Graduation

A flawless time capsule of the 2000s.

People often rank Graduation at the bottom of the college trilogy and if i had to guess, it'd be probably the inclusion of songs like "Barry Bonds" and "Drunk and Hot Girls", which might seem understandable at first listen, but to me, there's absolutely nothing wrong with these songs and their absurdity adds to the overall amazing nostalgia fueled trip that this whole record is.

The production on this album is incredibly heartwarming and you can just tell Kanye had an immense amount of fun making them. The beats on this LP are energetic and go hand in hand with Kanye's snappy lyricism and constant one liners. The production on this album never loses pace and is constantly in your face with how eccentric and loud they sometimes they can get, like on "Champion" and "Stronger". In contrast to the often energy filled tracks on this record, this whole experience includes some of Kanye's most outright beautiful and iconic pieces of work, like "I Wonder" and "Everything I Am". To put it bluntly, this album keeps consistently putting out amazing samples after amazing samples and i mean it with all my heart when i say that EVERY single track of this thing has an insurmountable amount of replay value. Yes, even those two tracks that everyone seems to universally hate.

This album gets commonly criticized for sounding "dated" or how it hasn't aged well, and that's a mindset that, for me, doesn't have any single merit to it. I often fail to see why this album is lowballed in its musical impact and general value just because it sounds like it was made in a particular decade with very obvious influences. A record doesn't have to necessarily transcend time to sound good. Graduation is an incredibly special and fun album that still sounds fucking amazing regardless of it sounding dated with its daft punk influences and 2000s vibes. If anything, i'd personally put this album at the top of the college trilogy just because of how much it reflects the era it was made in and manages to be repayable and enjoyable. Another factor that makes me cherish this album's existence so much is that how its kinda the last album that Kanye sounds genuinely happy in. Donda's death after this record truly changed Kanye and his path in life and music took one of the most unpredictable routes that nobody could've ever seen.