The album does have a couple of forgettable tracks, most notably the plain "Barry Bonds", a misdirected bass heavy track that really doesn't fit onto the much lighter nature of the album - and a track that feels like filler on an album otherwise heavy in quality tracks.
T-Pain, and his distinctive autotune dominated vocals are drafted in for album's other massive track, "The Good Life", which uses a sample of Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing)" to colour the tracks fairly basic beat, the vocal on the sample being raised higher to produce a track that is just as boastful as much other maligned mainstream rap - but Kanye carries it off with a sweetness and fun that allows him to get away with it. Near every song on here is a classic, and the track "I Wonder" starts with a warming, whimsical intro, with the touching, sentimental sample following on throughout the song - and adding a personal, emotive touch without delving into the kind of open mind/open heart content that characterises the latest chapter of Kanye's career.
Tracks like "Champion" are as strong as any of the album tracks on previous albums, utilising an uplifting sample and motivational message, again giving the impression that this will be a fairly low key affair compared to some of his previous efforts - although subsequent track, monster single "Stronger" stomps that lingering thought out of existence, with the prominent Daft Punk sample serving to highlight Kanye's favourite person - himself - in a song that is equal parts dance floor classic and radio rap behemoth. He's also cut out the skits, which means in theory playing the album without skipping anything is actually an option now. The opener, admittedly, is not promising - the slow pace, simple beat and Kanye still moaning about the education system is not the best way to open an album of such quality - but don't judge a book by its cover, and don't judge an album merely by it's opener, for the rest of the album proves to be Kanye's most consistent of them all - even typical braggadocio heavy cuts such as "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and, to a lesser extent, "Drunk and Hot Girls" outweighing their far more annoying counterparts on The College Dropout. With Graduation, the final part of what seems like a quasi trilogy of albums Kanye redeems the average awkward second album and produces an album that is in actual fact stronger than the much lauded College Dropout in some respects. He has also struggled with mental illness, which may have contributed to some of his erratic behavior.Review Summary: Classic, interrupted - a dissapointing mid-trio of tracks hang ominously over an otherwise classic album. But things got even dicier in the 2010s when he supported President Donald Trump and argued on TMZ that African-Americans were enslaved by choice. He also interrupted Taylor Swift‘s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards (which was far from his only awards show outburst).
Bush on live TV for not caring about Black people as the result of his administration’s poor response to Hurricane Katrina (fewer people would fault West for that in hindsight). He famously called out President George W. Of course, not all of his impacts have been positive.
SEE Beyonce songs, ranked: Counting down her 31 greatest hits – including ‘Countdown’! Plus ‘Formation,’ ‘Savage’ and more He has even more Album of the Year nominations for producing on other artists’ collections: Alicia Keys‘s “The Diary of Alicia Keys,” Mariah Carey‘s “The Emancipation of Mimi,” Lil Wayne‘s “Tha Carter III,” The Weeknd‘s “Beauty Behind the Madness,” and Drake‘s “Views.” When you consider that his other production credits include work with artists like Jay-Z, Brandy, John Legend, Beyonce, Rihanna, Teyana Taylor, and Lil Nas X - among many others - you see just what an enormous influence he’s had on modern music. It all started with his 2004 debut “The College Dropout,” which received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year, as did his next two collections, “Late Registration” and “Graduation.” Over the course of his career he has won a whopping 22 Grammys, which makes him one of the most honored musicians in history.Īnd it’s not just his own music that he’s famous for. West has been lauded as one of the most creative writers, producers, and artists of the 21st century. “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (2010)