Graduation (album)

Graduation is the third installment of West's planned tetralogy of education-themed studio albums, which West subsequently later deviated from due to events surrounding the conception of his fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreak (2008). The album demonstrates yet another distinctive progression in West's musical style and approach to production. After spending the previous year touring the world with Irish rock band U2 on their Vertigo Tour, West became inspired by watching Bono open the stadium tours every night to incredible ovations and sought out to compose anthemic rap songs that could operate more efficiently in large stadiums and arenas. In West's attempt to accomplish this "stadium-status" endeavor, West incorporated layered electronic synthesizers into his hip-hop production, which also finds him utilizing slower tempos, being influenced by the music of the 1980s, and experimenting with electronic music. West was particularly influenced by house music, a subgenre of electronic dance music that first originated in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois in the early 1980s. West further broadened his musical palette on Graduation by not limiting himself to his customary use of samples and interpolation from classic soul records and instead drew influences from a far more eclectic range of music genres. Along with house music, Graduation contains samples and music elements of euro-disco, hard rock, electronica, lounge, progressive rock, synth-pop, electro, krautrock, dub, reggae, and dancehall. In addition to U2, West drew inspiration from other arena rock bands such as the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin for the melodies and chord progressions of his songs. In terms of lyricism, he simplifies some of his rhymes after touring with The Rolling Stones on their A Bigger Bang concert tour and discovering he could not captivate the audiences as well with his most complex lyrical themes. West made a conscious decision to abstain from the widespread recording practice of excessive rap albums saturated with skits and filler like in his prior two albums, feeling that they weakened the album experience, and instead filled Graduation with significantly fewer tracks — in this case 13 (or 14 on the digital version), which would continue with the rest of his other albums such as My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Yeezus. == Recording and production ==

West began working on Graduation immediately after releasing his second studio album Late Registration. By late September 2005, West had already completed three songs for the album, which he intended to contain a total of twelve tracks. Additionally, West would often test his new songs on his iPod, in his office, in dance clubs and just about anywhere people might listen to his music. He would then make adjustments to the tracks based on feedback he received, repeating the process as many times as necessary. R&B singers T-Pain and Dwele, New York rappers Mos Def and ALBe. Back, and famed hip-hop record producer DJ Premier are featured in individual tracks primarily to deliver melodic hooks and refrains. At the time, the two MCs had been working together, with West contributing to the production of Lil Wayne's sixth studio album Tha Carter III. As for the absence of skits, West explained, "There's just serious songs, hooks, chords, and ideas. No special effects or antics ... and no fake Bernie Mac!". Many songs on Graduation contain background vocals provided by Connie Mitchell of the Australian dance music group Sneaky Sound System. Seeking musical inspiration, West asked McDonald for ideas, who in turn suggested that he be introduced to Mitchell. The collaboration occurred the year before when West and Martin met one another during an impromptu jam session at the Abbey Road Studios in London, England. The song in itself is actually a re-vamping for "Home (Windy)", a track that originated from a demo tape dating back to the year 2001. It was made available two years later under the new title "Home" on West's 2003 mixtape Get Well Soon... and also on the advance copy of West's debut studio album The College Dropout, which due to a leak was never released. This original version possesses West's once trademark classic soul vocal sample production style, with singer John Legend on the chorus, which contains lyrics that are different than Martin's. Widely considered by music critics and listeners alike to be the most radio-friendly track on Graduation, West defines the album's third single "Good Life" as the song with the most "blatant hit-recordness". The track features vocals from R&B singer T-Pain, who utilizes the voice audio processor technology of Auto-Tune. The song is sampled from Michael Jackson's song "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)". West had previously experimented with the technology on his debut album The College Dropout for the background vocals on the songs "Jesus Walks" and "Never Let Me Down". During his brief stay in Sweden, West sent through sixteen different mixes of "Good Life" over to their recording studio for the audio mastering process. Graduation started taking definite form around the time of the filming of the music video for its second single "Stronger", whereas prior