Kanye West - Graduation

[Guest jahhz]

I'm listening now and I'm really feeling this. Definitely better than Late Registration but it'll be a while before I can compare it with College Dropout.

[Psicosis]

I've listened to it twice now and I think you're spot on, it's better then Late Registration but not comparable to the College Dropout. It's a pretty mixed bag of tracks, with the good (Flashing Lights and it's killer Dre inspired drums, Everything I Am which probably doesn't need the scratches from Premo and Big Brother) but it's got the bad too (Homecoming is terrible, Drunk and Hot Girls isn't much further behind). Solid record but I think Kanye's came out with his best at the start and won't ever reach that level.

[Guest Snyper]

I'm really digging it. Big Brother is a nice personal touch

[Trav226]

I've been listening to it all day. Its a hot album

[ROC]

I think it's the worst of the three albums Kanye has made, and I don't know, there just seems like too many moments that felt just bleh. Instead of taking an artistic risk or taking on a new subject in his lyrics barring he examining his own egotism or love for women, he just goes par for the course really. Barring say the two singles and "Flashing Lights", there's not much that's instantly amazing to me. The short length in comparison to other rap records is both a blessing and a curse, too. The blessing is that Kanye tries to take away from the bloated feeling that a lot of mainstream rap gets bogged down by, but Kanye is a rapper for which a long CD works exactly to his strengths as well. Honestly, if he expanded something like "Flashing Lights" to "We Major"-length, I wouldn't have had a problem with that. Hell, it'd just make that song all the more awesome.

[James_W]

KANYE >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> FIDDY. That's all I've gotta say!

[Ananas]

The first time I listened to the record I was a bit underwhelmed, but it's a grower in a BIG way. Even a track like Barry Bonds, which along with Drunk And Hot Girls was one of the biggest problems, has grown on me. I completely disagree on the idea that Kanye didn't have any lyrical departures this time around. What about the "I Used To Love H.E.R."-esque take on Chicago with "Homecoming"? Or the earnest tribute to Jay-Z with "Big Brother"? What about "Everything I Not", where he essentially cops to every criticism people have of him because he refuses to put up that hip-hop bullshit front? And yeah, there're the songs about success, money and women. I'd imagine that all three are particularly relevant to life as he lives it at the moment. The lyrics are still more genius than anyone in the mainstream right now. And I'd say he took a bunch of BIG risks with the production here. With the exception of a few tracks with the traditional "Kanye sound", a lot of these tracks are more electro-influenced. Hell, he did a track with Chris Martin. And I'm damn near certain that the first track samples "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" by Elton John. If that's not risky for hip-hop then I don't know what is. Right now I'm in pretty much full Kanye addiction. Great record, and I love all three so I don't know where it ranks, but there's definitely not a big dropoff if there is one at all.

[GhostMachine]

I like "Stronger", but that's probably more due to Daft Punk than Kanye.

[ONO]

Fifty is gonna wipe the floor with Kanye.

[GhostMachine]

Fifty is gonna wipe the floor with Kanye.

[Ananas]

In fairness in terms of CD sales he could. Fiddy is still the last person to sell more than a million copies in a week, whereas I think Kanye's first week sales for Late Registration were a few hundred thousand copies lighter. All depends on whose audience has held up the best. I'd bet Kanye's has percentage wise, but remember that by those stats Fiddy's got more to lose.

[ROC]

I don't think Fifty is winning so much this time, though. The last two 50 Cent albums were helped by the fact that their lead singles were insta-hits out of the gate whereas "Ayo Technology" hasn't reached the success of the past singles or the success of "Stronger".

[JoeMimic]

Big Brother is easily my favorite song on this CD. I've heard 50s CD as well and well he's not touching Ye. Ye's only dropped 2 singles and not one of 50s singles hes dropped can touch either of them. How many singles has he released? It's like at 4.

[Verder]

Well, there was "Amusement Park" (the suck). After that, we've gotten "Ayo Technology", "I Get Money" and "Follow My Lead", and all of these except for 'Technology have been disappointing to me. Whereas "Stronger" has become one of my favourite songs ever. 50's album still has one single coming, called "Come & Go", Fiddy says it will be the new "In Da Club" but... yeah, surely it will

[ACCBiggz]

I've listened to both, and neither impressed me. I don't even have a song from either that I've listened to in rotation with others, I've just reverted back to T.I. vs. T.I.P. (And since I don't want to make a seperate topic for it. What is the song T.I. used for "My Swag"? You can just PM the title to me if you know it.)

