#204 Kanye West, 'Graduation' (2007)
New Entry
I’m beginning to question my utter distaste for Kanye West. This is both West’s third album and third entry into the countdown. And as the countdown progresses, I seem to be enjoying his albums more and more. ‘Graduation’ is West’s “stadium” album. After touring with U2, West was inspired by Bono; every night he’d see adulating fans singing U2’s songs back to them, which made him want to write anthemic rap songs. He approached this record differently to his first two, drawing inspiration from, other than Bono, Prog Rock, Hard Rock, House Music, Synthpop, Reggae, Dancehall, Krautrock and Dub. Yeah, it’s diverse. But West, as the primary producer, managed to cohesively bring all these genres together to make something new, something different.
The album opens with ‘Good Morning,’ a song that heavily sampled Elton John’s ‘Someone Saved My Life Tonight,’ albeit pitched up. Second song, ‘Champion,’ once again delves into Classic Rock, this time sampling Steely Dan’s ‘Kid Charlemagne.’ Third song, ‘Strong’ is built on the foundations of Daft Punk’s ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,’ from 2001’s ‘Discovery’ (#236). Fourth song, ‘I Wonder’ was recorded at Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood, which, in another lifetime, was Charlie Chaplin’s film studio and office, built in 1917. This song samples Labi Siffre’s ‘My Song.’ ‘Good Life’ is a reinterpretation of Michael Jackson’s ‘P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing).’ Elsewhere on the record he samples Can, Mountain and Public Enemy. For the most part, these aren’t artists that you’d expect West to sample, but that’s what makes the record interesting. His rapping on the record is smooth and flowing. Another artist you wouldn’t expect to hear on the record is Coldplay’s Chris Martin. West happened to be at Abbey Road one day and ran into Coldplay. Or more like, Martin crashed West’s recording session. The two landed up jamming and this song was ultimately recorded in the same studio that The Beatles used to record in, no less. It’s not my favourite track on the record, but to be honest, it doesn’t matter. The rest of the record makes up for it. So what does this mean now for my relationship with Kanye? Are we friends now?
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