Yeezy graduates (2007)

I still kinda love this record. Even the weird date rape anthem can't stop the overall good feeling I get from Graduation: driving to the beach and flicking between 'urban' radio stations to find Good Life, smoking weed, and then jumping in a lake so cold it makes my nuts hurt for hours

The only Ye record self-conscious enough to want to belong to a context rather than a) making a new one, b) shaking an old one, or c) just doing its thing: the impact of Justice's Daft Punk revisionism exciting Ye enough to replace soul samples with dynamic electronica, and swirling baroque-rap with the simplistic/anthemic grandeur of sensitivo house-wife arena rock a la U2 or Coldplay. As such, it's the only one where you can go yeah, I remember (year) when you hear it- it's a relic more than anything. In some ways that's cool- without all the electronica found on Graduation he wouldn't have gone Low the following year, and at this stage there's introspection to go with his boasts. I mean, back in 2007 critics called his boasts playful rather than psychotic or symptomatic of HPD! But it cheapens it- blast from the past rather than fresh and alive. It even feels like a guilty pleasure! But whatever, it did its job in 2007 as a bright and creative record for pop and rap fans with a few of the year's best singles. And I still sorta love it. And I still love those singles.

Good Morning, Champion, I Wonder, Good Life, Flashing Lights, Everything I Am, The Glory

A-

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