Tuesday, December 11, 2007
 | "And Nielsen Soundscan scores it 957,000 albums sold to 692,000 albums sold…Ladies and Gentlemen, the new Heavy Weight Champion of the rap world….Kanye West." It was no accident that Kanye West chose to release his third CD, Graduation, on September 11th going up against 50 Cent's Curtis. In fact he moved the release date up a week to go head-to-head with the Eminem prodigy. In what was a highly publicized war of words, (50 said that he would retire if Kanye beat him in sales), Kanye West outsold 50 by almost 300,000 units and established himself as the top selling rap artist. The only question that remains is "does he deserve it?" Kanye's strength has never been his vocals. In fact, on tracks "I Wonder" and "Can't Tell Me Nothing" they're downright embarrassing. Public Enemy's Chuck D still holds the title as greatest Rap vocalist of all time, but there is a reason that Jay-Z and Eminem are the top acts in Rap music…the voice matters. TuPac was able to use his voice to make us understand what his life growing up was like, what it was like to have a crack mama and even what it was like to sleep with Biggie's wife. Kanye West just doesn't grab or excite his listeners with his voice. However, there is no doubt that Kanye can produce. On top of producing his own album he recently produced the best tracks on Common's latest CD. The man knows music and he proves it on many of Graduation's tracks. "Champion," "Good Life," and Flashing Lights" are stand outs that are sure to be downloaded and played on many boats next summer on Lake Travis' Devil's Cove. Lyrically he still has a lot of growing to do. I mean, it's not that lyrics like "Let's get lost tonight/ You could be my black Kate Moss tonight/ Play secretary on the boss tonight" aren't beautiful and inspired. Rhyming tonight with tonight? Brilliant Kanye. It's just that, well to be relevant, those lyrics should have gone something like this: "Let's get coked up tonight/ You could be my black Kate Moss tonight/ Papparazzi's bulbs flash bright tonight." On first listen of Graduation you think it's a masterpiece. That is because the music is that strong. Once you listen to it a few more times you realize it's a very good album, but that Kanye West has really only graduated out of high school and still needs some higher education. |
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