Kanye West, Graduation Review

 “Graduation is the third album relased by artist Kanye West. In the first week it sold 957,000 continuing the trend of Kanye raising his sales from the previous. The reason for this was that Kanye changed up the sound going preatty much full pop rap making almost every song on the project a radio hit.

This album was much more focused on crafitng a catchy well produced song and to be played live better too. There was a lot of house and electronic influence here too with songs like Good Mornign or Flashing lights. On the song Stronger Kanye uses house influences sampling the song  Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by Daft Punk where the voculs are amazingly laced and cut up into the instrumental. This is also one of the many times where he incorpertaes synthesizers into his songs. The song Cant Tell Me Nothing incorperates some low synths into this smooth banger of a song that starts off with a funny line about Kanye selling his key to heaven for a necklace. Kanye stated that he drew a lot of insperation from rock bands such as Led Zepplin on this track. Not all songs are perfect and sound a little outdated like the T-pain song.

Kanye changes it up lyrically on this album as well turning to more introspective topics than his social commentary he was known for. Its intersting to hear Kanye get into his fame and sucess like with Everything I am. He speaks on his outspokenness in media and how he is percived by the public. “people talking shit but when the shit hits the fan, evrything im not made me everything I am.” While I do appreciate the direction Kanye is less lyricall and not as consiouss. His personality begins to change to being less humble but the humor is still there.

This isint my favorite Kanye ablum but I would lie if I havent listend to it ton. While hes not as lyrically impressive he makes up for it with the great production and song writing making this an album to remember influicing a lot of mainstream rap

Kanye West, Late registration review

Late Registration is the second album by rapper/producer Kanye West. It sold 860,000 copies in the first week nearly doubling the sales of his previous album. There was reason for the sales as Kanye on this album really refined his style and cemented his place in hip hop as a force to stay

On this album Kanye perfects his sound that he had been building through his career. There are many amzingly beautiful soul samples and jazzy cuts that make this a plesure to listen to. For example the song Ride Slow where Kanye and Paul Wall glide over the beat perfectly talking about taking it slow in life. Or on heard em say with a great sounding piano melody in the backround then supported by Adam Levines vocals makes this track really stand out. Kanye raps about the realities of life on this song and how nothing is granteed in life.

Another aspect that makes this album great is the messages Kanye provides while still making his sound accessible. One of Kanyes biggest singles Gold Digger with an infectious head nodding beat features Kanye rapping about stories of a girl or guy being with someome because of their money. Kanye gets more introsoective on songs like roses where hetalks about his grandma on her death bed. Or like addiction where Kanye portrays an image of addiction and how everything thats supposed to be bad makes you feel good. Hey Mama is a touching ode to Kanyes mother that anyone can appreciate.

While this album can be seen as an improvement to College Dropout its really much more than that. It stands on its own and has a timeless sound to it. Kanye proved he was just not a one hit wonder. While it may not be as classic as College Dropout is its one of Kanyes greatest works and a personal favorite of mine

Kanye West, The College Dropout review

The College Dropout is the debut album by legendary rapper/producer kanye West. It was released in 2004 and recived widespread critical acclaim selling 441,000 copies in the first week and went platinum after two months. At the time people saw this project as a breath of fresh air in a time oversaturated with ganster/bling rap. Kanye had to struggle to have this released as before he was just a producer and did not fit the steryotype of the genetic ganster rapper image.

Throughout the album Kanye showcases his lyrical ability and diversity. Sometimes you will catch him using his witty humor spitting bragadocious bars. Other times though Kanye comes across extremely genuine, relatable and honest. He raps about a variety of themes throughout this album from family values to racism.

On one of the singles Jesus Walks we can hear Kanye rapping about religon discussing the importance of God to himself and dose not come across as pertentious at all. There is a fair bit of social commentary on education with songs talking about the pressures of going to college and the downsides of education. Spaceship is one of the most relatble songs featuring Kanye rapping about a dead end minimum wage job and wishing to fly away from it all.

The production on this album was half the reason it was so amazing. Kanye incorperates a number of old soul and gospel sounds givingbit a really organic and one of a kind sound

A quote by Kanye about the title "All that’s saying is make your own decisions. Don’t let society tell you". This comes across and shows really well in the album. If i were to pick a line from this album that describes kanye is" Though the fans want the feeling of A Tribe Called Quest. But all they got left is this guy called West" A tribe called Quest were seen as as humble rappers rapping about the social issues. In the time Kanye came out this was not previlent in the mainstream. Kanye was a lot like Tribe rapping about relatble issues in a genuine way but Kanye brought his own style. In one breath he will brag about his money and in the same breath adress issues everday Americans can relate too.