Fuzzy Bits:
Released September 11, 2007
Last Album: Late Registration (Ranked #5 on my Top 40 Albums of 2005)
Sounds Like: A difficult, yet occasionally rewarding listen.
Overall Rating: 86
Skits aside (or maybe even with the skits), I really loved the first two Kanye albums. There was a sense of freshness to everything he brought to the plate, and with the underdog story going in Kanye’s favor, he was the hometown guy to root for. College Dropout was a lot of fun, a little immature, but still to this day brings a smile to my face with West’s quirky musings and slick productions. Late Registration, on the other hand, was, some misfires aside, an incredibly solid album with an added dimension brought on by Jon Brion’s outstanding contributions. Now, with a long list of tantrums under his belt, Kanye has hit a bit of a diva status, and the worst part is that it’s starting to affect his music. While there seemed to be quite a bit of progression from College Dropout to Late Registration, Graduation feels, at best, like a huge side-step, and at worst, two steps back. The opening “Good Morning” is a near-miss, in that the productions are so stripped down that it feels redundant by the time the song hits the half-way mark. Meanwhile, “I Wonder” is a snoozefest, and “Drunk and Hot Girls” is just as awful as its title, with its meandering lyrics and sleepy production. “Barry Bonds” is another floundering track that wastes some decent production. It starts off decently, falters, and then Lil’ Wayne comes in to single-handedly ruin what little decency was left in the song in mere seconds (which has to be some kind of record). On the plus side, the album is chockful of very good songs that make up for some of the other mess, chiefly among them the hit single “Stronger.” “Good Life,” “Flashing Lights,” and “Homecoming” are all almost certainly going to be hits, and deservedly so. “Homecoming” in particular, is incredibly addicting, as Coldplay’s Chris Martin delivers dead-on vocals that actually enhance the song (which is more than I can say for most other hip-hop songs with guest vocals).
“Good Life,” “Flashing Lights,” and “The Glory” all give interesting perspectives on Kanye being in the spotlight, and having them all in the same album almost make him seem like a walking contradiction (which, in some ways, he is), but on the other hand they’re understandable. He obviously loves the spotlight, but in the music there’s a surprising amount of vulnerability, as if he’s attempting to show his own insecurities via his music (since he thus far has truly been unable to write them into his own lyrics). Another example of this is in the song “Big Brother,” which is essentially his rags to riches story– there is a sense of him letting you know (once again) all that he’s accomplished, but on the other hand it’s his way of letting us into his mindset of why he has such a chip on his shoulder. Meanwhile, there are songs like the aforementioned “Drunk and Hot Girls” and “Bittersweet Poetry,” which are huge misfires. Both songs deal with women more directly than any of West’s previous songs, but really don’t work. “Bittersweet Poetry” in particular is disappointing, and a genuine waste of John Mayer. There’s no way a song so sweet should be riddled with such wildly inconsistant and unimaginative lyrics like “and you talkin bout her family her aunts and s***/and she sayin m********** yo mama’s a b***/you know domestic drama and s***.” The song is hardly bittersweet as it is sweet and sour, with an emphasis on the sour.
All in all, Graduation is an intriguing, yet frustrating effort. It’s always a struggle of the self with Kanye, but there’s nothing to offset the internal struggles here– no Jon Brion, no string section, no guest rappers on every track, just ‘Ye versus ‘Ye. This may be the first case where I’ve witnessed a Junior slump, but I guess there’s a first time for everything. There isn’t nearly as much cohesion on this album as there were the last couple times around, which is a little disconcerting, but that’s not to say that there isn’t a lot to like about this album, because there is. The problem is just that everything is so stripped down that Graduation feels occasionally lifeless– and with Kanye, that should never happen.
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I just wondering,what r your thought’s on song called I wonder, what does it mean to you? Thanks a lot. YUP
Erick, I would have to say that “I Wonder” is one of the unfortunate tracks on the album. It has a great premise, but to me Kanye’s rapping makes the song fall flat. As far as what it means to me, I would argue that it’s about trying to make something of yourself and how that can end up being a blessing and a curse, as hinted at by his less than stellar public perception that he makes reference to in the first few lines.
I have to disagree with your observation of “Bittersweet Poetry”. The lyrics that you mentioned as an example may not fit well with a sweet/love song, but “Bittersweet Poetry” is far from a sweet song. It’s about the problems that he had with his girlfriend as a result of his success. He then goes on to show his regret but only after it is too late. If anything, the song is a melodic tragedy (in the literative sense, not the pejorative sense).
Aside from the lyrical content, the background music is masterfully and beautifully composed, enhanced by the vocals provided by Mayer and Keisha Cole. And I think that the song brings a deeper message than most of the other tracks, which although they are very good, are typical materialistic hip hop songs, just performed better by a more creative, intelligent artist.