West had been "aimlessly making songs". West mixed the track seventy-five times, as he could not seem to get the kick drum to sound precisely the way that he wanted it to, amongst other issues. He worked on "Stronger" with eight different audio engineers and eleven different mix engineers around the globe and recorded over fifty versions of the track. Still feeling dissatisfied after hearing the number-one hit single inside a club compared alongside Timbaland's 2007 single "The Way I Are", which was his favorite hip-hop beat at the time, West enlisted the record producer to assist him in redoing the drum programming. The album also sees the return of composer and multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion – who had played an integral role as the co-executive producer on West's previous studio album Late Registration – for the track "Drunk and Hot Girls". West has also said that he wrote the song while thinking of performing it onstage in front of an audience of over 50,000 people. With this in mind, he placed a significant amount of concentration on speaking at high volumes with fewer wording and initially delivers his defiant lyrics in an intense staccato vocal style. West then transitions to a faster, more fluid flow for the more intricate second and third verses. West considered the release of "I Wonder" as the album's fourth single. But he instead chose "Flashing Lights", which he refers to as the "coolest" track on the album. by famed record producer DJ Premier The beat for "The Glory" was originally made for West's GOOD Music associate, close friend, and fellow Chicago hip-hop artist Common, whose seventh album, Finding Forever, was being produced and recorded by West simultaneously with Graduation. As was the case with both their previous albums, certain tracks that West originally crafted for Finding Forever that Common declined eventually ended up on his own album. "Everything I Am" was yet another song intended for Common but was passed on, a fact which West addresses within the opening lines. The record features turntable scratches contributed by famed hip-hop record producer DJ Premier. When working on the track, and while following the numerous instructions that were supplied by West, DJ Premier took seven different styles of scratches, including drum breaks, then cut all of them up into different rhythms, and scattered them all throughout the track, providing West with many different ideas to choose from. The production of the track was instead handled solely by Atlanta record producer DJ Toomp. During an interview with Rolling Stone, West himself recalled that it was "a very serious moment". Although "Bittersweet Poetry" appears as a Japanese bonus track on Graduation, it was actually one of the first songs crafted for Late Registration. After seeing the 2004 biographical film Ray together, West and blues-rock musician John Mayer decided to collaborate on a record and immediately went back to a recording studio to compose the song "Bittersweet" with the help of Keyshia Cole. This was not the first time West and Mayer collaborated with one another. The two previously worked together to make "Go!", the third single from Common's sixth studio album Be, which came about when Mayer went to visit West at The Record Plant in Los Angeles. In the end, because West felt that their song did not coincide well into the overall soundscape of his second studio album, it was subsequently unincluded. == Musical style ==

With Graduation, West made a departure from the soul samples of The College Dropout and the heavy orchestration of Late Registration. The musical progression arose from West touring the world in 2006 with U2 and the Rolling Stones. According to Jayson Greene of Stylus Magazine, West had developed a fascination with Euro-disco, a European form of electronic dance music. Joshua Botte of NPR, AbsolutePunk, Vice magazine's Eric Sundermann, Jay Willis of GQ, and The Atlantic's Spencer Korhaber. West retracted much of the orchestral production that had characterized Late Registration; he replaced the production with heavy, layered electronic synthesizers that feature Gothic tendencies at loud volumes throughout Graduation. West injected distorted synth-chords, house beats, electro-disco rhythms, and a wide array of audio-effects into his hip-hop production. All the while, West buried his signature kicks and snares deep beneath the decomposing layers of synths into the bottom of the mix. Even in new, unfamiliar musical surroundings, West retained both his self-confidence as well as his close attention to sonic detail. According to Ann Powers from the Los Angeles Times, the album's subtly dark tone was a byproduct of the inevitable toll placed on West as an artist, "an innovator in a genre that he must at least partially destroy to renew", who was torn between his devotion to hip-hop tradition and his "restless artistic drive": Despite the latter of the two's predominant synthetic attributes and the overall electronic sound, the emphasis placed on string arrangements that was prominent on Late Registration remained a significant factor on Graduation. For Graduation, West produced songs that combine hip-hop beats with anthemic refrains and continued to employ his skill in layering keys, strings, and vocals to obtain the melodies of