Kanye still makes up for his shortcomings as an MC and lyricist by remaining charmingly clumsy, frequently dealing nonsense through suspect rhyme schemes: 'I never be picture-perfect Beyoncé/Be light as Al B. Graduation is neither as bold nor as scattered as The College Dropout, and it's neither as extroverted nor as sonically rich as Late Registration. That was about it, but it all seemed loud and prevalent, due in part to a lack of high-profile rap albums released in 2007. With Graduation, there was Takashi Murakami's artwork, a silly first-week sales competition with the decreasingly relevant 50 Cent, and chatter about synthesizers running wild.
The College Dropout was one of the most anticipated debuts of the early 2000s, while Late Registration had people wondering why Kanye would feel the need to work so extensively with multi-instrumentalist rock producer Jon Brion (the J Dilla of the chamberlin) and whether or not Kanye's hubristic tendencies would get the better of it. As with just about any other artist's third album, it had to be expected.
Graduation's pre-leak talk wasn't as substantive as it was with Kanye West's first two albums. Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.
