Graduation....It's Here Already

You all know it already. Graduation is here a little early, and though leaks can often prove deceiving, I'm going to delight in my interlude-less copy (Oink is a godsend) and do a little track-by-track liveblog of my thoughts on it so far. For what it's worth, I'm production-obsessed. It takes a lot of work to listen to lyrics, aside from those that jump out at me. So we'll see how this ends up. If it sucks...I won't do it again.

I also downloaded Curtis, but plan not on listening to it. Just wanted to steal from 50. We'll see if I decide if Graduation is worth a purchase very soon...

1.) "Good Morning" (Intro)
Starts out with a real sparse beat, building from bass and bongo-sounding snare to the usual Kanye-style soulful flair. The almost Frankie Valley-style vocal sample is nice and fits the song title nicely. Kanye launches into a nice school-related tirade real fast ("this is my dissertation, homie...welcome to Graduation"). Drops some nice lines - "I'm like the fly Malcolm X/Buy any jeans necessary" even though they stray into Pharrell-style "combining black icons with excess" territory. I'm into this song. The beat is great, and would do just as well for an outro as it would for the intro. Lyrically it's what we've expected from Kanye lately, that weird "look how far we've come, see all this money I've got but what does it mean?" style.

2.) "Champion"
Whoa...so funky. Straight up disco soul in the intro and hook. The beat itself is funky as hell and real bouncy. Great jazz organ sound. I'm into this already. The same grandiose shit Kanye is used to dropping lyrically on this one as well...."I used to fell invisible/Now they know they invisible" (if I fuck up lyrics just know I don't have a lyrics sheet in front of me, which kills me. Tough to focus on production and lyrics simultaneously). Not bad at all.

3.) "Stronger"
I hate this song, though it has grown on me a little bit. Lyrically, I honestly haven't paid attention to it much, it lost me the very first time I heard it after the "black Kate Moss" line which comes pretty much immediately. I was so scared about this record when I heard this as the single. I knew Kanye had been getting into French house a lot lately (great news to me, I've been into the shit for years), and I definitely felt like that could incorporate itself into an album pretty nicely...but this is not the way to do it. Just awful. Lyrically this song is boring "I'm the greatest" Kanye bullshit. But that's half the fun with him, isn't it? In reality, even single sorority girl I know still loves this song to death, which proves my theory that Kanye is every white girl's favorite rapper. Obviously didn't hurt his album possibilities outside of the internet world.

4.) "I Wonder"
Here we go...Kanye soul samples. Let's see where this goes. Syncopated beat, with smooth synths, with that vocal sample just fading away into the background of the beat. Real dreamy and smooth, despite the jumpy nature of the beat. So far, we're sticking with the same introspective life-evaluating tone that the entire album has had lyrically. "A psychic told me that in my lifetime/My name would light up the Chicago skyline." Not the weakest track on the album, but only because "Stronger" came up before it. Not bad, but not great.

5.) "Good Life (ft. T-Pain)"
I'm skeptical of this T-Pain thing, but just because I hate the guy. Thankfully, he's subdued here, and the vocoder shit actually fits in with the French-house styled synth line, which is just real warm and this laid over a pretty normal beat and a usual Kanye chipmunk sample in the background. I'm into this song, it's got a real chill summery vibe to it. Upbeat shit, just lyrically talking about how nice it is to be rich, though towards the end Kanye seems to question if it's really as good as it seems...but it's short lived.

6.) "Can't Tell Me Nothin"
I was already super-into this song, it saved my opinion of the record before it came out and post-"Stronger." The vocal sample is haunting over the crawling synth line, which is still laid on thick and the slow beat. I'm still a bit confused about the Jeezy in the chorus, he's not credited on the song...did he seriously just sample the "Yeahs," "Ha has," and all that other shit? Wouldn't put it past him. I still love the "You can live with anything if Magic made it" line. Lyrically, nothing different than the usual...I think the title says it all. Love it.

7.) "Barry Bonds (ft. Lil Wayne)"
This song has the internet goin' nuts a few days ago, but this is my first listen. Beat is hot as hell, funky and disjointed with a jazz organ and bass line...hook and chorus with orchestral stabs. Lyrically this is best song I've heard yet on this record, but I don't want to keep pausing the record to jot down my favorites. Kanye is full of himself, he loves it embraces. Wayne's verse is killer, though at this point everything he does just sounds like he's treating it as a throwaway. Yeah, I'm one of those white kids who loves Lil Wayne....oh well. Favorite track so far.