samples. As the album progresses, its textures become harder and denser with every track. Songs {{Listen|pos = right Graduation opens on a sparse note with "Good Morning", beginning with an echoed, metronomic cowbell beat and a thumping bassline melded with a simple, arpeggiating synthesizer drone. The drone is drowned by the music that arrives at the chorus, which is a conflation of ambient synths and an astral backing choir crafted from a non-verbal vocal sample of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" by Elton John. During the verses, West raps over a constant loop of the words "their eyes" while the chopped-up hook is formed from the question, "Did you realize, that you were a champion?" The song also sports a reggae-inspired bridge delivered by Connie Mitchell in a distinct toasting vocal style. The soul-fired track "I Wonder" starts off with its piano-based refrain, which contains samples of "My Song" by Labi Siffre. It contains a mix of dark orchestration and detuned electronics with elements of "Sing Swan Song" by German progressive rock band Can. Rather than rap, West and guest artist Mos Def sing along to the song's melody. West marries a down-tempo beat to gentle piano chords which are accentuated by soulful cooing sampled from "If We Can't Be Lovers" by Prince Phillip Mitchell. Chris Martin sings the chorus and supplies a gospel-style piano motif while West raps over heavy yet buoyant drums on "Homecoming". The chatter of a noisy, cheering crowd can inexplicably be heard lurking in the background throughout the track. The Jay-Z ode "Big Brother" begins with West uttering the words, "Stadium status...", backed by a string orchestra, pounding drums, a distorted guitar riff and plinking piano keys. Around mid-verse, the track adopts synths that mimic the melodies of the string section. Before the second verse, additional instrumentation enters; including a heavy bass-line, metallic percussion, and 808-handclaps. The studio album's final track "Good Night" exhibits the production characteristics of West's next musical evolution. West juxtaposes the glitchy, mechanical sound of an 8-bit beat with the more elegant, traditional sound of a classical piano. == Lyrics and themes ==

In comparison to previous albums, which were largely driven by observational commentary on matters pertaining to social welfare, Graduation is more introspective in nature and addresses personal themes. Good Morning primarily features motivational lyrics about someone achieving their goals, but also touches on celebrity status and culture, and West's negative outlook on it. The free-associative "Champion" is also primarily composed of motivational lyrics, but West also briefly touches on the difficult relationship he had with his father–who divorced from his mother when he was just three-years-old–eventually reaching the conclusion that even with their ups and downs, in the end, his father was a champion in his eyes. West described "Stronger" as an "emancipation", as he uses the song to vent his frustration over mistakes he has made in the past. "I Wonder" carries an introspective tone, retaining a chorus about finding one's dreams, while West uses the verses to describe the struggle a person experiences in determining the meaning behind their life and achieving those dreams. "Drunk and Hot Girls" is a first-person narrative that illustrates a man courting an attractive intoxicated woman in a club but gets more than what he bargained for. Similar to its musicality, the songwriting characteristics of the album-closing track, "Good Night" alludes to West's next musical progression. The majority of song is composed of repetitive recitations of its choruses and bridges by Mos Def and Al Be Back. West melodically raps only one single verse in which he nostalgically reminisces over taking trips to the museum with his grandparents. As his verse draws to a close, West chastises that a person cannot dwell on the past, and charges himself with living his life like he has no tomorrow. In retrospect, with the death of his mother Donda West less than two months after the album was released in addition to the dissolution of his engagement with fiancée Alexis Phifer, the trace amounts of melancholy found scattered throughout Graduation would all but envelop West's next studio album, 808s & Heartbreak. == Artwork ==

West collaborated with Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami to oversee the art direction of Graduation as well as design the cover art for the album's accompanying singles. Often called "the Warhol of Japan", Murakami's surrealistic visual art is characterized by cartoonish creatures that appear friendly and cheerful at first glance, but possess dark, twisted undertones. The collaboration between the two came about when West visited Murakami's Kaikai Kiki studio during a brief trip to Asaka, Japan. The album's artwork expresses colorful, pastel imagery influenced by Murakami's affiliation with Superflat, a post-modern art movement influenced by manga and anime. Its production process took place over the course of several weeks, with West constantly visualizing new images and emailing the ideas to Murakami and his team. Bringing the educational theme expressed by West's previous albums to a close, the visual plotline of the images contained within