“I Wonder” was inspired by U2’s “City of Blinding Lights” The track that follows it, “The Glory,” was also offered to Common before West wound up using the track. Kanye famously touts “Everything I Am” as a rescued Finding Forever outtake in the song’s chorus: “Common passed on this beat, I made it to a jam”. Music, Finding Forever, was released just a few weeks before Graduation, so it’s not surprising that there was significant overlap in the sessions for the two albums, both of which featured Dwele and DJ Premier. “Everything I Am” wasn’t the only beat Common passed onĬommon’s second album for West’s G.O.O.D. When it all was said and done, West mixed “Stronger” a total of 75 times. After hearing “Stronger” alongside Timbaland’s hit “The Way I Are,” West brought Timbaland to the studio for the final album sessions days before Graduation was finalized. The Daft Punk-sampling single “Stronger” was West’s first co-production with Houston hip-hop veteran Mike Dean, but even after the track was released and became a hit, West was unsatisfied with the track’s kick drum. Timbaland joined sessions at the 11th hour to put oomph in the drumsĪlthough Jon Brion and other producers contributed to Kanye West’s first two albums, Graduation was a significant step towards the production supergroups that West would often assemble to collaborate on beats on his later albums. It was one of West’s first instances of using major stars in almost inaudible cameos, a practice that reached its apex with the choir of A-listers that appeared on 2010’s “All of the Lights.” Toward the end of the second verse, as T-Pain answers each West couplet with “Welcome to the good life,” Ne-Yo and John Legend take over the last couple refrains. Though T-Pain is Kanye West’s co-star on the hit “Good Life” and Michael Jackson appears via sample, two other singers make brief appearances. T-Pain isn’t the only R&B star on “Good Life” West had the last laugh: Graduation sold nearly a million copies in one week, and rap became the playground of emotional heroes like Kid Cudi, Lupe Fiasco, Drake and J.
KANYE WEST GRADUATION ALBUM VINYL REGISTRATION
The College Dropout and Late Registration sold a combined 7 million copies in the U.S., 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. 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 two frenemies appeared together on the cover of Rolling Stone and at the VMAs, and it seemed like a perfect battle for the soul of mainstream hip-hop – tough New York gangsterism vs. When Graduation and 50 Cent’s Curtis were scheduled for the same release date on September 11, 2007, the media whipped up a sales war. 'Silence of the Lambs': The Complete Buffalo Bill Storyĥ0 Cent had sold nearly twice as many albums as Kanye West before losing their famous sales showdown But West’s lyrics, a Chicago-centric riff on Common’s “I Used To Love H.E.R.,” are more or less unchanged. The most prominent instance is “Homecoming,” which takes its verses from “Home,” a College Dropout outtake that appeared on his 2002 mixtape Get Well Soon….The original beat and John Legend hook are replaced with a completely new track and chorus featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin. Kanye West created a voluminous catalog of demo and mixtape tracks in the early days of his transition from buzzing producer to superstar rapper, and lines from those songs were often revised and reused throughout his first three albums. Kanye released an early version of “Homecoming” nearly five years earlier To celebrate the album’s 10th anniversary, here are some things you may not know about Graduation. This focused collection of 13 songs touched on his complex relationships with fame, his father, his hometown of Chicago and his “big brother” Jay-Z and leaped into the world of experimental art via the Takashi Murikami album cover. But, 10 years later, we can see how it also pointed the way towards the AutoTuned vocals, EDM and arena rock influences that would help define the next decade in rap. When Kanye West released Graduation on September 11, 2007, it was the candy-colored, beatwise album that, famously, beat 50 Cent for a battle over release date bragging rights.