrogant. And he is a sloppy rapper trying to disguise himself as a jiggy Common. His flow is inefficient, but confident. It's an inspired inefficient flow. He's sort of like the anti Mase, who he has mentioned as being one of his favorite rappers. Mase was lazy and uninspired. Here, Kanye isn't razor sharp, but he's sure he's good. It's not a scientific flow at all, but it's not a horrendous flow. He's so happy to be making his own music and it shows. You can hear it in the gorgeous Good Life which features a semi-noticeable Michael Jackson (P.Y.T.) sample. He happily gloats about his life on Champion and The Glory, but according to him, when you come into the game as Dwayne Wayne and turn into Dwayne Wade, you can do so.

The album isn't simply about bragging about his accomplishments. There are small insights into what makes him tick. A lot of it has to do with doubt and people overlooking him. On Everything I Am featuring scratches by DJ Premier, he raps about why he is the way he is and what makes him tick. Even the fact that Common passed over on the beat helped in triggering him to turn it into something hot. On I Wonder, Kanye says that his dreams keep him up all night. You can tell that he's using any and every edge to stay hungry and be successful, including sampling an old Daft Punk song for Stronger that probably made tons of hip hop heads go on iTunes to download Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

It's interesting who he uses to help him with the album. He doesn't use Common or Jay-Z (I think his voice is sampled once) or even John Legend (though I think Legend is used for background vocals). The only person you'd expect him to use is Mos Def and it's in such a secondary role on the worst song on the album, Drunk And Hot Girls, that unless you're listening for it, you barely notice him. Maybe the most noticeable guest star is Lil Wayne who tries very hard to screw up Barry Bonds, but he can't mess up the funk. This is definitely Kanye's album and no one is going to outshine him like Jay-Z did on Late Registration.

Speaking of Jay-Z, Kanye lets his guard down a bit in Big Brother. It's an appreciation song for Jay-Z, who he claims is his idol. It's not necessarily a butt kissing as he does say that Jay-Z used tough love at times, but it's definitely ode to the Jigga-man. He utilizes Chris Martin from Coldplay on Homecoming which is a love song for his hometown girl named Windy. Actually, it's a song about his hometown city of Chicago. Get it? Windy?

Kanye West isn't a top ten rapper. He's a top ten entertainer. He's a top ten producer. And he's done something that even some of the best rappers can't do. He's crossed over so many music fan demographics that he's not only cool to listen to by so many people, but he's still accepted in his hardcore audience. Lyric heads are never going to fully embrace him. But deep down, they'll be chanting, "Wait till I get my money right, then you can't tell me nothing right?"