Kanye/Photo: James Dimmock

Last night, Kanye West called his final convocation. Okay, so maybe it was a theater at the New World Stages, but it felt like a school auditorium, one filled with fans, press and some of his get-fresh crew (Don C, Consequence, Mos Def and Q-Tip came through), all eager to hear the forthcoming Graduation. West strutted onstage and kept his spiel short but cocky, proclaiming it would go down as one of the top-ten hip-hop albums ever. Cut to the spotlights and a fittingly un-modest jumbo-screened montage of all things ’Ye: anime and a gang of Jay-Z and Kanye clips.But we’re here for the album, people. With no time for cheesy skits (they were left off the album completely), the 13 tracks on Graduation offer a little bit of everything from Kanye and closely rides the line between rap and electronica. People walked in already acquainted with “Stronger,” “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” “Barry Bonds,” and the cyberleaked snippets of “Champion” and “Big Brother,” but Kanye filled in the gaps (ayo!), offering methodically constructed standout tracks like “I Wonder,” “Flashing Lights” ( West calls it “the girls’ version of ‘Stronger’”), the celebratory T-Pain collabo “Good Life,” and the boastful “ The Glory.”
(more…)

Share This