‘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.

This record surprised me majorly. I’ve mentioned previously the “complicated relationship” that I have with Kanye. This record complicated it even further; I actually quite enjoyed it. This album, marked by two major events in West’s life, saw his music take a complete change in direction. Following the death of his mother and the breakup with his fiancée, Alexis Phifer, West released this, an album distinctly lacking in raps. Instead, West sang through an Auto-Tune processor over sparse beats.