the liner notes lead up to a graduation ceremony that takes places within a fictional college institution situated within a futuristic metropolis called Universe City. The story begins on a rainy day with Dropout being awoken by his alarm clock, and after realising he is running late, runs out of his apartment to his car, modeled after a DeLorean. When the car's engine dies, he is forced to find an alternative means of transportation. Murakami later reproduced the artwork designs through the use of cel-shaded animation within a three-minute animated music video for the opening track "Good Morning". After collaborating with West on the artwork and video, Murakami later worked with him on the cover art for West and Kid Cudi's eponymous debut studio album, Kids See Ghosts (2018). == Marketing ==

(pictured). While hosting a listening session for his second studio album Late Registration on August 3, 2005, at Sony Music Studios, West revealed that he wanted to schedule the release of Graduation sometime around October 2006. Several months later, on March 28, 2007, West appeared on the Los Angeles radio station Power 106. He said that he was working on his third album and Common's seventh album Finding Forever and rapped a few lyrics from one of his songs in a cappella. On May 11, it was announced that the release date for Graduation was September 18. West debuted the album's lead single "Can't Tell Me Nothing" on the New York radio station Hot 97 on May 15. He then released a free mixtape under the same name onto the Internet on May 27. The mixtape features preview clips of songs that would appear on Graduation and showcases various artists signed onto West's record label GOOD Music as well as collaborations with other unaffiliated musicians. It also contains "Us Placers", the debut song of Child Rebel Soldier, a supergroup West formed with Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell. On July 19, the album's release date was changed once more and moved to September 11, 2007, the same US release date as rapper 50 Cent's third studio album Curtis. When first presented with the proposal of his label moving the release date of his album yet again as well as the idea of a sales competition between him and 50 Cent, West initially expressed his indifference towards the thought, saying, "When I heard that thing about the debate, I thought that was the stupidest thing. When my album drops and 50's album drops, everybody wins because you're gonna get a lot of good music at the same time". However, then Def Jam president and CEO Jay Z welcomed competition, feeling that it would be prosperous for hip-hop, and the date became permanent. The album's release generated much publicity over a sales competition with 50 Cent's Curtis. In an interview for USA Today, 50 Cent expressed his view on the idea of a sales competition, stating "It's great marketing – for Kanye West. But I sell way more records than Kanye West, and I generate way more interest than Kanye West. They think they can match us up, but they'll find out when that week goes by and the sales come back. This is no rivalry". "Mine will sell and his will still be on the shelf", 50 Cent told Rolling Stone. On August 10, 50 Cent confirmed during an interview with SOHH that he would end his career as a solo recording artist if Graduation were to sell more copies than Curtis in the United States. However, 50 Cent later retracted his statement within an MTV interview due to his contract agreements with Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. But most retailers and radio programmers interviewed picked West, whose single, "Stronger", was Number Six on Billboard's Hot 100 -while none of 50's four singles climbed higher than the thirty-second spot. Later that day, West performed at V Festival in Chelmsford, England before an audience of over 50,000 people and again played new material from Graduation as well as a tribute cover of Amy Winehouse's hit single "Rehab". He then held a secret concert with Barbadian singer Rihanna for an audience of over five hundred fans and invited guests at Westminster Central Hall in London, England on August 20. The guests were greeted by staff members wearing graduation robes and mortarboard caps in reference to the title of West's third studio album Graduation. At the end of the concert, a shower of silver confetti and ticker tape reading Touch the Sky fell from the ceiling onto the audience while the actual "Touch the Sky", which was the fourth single from Late Registration, was played on the speakers. After he returned to the United States, West joined 50 Cent onstage for a surprise performance before an audience of over 20,000 people at a show held on August 22 in Madison Square Garden during Ciara and T.I.'s Screamfest '07 tour. West performed for a benefit concert raising funds for and promoting higher education sponsored by his charity foundation on August 24 at Chicago's House of Blues. At the concert, he provided live renditions of songs from Graduation and gave the audience a sneak peek of the early production stages of his fall Glow in the Dark Tour. In a survey conducted by Billboard, results displayed that an estimated 44% of readers predicted that Graduation would sell more units over 50 Cent and Kenny Chesney. Projections for first week scans based on early store sales reports indicated towards the 575,000–700,000 range for Graduation, while Curtis was projected in the 500,000–600,000 range. West and 50 Cent appeared on a 106 & Park special titled: "Kanye West vs. 50 Cent: The Clash of the Titans", which aired on September 11. They both performed, had solo interviews, and a joint interview. The episode was the second-highest viewed music series telecast in BET history behind 106 & Park's tribute to Aaliyah in 2001. == Commercial performance ==