Edited September 8, 2007 by ACCBiggz

[ROC]

Well, there was "Amusement Park" (the suck). After that, we've gotten "Ayo Technology", "I Get Money" and "Follow My Lead", and all of these except for 'Technology have been disappointing to me.

[ROZAY]

My thoughts on...

Kanye West - "Graduation"

Overall, it's a solid project, but has a few inconsistencies that ruin it from truly being a "classic" album. I've had this ever since it leaked on the internet a few weeks ago, and I have to say that I'm disappointed. College Dropout is obviously the strongest in all three of his efforts, with I'd say... this being neck and neck with Late Registration, in where both albums started out looking like a classic, but as you went through the tracks, they went downhill. Ye's lyrical approach to this album is different, and I have to say that for the most part he holds his own. "Stronger", "Can't Tell Me Nothing", "Good Life", "The Glory" (my personal favorite track) and "Big Brother" are all phenominal tracks as far as production and lyrical ability goes, but a few of the tracks fall victim to the subject content, production or simply Ye's lyrical ability.

50 Cent - "Curtis"

I'm not going to get into this, because 50's kind of one of those guys you either hate or you love, and I love his music. I will say that it is worth a listen, because it's certainly better then The Massacre. The production is top-notch, the lyrics are... well, 50 (nothing extroidanary, but very, very catchy and easy to follow along with), but I think 50 fell victim of trying too put out too many singles and hoping they would all catch on. "Amusement Park" and "Straight To The Bank" failed in garnering a buzz for the album, no matter what 50 says in trying to dispute their failures in his interviews. "Ayo Technology" is pretty... well, pop. I guess that's what he was going for, and it was a big single as far as pop goes, but it's rapidly fading, which I'm sure he didn't expect it to do. "Follow My Lead" I like a lot, and I think this could be a great slow tempo single if they push it right. Too bad about the video leaking before the single was even suppose to come out. "Come & Go" is not going to be the banger that "In Da Club" was, because you cannot recreate that sort of hit. Out of all the singles, I'd say that "I Get Money" garnered the most buzz for his album, because even though it's not a top single on the Billboard 100, it certainly changed the vibe for this albvm from "Meh..." to "Oh shit!". I love that song, admittingly.

So much for not saying much, huh? ^_^

Anyway...

Which album is better and who will sell more?

As far as consistency goes within the album, 50 has it, hands down. For the most part, you can listen to 50's album straight through without skipping tracks, where as with Kanye's album... sometimes it gets a bit boring. But, I have a feeling that consistency doesn't matter in this battle for opening week sales. As far as who will sell more, well, 50 gets that again, due to his international fanbase.

As far as in the U.S... I think Kanye will have a bigger opening first week then 50. This is attributed to the fact that 50's previous albums has had smash singles in the top 10 of Billboard, this album hasn't achieved that. Kanye's previous albums never had to rely on being "the biggest single out", because most of his singles even up in the top 20 or top 10. This also has to do with the fact that 50's fanbase in the US seems to be fading after growing between his first two albums, where as Ye's fanbase here has kept growing time and time again.

In the end, 50 will have the overall better sales, but I'm banking on Ye to take it in the first week.

[Verder]

Well, there was "Amusement Park" (the suck). After that, we've gotten "Ayo Technology", "I Get Money" and "Follow My Lead", and all of these except for 'Technology have been disappointing to me.

I always thought "Ayo Technology" sounded like a weird ass name for a song. Sounds like what Kip would've named his wedding song in Napoleon Dynamite...

Edited September 8, 2007 by Verder

[JoeMimic]

I've listened to both, and neither impressed me. I don't even have a song from either that I've listened to in rotation with others, I've just reverted back to T.I. vs. T.I.P. (And since I don't want to make a seperate topic for it. What is the song T.I. used for "My Swag"? You can just PM the title to me if you know it.)

[RPS]

In my honest opinion, the worst songs on the Kanye West album are ages better than the best songs on 50 Cent's album. 50 Cent is going to be an after thought in a few years whereas Kanye will still be around and proving why he has staying power aside from his ridiclously large ego - because the guy puts out amazing songs.