8.) "Drunk and Hot Girls (ft. Mos Def)"
Ugh. Just not into this one at all. Maybe it's the beat (though the little whistles after every line is creepy and awesome), but I'd bet it's definitely the weird sing-songy delivery is what's doing it. Mos Def starts out piano riff...and that's it. The "rah rah rah that's how the fuck you sound" line had me laughing pretty hard, but really this isn't all that good over all. Mos Def also backs up the choruses. I might have to listen to this a few times...it might grow on me.

9.) "Flashing Lights (ft. Dwele)"
This is more of a normal Kanye beat. Symphonies mixed with more house-styled thick synths, this is absolutely gorgeous. "Come home Mona Lisa/You know you can't roll without Caesar"...huh? Song isn't bad, but nothing about it really jumped out at me or grabbed my attention.

10.) "Everything I Am"
Nice little soulful number on this one. "Common passed on this beat so I turned it to a jam." Bit of a clunker with "Remember him from Blackstreet?/He was black as the street was," but he saves it with "I'll never be as laid back as this beat was." Claims he reps Chicago hard, which I have a bit of a problem with since I feel like he could do more than that. This beat is smooth as fuck though, think a smoother "My Block." Real introspective trip on this track lyrically, attacking people who don't like his rhyme style. I like that. Talks a lot about Chicago's murder rate and how it's terrible unless it's people rapping about violence, which is an interesting thing as Kanye isn't a totally socially-conscious dude most of the time. I guess rapping about clothes isn't so bad in comparison. I dig this one a lot, might be my favorite so far.

11.) "The Glory"
Starts with a piano and the usual chipmunk soul sample, then the beat kicks and it's just the usual bouncy Kanye shit. Nice symphonic sample. "After each and every show a couple dykes in the van"...huh? Love this sample. Takes a couple shots at Jeezy, Wayne, and Jay? On second thought, nah I think it's more an attack on rap culture in general. Maybe I'm wrong. More Chicago talk on this one, I dig it. Tons of clothes talk as is the norm for this record, which I'm fine with. Were those shots at BIG, Big L, etc? "Get money, stay glorious/I'm gonna stop killin these niggas right when the chorus hits" sounds like another pot shot at rap violence. I dig this one to.

12.) "Homecoming (ft. Chris Martin"
Here were go, the Chris Martin song. Stevie Wonder-esque piano sample. This hook really could've been anyone besides Chris Martin. For what it's worth, I loved "Beach Chair." So rolling and epic.

OK, I'm only going to half-ignore this song for the sake of bitching. On the pre-release version of College Dropout there was a bonus track called "Home," which is still my favorite Kanye beat ever. The lyrics are exactly the same as on this track, and it just not work half as well at all. If you haven't heard "Home" yet, check it out. The beat is one of the most uplifting things I've ever heard, and the lyrics ride it way better than this one.

Chris Martin, dropping Chicago love..."Baby do you remember when/Fireworks on Lake Michigan." I'm so bummed on this song because it's not "Home." Shit.

13.)Big Brother
The closer. "Stadium status" is said right off the bat. We'll see how huge this is when the beat kicks for real, but the synth line has potential. Huge sweeping lead on this. Great closer feel so far. Beat has kicked...I'm not sure about "stadium status" but this one is pretty big. I'm a little let down by that proclamation, but this is a great closer track. More introspection, looking at the past and how he got to where he is. You get the feeling that even though he's kind of an egotistical douche sometimes, Ye does it because he feels like he has the right to be because of where he came from and how hard he's worked to get there. Who was his mentor, Jay? "Have you ever walked in the shadow of a giant" with "Hola ho-vi-to" shortly after it. Looking back back at some tracks that he's been on, I'll admit that if I was more astute...nope, there it is. Song is about Jay. I'm into it. Great closer. Real uplifting. Shit, if Ye never releases another album again this is a great close-out on his career.

All in all...8/10. Real solid front-to-back, and if quality is anything to go by, I know he's going to outsell 50 in a heartbeat, sales ploy or not. I had my doubts about this record, but it's stellar.

Less hip-hop next time, should be updating pretty consistently this week. I need to get better at this liveblog shit.