On the first day of its release, Graduation sold over 437,000 copies. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, grossing a total of over 957,000 copies in its first week in the United States alone. Graduation became West's second consecutive studio album to top the Billboard 200 and also debuted at number-one on the album charts in the United Kingdom and Canada. The album registered the best first-week sales totals of any record released within the last two years, with the last being West's own Late Registration. Additionally, Graduation became ranked as the 15th highest sales week for an album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, as well as the highest sales week at the time of its release for an album since 50 Cent's The Massacre (2005). Graduation's first week sales of 957,000 and Curtis's first week sales of 691,000 marked only the second time ever since the inception of Nielsen SoundScan that two albums debuted within the same week with totals surpassing 623,000 copies in the United States. The first occurrence of such an event was in September 1991, when Guns N' Roses conjunctively released Use Your Illusion I, which sold 685,000 copies, and Use Your Illusion II, which sold 770,000 copies. The first week sales totals of Graduation and Curtis have outsold the first week sales totals of Guns N' Roses' two albums. 50 Cent showed graciousness in regards to his defeat. In a statement released to the Associated Press, he said, "I am very excited to have participated in one of the biggest album release weeks in the last two years. Collectively, we have sold hundreds of thousands of units in our debut week. This marks a great moment for hip-hop music, one that will go down in history". in Chicago on the album's supporting tour. In its second week on the Billboard 200, Graduation outsold Curtis, 226,000 copies to 143,000. By the next week, on October 3, 2007, the former had sold a total of 1.3 million copies in the US. By year's end, Graduation was the third most-downloaded and best-selling album of 2007 on iTunes Store. Graduation became West's third consecutive studio album to sell over 2 million copies in the United States, and it was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping 2 million copies on October 18, 2007. As of June 14, 2013, Nielsen Soundscan reported that the album has since grossed over 2.7 million copies in the US. The 957,000 copies sold in the first week of Graduation's release stood as the sixth largest first week sales in hip-hop history up to January 7, 2019. In the United Kingdom, Graduation debuted at number-one on the UK Albums Chart dated September 22, 2007. As of August 9, 2024, the album has been certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), with sales of 900,000 copies in the UK. In 2018, Official Charts Company revealed that Graduation was the 25th highest-selling rap album in the UK in the 21st century. For the issue date of September 20, 2007, Graduation debuted atop the Canadian Albums Chart. On January 10, 2008, the album was certified double platinum by Music Canada for sales of 200,000 copies. == Critical reception ==

Graduation was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album received an average score of 79, based on 32 reviews. Reviewing for Spin in November 2007, Charles Aaron hailed Graduation as "mesmerizing and alienating, like all the purest forms of pop culture", with music in the tradition of Puff Daddy's late 1990s pop-rap, but more skilled: "Its music is a rush of designer adrenaline, its personality insatiable self-justification. It's the paradigm ya love to hate". Stylus Magazine's Jayson Greene said it "serves as a document of West's maturation" and, "musically, at least, it's the most accomplished thing he's ever done". In Rolling Stone, Nathan Brackett wrote of West's evolving and increasingly experimental, genre-bending production and said although he lacks Jay-Z's "formal mastery", West has "grown as a writer ... given the lousy year hip-hop has had, the music needs his spazzed-out, neurotic creativity more than ever". from The Guardian said West often "undercuts rap cliches with wit and ambivalence", but observed some disappointing lyrics such as on "Can't Tell Me Nothing", which he said revealed his limited perspective. Dave Heaton from PopMatters felt that though the album is good, it lacks the epochal feel of Late Registration, with songs that "aren't as richly dressed" and he claimed that West "doesn't seem to be trying as hard". Rankings Graduation was named to year-end lists for 2007 by multiple publications. USA Today ranked it as the best album of the year, with the staff lauding the "musical and thematic variety" as well as "its articulate and witty rhyming". and Complex placed it at number 2 on their list. Rolling Stone listed