Kanye West. He talks a lot of shit, but he can back it up.
I realized this last Wednesday morning, September 12th, heading westward (ho! - God I miss Westside Connection) and Graduation came to an end. 51 minutes. 13 tracks. My iPod? Hovering somewhere near 7000 on the song tip. And what do I do? I go back and play it again. Start to finish.
And it's been like that for a minute now. Something keeps calling me back and in I go, pressing play. Do I love it more than his previous two efforts? No. Do I think it's the album of the year masterpiece many are proclaiming it to be? Torn.* But I keep coming back, letting it grow. And grow it has. Granted I still don't care much for the last three tracks, though I gotta show some love for the intro of The Glory where Kanye sings along for a couple seconds as the sample coos too, as if caught on tape is the moment Kanye put two and two together, not sure of where he was going, but sure that this shit, this shit right here? Straight fire baby.
Yeah not much to say about those last tracks. Homecoming can go completely. [Seriously what's with hip-hop and Chris Martin?] And I respect the heartfelt sentiment rarely seen in hip-hop with Big Brother, but I'd be lying if I were to sit here and tell you that I go back to this track constantly.
But one thing I can't lie about? The three tracks that come before The Glory; the one two punch of Everything I Am [imagined if this closed the album. Seriously think about that one for a moment], Flashing Lights, and of course, for some strange reason one of my favorite songs on the album, the Can sampling, haunting diatribe that is Drunk and Hot Girls featuring Mos Def.
I had been curious about this track from the get go because it featured Mos, but get this: the boy ain't rapping. And this was music to my ears. In fact, the first time I played Drunk and Hot Girls I sat on the edge of my seat waiting to hear Mos croon, for you see I am one of the few people who enjoys a good Mos track where rapping takes a backseat to him getting his Marvin Gaye on. That's why I have no problem waxing poetic about The New Danger, an album that got put back into rotation thanks to Kanye's Drunk and Hot Girls.
It's been a minute since we last heard from Mos. One of hip-hop's finest MC's has allowed himself to become preoccupied by movies and side projects with his budding rock group (Black Jack Johnson). Well, the wait was finally over three years ago, and we listeners were greeted with this: a slow grooving, balls to the wall experiment in rock and hip-hop. Before this album was released, Mos hoped to release a Black Jack Johnson disc, but said disc never came to light. For a large portion of this album it feels as if this could be a Black Jack Johnson disc with Mos Def at the helm. With Black Jack Johson uhh, backing him, Mos is able to accomplish something he hinted at on Black on Both Sides with the hugely popular single “Umi Says”: croon.
And the tracks on which he sings rather than raps actually turn out to be some of the best on the album—the New Orleans jazz-funk-soul of "Black Jack", the slow moving Marvin Gaye-esque “Modern Marvel”, and the all out sing till my lungs get sore passion of “The Beggar”. Don't get me wrong, this is a Mos Def disc, so he allows himself to shine on such raps as the biting state of hip-hop today/take on Jay-Z's The Takeover entitled "Rape Over", the aesthetically pleasing “Sex, Love, Money” (complete with horns and jazz flutes), and the old school throwback “Sunshine,” produced by the then new master of soul himself, Mr. Kanye West. Mos may have drifted away from the hardcore underground grit that his fans clamored for and expected, but it's a move that should warranted few if any complaints.
Key Tracks: Ghetto Rock, Sex, Love and Money, Black Jack
*Actually I am not torn on that whole album of 2007 thing. I already picked my #1 album of the year for 2007, and I doubt anyone will top it before December 31st. And no, it's not M.I.A.'s Kala.
Developing...
SIDENOTE: Yo 50, as far my Bigmama goes, you lost. Cousin Lil Bro let her put Curtis in her car and she ain't feeling it yo. She just came over and inspected the artwork and disc for Graduation and in it goes next. I hope she finds it okay or not good at all or else I won't see it again unless I burn it for her. [She still thinks that Whitney Houston double disc Greatest Hits set belongs to her, but it don't]
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