Music Review: Kanye West's "Graduation" (2007)

by Ethan Carraway

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In 2007, Kanye was starting to become a household name with his first two albums being major successes. It was around this time when he decided to send out his third album for the public called Graduation.

Graduation was an instant success with many songs on it being certified Kanye must-haves in the future. Songs such as “Good Morning” and “Homecoming” are some of the most popular songs on the album with both of them adding up to over 500 million, but neither of these songs compare to the song “Stronger”. This song (that happens to have over a billion listens on Spotify) single-handedly carried the album to newer heights and allowed the album to sell over 60 million physical copies. This is not only the most popular song on the album, it is Kanye’s most popular song ever. This is a pretty bold statement considering he debuted only three years before. Then again, modern day people would know how big his ego is now with the controversial things he says on the news and on the internet.

Today, he doesn't hold as much ground as he used to so instead of focusing on the bad side of this, I would rather talk about the musical integrity of the album. The album has an amalgamation of differing beats that mainly center around an upbeat theme with a mysterious sounding backdrop for the music. It makes for a good blend of something to chill to and something that you could sing all the lyrics to at a concert. He has nine albums after Graduation and none of those had a song more popular than “Stronger”.

To look at it in a better light, this album helped Kanye show that he can withhold a reputation in the rap industry and it also shows that he may not be consistent, but he made multiple memorable songs in every album for the future.