Graduation at number 45, and it finished second on its readers list. Complex ranked the album at number one on their list of the 100 Best Albums of the Complex Decade (2002–2012). Graduation was later included on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, landing at 204 on the 2020 update. It also appeared at 470 on NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 2013 list. Industry awards Graduation won the award of Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album at the American Music Awards of 2008, while also counting towards West earning the award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist. With his two wins at the ceremony, West was the second biggest winner, behind Chris Brown with three awards to his name. West told the crowd during his acceptance speech that despite winning the Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album award, he wanted to give the award to Lil Wayne instead. Though this stands as one of the multiple times that West has given an award of his to someone else, West also has a frequent history of complaining when he does not win an award. West claimed in an interview that he felt confident towards Graduation winning the award. The album was considered the favorite to win Album of the Year, and its failure to win was considered by many publications to be a snub. At the same ceremony, "Stronger" and "Good Life" were awarded Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song, respectively. Graduation was a contender for numerous other industry awards. == Legacy ==

The critical reception and commercial success of Graduation left a profound influence on both hip-hop culture and popular music. West has earned praise for his ability to appeal to diverse music audiences such as indie-rock listeners and rave enthusiasts without alienating his core hip-hop audiences. Collaborative tracks such as "Homecoming" signaled the diversification of mainstream hip-hop and its intertwining with the genres of alternative and indie-rock in subsequent years. Irish rock band U2 has imparted that touring with West on their Vertigo Tour in turn had a significant effect on their own music as well in regards to the band's twelfth studio album No Line on the Horizon (2009). "Flashing Lights" was a leading part of a wave of synthesizer-driven music which combined danceable electro beats with an accessible pop format. The studio album demonstrated West's shift from sample-orientated hip-hop production and more towards digital synths and drum machines generated by digital audio workstations (DAW). Since Graduation's release, countless other record producers have followed suit in blurring the lines of conventional hip-hop with the incorporation of electronic production. This synth-driven production approach has since been adopted by artists including Future, Young Chop, and Metro Boomin. Ben Detrick of XXL cites West beating 50 cent in sales as being responsible for altering the direction of hip-hop and paving the way for new rappers who did not follow the hardcore-gangster mold, writing, "If there was ever a watershed moment to indicate hip-hop's changing direction, it may have come when 50 Cent competed with Kanye in 2007 to see whose album would claim superior sales. Kanye led a wave of new artists— Kid Cudi, Wale, Lupe Fiasco, Kidz in the Hall, Drake—who lacked the interest or ability to create narratives about any past gunplay or drug-dealing". The Michigan Daily columnist Adam Theisen asserts that West's win once and for all "prove[d] that rap music didn't have to conform to gangsta-rap conventions to be commercially successful". Rolling Stone remarked that "While Kanye West's decisive triumph over 50 seems inevitable in retrospect, it's easy to forget how much of an underdog he was at the time. The College Dropout and Late Registration sold a combined 7 million copies in the U.., but 50 Cent's own first two albums, Get Rich or Die Trying and The Massacre, sold nearly 14 million, almost exactly twice as much. West had the last laugh: Graduation sold nearly 1 million copies in one week, and rap became the playground of emotional heroes like Kid Cudi, Lupe Fiasco, Drake, and J. Cole". In retrospect, Highsnobiety writer Shahzaib Hussain recognizes Graduation in West's opening trilogy of highly successful, education-themed albums that "cemented his role as a progressive rap progenitor". Going further, Noah Callahan-Bever, chief content officer and editor-in-chief for Complex Media, marked September 11, 2007: "The Day Kanye West Killed Gangsta Rap". In a retrospective, Lawrence Burney of Noisey expands on this notion by asserting that the event caused the more aggressive forms of rap music to undergo an evolution. He continued writing, "Gangsta rap, street music, and the like have yet to recover from that showdown, as only two albums of the sort have gone platinum in the 2010s—Kevin Gates' Islah and Meek Mill's Dreams Worth More Than Money—If anything, street music has also made a shift since Kanye began to peal back more layers of himself on Graduation; 50's whole get up was about being an indestructible, emotionless robot. Now, what connects fans to artists like Gates and Meek is that they aren't afraid to rhythmically cry about lost loves ones and the price of fame". The competition between 50 Cent and