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Graduation

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Best Of
This article features content which is widely regarded to be the Best Of Kanye West's discography. Though chosen to be highlighted as one of his best, this is always subject to change.

Graduation is the third studio album by Kanye West, which was released on September 11, 2007, through Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records. The album features guest appearances from artists such as Dwele, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Mos Def, DJ Premier, and Chris Martin of Coldplay.[1]

It is the last of the three albums that make up Kanye's "College" trilogy which include The College Dropout (2004) and Late Registration (2005). There were plans to follow this project up with an album called Good Ass Job, but plans were altered due to life events which led to the release of 808s & Heartbreak (2008). While Kanye still uses pitched-up R&B samples in this album, the orchestral elements were almost entirely shifted out in favor of synthesizers to symbolize him "graduating" into stardom.

The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, becoming Kanye's second consecutive #1 album.[2]

Background[]

In an interview with 1Xtra, West described how European culture was an influence on this album and his previous project Late Registration (2005). In the same interview, West said that his first biggest focus on this album was to give it a stadium feeling and his second focus was to make it sound well on Laptops. Because of the latter, he mixed many of the tracks on his laptop. He wanted to make songs people related to such as the hit singles "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and "Stronger". He compares the lyrics of "Stronger" to his friend who is a dancer and was told she "wasn't good enough" in a dance school even though she "danced her heart out". Kanye says that she needed the song to go to auditions the next day.[3]

In the continuation of that interview, West replies to comments and talks about the meaning of the album cover and Takashi Murakami's involvement in it.[4]

In an interview broadcasted by Binside TV, Kanye states that he believes that this album was his best to date and that people enjoy it. He also said that it's more expansive than his previous works and no matter what race you are you can like it.[5]

Before the release of the album, Kanye West was involved in a feud with 50 Cent. 50 Cent's upcoming album, Curtis, was scheduled to be released on the same date as Kanye West's upcoming album, Graduation. This led to a widely publicized sales competition between the two artists. 50 Cent promised that he would retire from music if Graduation received more opening sales than Curtis. Graduation received 266,000 more opening sales than Curtis. However, 50 Cent did not stick to his promise and carried on with his music career.[6]

Track list[]

No. Title Length
1. “Good Morning” 3:15
2. “Champion" 2:48
3. “Stronger" 5:12
4. “I Wonder" 4:03
5. “Good Life" (feat. T-Pain) 3:27
6. “Can't Tell Me Nothing" 4:32
7. “Barry Bonds" (feat. Lil Wayne) 3:24
8. “Drunk and Hot Girls” (feat. Mos Def) 5:13
9. "Flashing Lights” (feat. Dwele) 3:58
10. “Everything I Am” (feat. DJ Premier) 3:48
11. "The Glory” 3:33
12. "Homecoming” (feat. Chris Martin) 3:24
13. "Big Brother" 4:48
14. “Good Night" (feat. Mos Def & Al Be Back) 3:06
15. “Bittersweet Poetry” (feat. John Mayer) 4:02
Total length: 58:33

Gallery[]

Miscellaneous[]

Booklet

References[]

  1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduation_(album)
  2. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/artist/kanye-west/chart-history/hsi/
  3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2wM4bwHwAI
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwM1Y7dYyDg
  5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is8tUD-NCFo
  6. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/kanye-west-50-cent-2007-graduation-curtis-battle-drake-scorecard-9620301/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iNAt-7uyPU
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