204. Kanye West, "Graduation"

 

Since Kanye West is now a full-time provocateur/professional hypebeast/full-time public figure, it's almost quaint to think that the big hoopla when this album came out was whether this or 50 Cent's album was going to sell more.  Kanye won, and rightly so.  Let's try to put KANYE the industry aside momentarily and take a minute to recognize that this is a very, very good album.

Never afraid to take his samples from anywhere, this album has a whole song ("Champion") based on a sample of Steely Dan's "Kid Charlemagne."  The next song, "Stronger," is based on Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger."  Through the whole thing, there's an undeniable nod to indie rock, in that the melodies are as important as the raps themselves.  But some of those raps are great.  From "Flashing Lights":

Feelin' like Katrina with no FEMA
Like Martin with no Gina
Like a flight with no visa
First class with the seat back, I still see ya
In my past, you on the other side of the glass
Of my memory's museum
I'm just sayin', hey, Mona Lisa
Come home, you know you can't roam without Caesar

My first point of contact with this album, I think, was the video for "Can't Tell Me Nothing," filmed on Zach Galifianakis' farm in North Carolina, starring Zach and Will Oldham, f/ a troupe of folk dancers.  It's a hoot:

The humor, of course, comes from setting Kanye's rap over a pastoral scene of white people playing around on a farm.  It works!  Comic juxtaposition usually does.

The final song, "Big Brother," is a recounting of Kanye's sometimes tumultuous relationship with Jay-Z, who was instrumental in Kanye's early career.  It's actually really touching, with an unforgettable couplet: "If you admire somebody you should go on 'head tell 'em/People never get the flowers while they can still smell 'em."

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? I think so?