West, when the two released their studio albums on the same day, was penultimate in a series of articles that lists fifty key events in the history of R&B and hip-hop music, written by Rosie Swash of The Guardian. Swash wrote that it "highlighted the diverging facets of hip-hop in the last decade; the former was gangsta rap for the noughties, while West was the thinking man's alternative". Following Graduation release, West became a frequent source of controversy for his conduct on social media and during interviews, including calling slavery in the United States "a choice" and making antisemitic statements. The catchphrase "he made Graduation" became a popular internet meme as fans attempted to rationalize West's controversies by reminding themselves he created one of the most beloved hip-hop albums. West acknowledged the meme in February 2025, when he ended a Twitter rant about wealth and power in the United States with "and I made Graduation". == Track listing ==

Credits adapted from liner notes. Notes: • – co-production • – additional production • – extended outro co-production • – bridge section Sample credits: • "Good Morning" contains samples from "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" performed by Elton John. • "Champion" contains elements of "Kid Charlemagne" performed by Steely Dan. • "Stronger" contains a sample of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" performed by Daft Punk and master use of "Cola Bottle Baby" performed by Edwin Birdsong. • "I Wonder" contains a sample from "My Song" performed by Labi Siffre. • "Good Life" contains a sample of "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" performed by Michael Jackson. • "Barry Bonds" contains a sample of "Long Red" performed by Mountain. • "Drunk and Hot Girls" contains elements of "Sing Swan Song" performed by Can. • "Everything I Am" contains elements of "If We Can't Be Lovers" performed by Prince Phillip Mitchell and "Bring the Noise" performed by Public Enemy. • "The Glory" contains elements of "Save the Country" performed by Laura Nyro and contains a sample of "Long Red" performed by Mountain. • "Homecoming" interpolates "I Used to Love H.E.R." performed by Common. • "Good Night" contains elements of "Nuff Man a Dead" performed by Super Cat and "Wake the Town" performed by U-Roy. • "Bittersweet Poetry" interpolates "Bittersweet" performed by Chairmen of the Board. == Personnel ==

Credits are adapted from liner notes. • Kanye West – executive producer, vocals, primary artist , producer • Lil Wayne – featured artist • Mos Def – featured artist , backing vocals • T-Pain – featured artist • Dwele – featured artist • DJ Premier – featured artist, DJ scratching • Young Jeezy – rap vocals • Jay-Z – executive producer, additional rap vocals • Chris Martin – additional vocals , piano • Connie Mitchell – additional vocals • Tanya Herron – additional vocals • John Legend – backing vocals • Ne-Yo – backing vocals • Jalil Williams – additional backing vocals • Jehireh Williams – additional backing vocals • Daphne Chen – violin • Eric Gorfain – violin • Luigi Mazzocchi – violin • Charles Parker – violin • Igor Szwec – violin • Emma Kummrow – violin • Olga Konopelsky – violin • Gloria Justen – violin • Peter Nocella – viola • Leah Katz – viola • Alexandra Leem – viola • Alma Fernandez – viola • Wired Strings – string section performed by • Gus Dudgeon – producer • DJ Toomp – producer • Mike Dean – keyboards , music arranger , string arrangements , recording engineer , guitar , mixing , producer • Jon Brion – keyboards , percussion , record producer • Darryl Beaton – keyboards • Andy Chatterley – keyboards • Chris Rob – keyboards • Richard Dodd – cello • John Krovoza – cello • Jennie Lorenzo – cello • Tim Resler – bass • Vincent "Biggs" James – bass guitar • Omar Edwards – piano , keyboards synthesizer , synthesizer bass • Nottz Raw – producer , recording engineer • Tony Rey – recording engineer • Seiji Sekine – recording engineer • Greg Koller – recording engineer • Bruce Buechner – recording engineer • Andrew Dawson – recording engineer , mixing • Anthony Kilhoffer – recording engineer , mixing • Anthony Palazzole – assistant recording engineer • Andy Marcinkowski – assistant recording engineer • Richard Reitz – assistant recording engineer • Jared Robbins – assistant recording engineer • Kengo Sakura – assistant recording engineer • Bram Tobey – assistant recording engineer • Matty Green – assistant recording engineer • Nate Hertweck – assistant recording engineer • Jason Agel – assistant recording engineer • Keke Smith – production coordination for DJ Toomp • Tracey Waples – marketing • Al Brancch – marketing • Takashi Murakami – artwork • Carol Corless – package production • Eric Hudson – all other instruments , producer • Warryn Campbell – producer • Larry Gold – string arrangements, string conductor • Rosie Danvers – string arrangements • Sandra Campbell – project coordinator • Sean Cooper – sound designer • Tommy D – string section producer • Vlado Meller – mastering • Terese Joseph – A&R • Kyambo Joshua – executive producer • Manny Marroquin – mixing • Kazuhiro Mizuno – design • Patrick "Plain Pat" Reynolds – A&R, producer • Timbaland – additional drum machine , additional music programming == Charts ==

Weekly charts Year-end charts == Certifications ==