Kanye West - "The Glory" (mp3)
Despite the fact that his two previous albums were pretty much my favorite releases of the years they came out, and I'd been following him as a producer and copping all his mixtapes well before that, my expectations weren't very high for Graduation. That mostly came down to the fact that I hadn't really been impressed by much of his outside productions and guest verses in the past 2 years, and that I really disliked "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and "Stronger." But I still had confidence that he'd at least make an above average album, and easily a better one than Curtis. That this album has quickly exceeded those modest expectations doesn't say much, but I'm happy with it so far.
Still, the things that I like are still full of small annoyances. The "Kid Charlemagne" sample on "Champion" is dope, but those synths smeared all over it kinda spoil it for me (which means my favorite Steely Dan rap sample is still Freeway and Joe Budden over a "Royal Scam" loop on the Ice City album). Kanye's comparison of "I Wonder" to U2's "City Of Blinding Lights" was intriguing because I really liked that song, but it's probably Kanye's worst vocal/lyrical moment on the whole album, just a bad flow and bad idea in general. I like that it has an "Ambitionz Az A Ridah" kind of thing going on with the snare sound, though. And "Homecoming" isn't nearly as good as the pre-College Dropout mixtape track from which it takes all its lyrics, "Home."
But "Good Life" totally lives up to what I'd hoped it would be, based on the fact that it's Kanye and T-Pain, over a "P.Y.T." sample co-produced by Kanye, Jon Brion and DJ Toomp. That's practically a combination made up in a lab for the expressed purpose of me loving it, and it actually works. I am getting a little tired of that megaphone-type vocal filter Kanye uses on all his uptempo songs since "Touch The Sky," though. My favorite song that isn't and probably won't be a single, though (and I really don't hear any obvious singles besides the three that have already been decided), is "The Glory," which is really almost a throwback to his early solo material: the chipmunk vox sample, the nice relaxed midtempo, all that violin (the return of Miri Ben-Ari, I presume?). "Big Brother" is kind of amazing in its own way, but "The Glory" is the one that I'm really enjoying at the moment.
Despite the fact that his two previous albums were pretty much my favorite releases of the years they came out, and I'd been following him as a producer and copping all his mixtapes well before that, my expectations weren't very high for Graduation. That mostly came down to the fact that I hadn't really been impressed by much of his outside productions and guest verses in the past 2 years, and that I really disliked "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and "Stronger." But I still had confidence that he'd at least make an above average album, and easily a better one than Curtis. That this album has quickly exceeded those modest expectations doesn't say much, but I'm happy with it so far.
Still, the things that I like are still full of small annoyances. The "Kid Charlemagne" sample on "Champion" is dope, but those synths smeared all over it kinda spoil it for me (which means my favorite Steely Dan rap sample is still Freeway and Joe Budden over a "Royal Scam" loop on the Ice City album). Kanye's comparison of "I Wonder" to U2's "City Of Blinding Lights" was intriguing because I really liked that song, but it's probably Kanye's worst vocal/lyrical moment on the whole album, just a bad flow and bad idea in general. I like that it has an "Ambitionz Az A Ridah" kind of thing going on with the snare sound, though. And "Homecoming" isn't nearly as good as the pre-College Dropout mixtape track from which it takes all its lyrics, "Home."
But "Good Life" totally lives up to what I'd hoped it would be, based on the fact that it's Kanye and T-Pain, over a "P.Y.T." sample co-produced by Kanye, Jon Brion and DJ Toomp. That's practically a combination made up in a lab for the expressed purpose of me loving it, and it actually works. I am getting a little tired of that megaphone-type vocal filter Kanye uses on all his uptempo songs since "Touch The Sky," though. My favorite song that isn't and probably won't be a single, though (and I really don't hear any obvious singles besides the three that have already been decided), is "The Glory," which is really almost a throwback to his early solo material: the chipmunk vox sample, the nice relaxed midtempo, all that violin (the return of Miri Ben-Ari, I presume?). "Big Brother" is kind of amazing in its own way, but "The Glory" is the one that I'm really enjoying at the moment.
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