Kanyetimbriontoomplosion

Just to be clear, my trying-too-hard-to-be-clever byline here's a bit of a misnomer. Timbaland's contributions are limited to makin' the drums knock harder on a coupla singles, and Kanye's former best friend forever Jon Brion only contributes to one song on the production end. I think he does some instrumentation too, but the liner notes are kinda a pain to sift through so I really don't wanna check. Sorry.

Kanye West is a lot of things. Good rapper. Great producer. Egotistical motherf*cker.

I guess I could do the typical "yeah he's an egomaniac, but at least he makes good music!" defense for that last one, but I won't. Why? Cuz I think some people get way too hung up on dude's ego to realize how it feeds into his music. Putting aside the assorted award show temper tantrums (word to his comments about Britney and the VMAs though, on-point and hilarious,) which is a different topic, Kanye's on-record ego isn't on some typical brag-rap sh*t. He might spit something like "My head's so big you can't sit behind me" for one line, and sound insecure or even goofy and self-deprecating in the next. Some cynics've chalked it up to a convenient persona he's designed for himself. I say, dude sounds too genuine to be an act. More than any other popular rapper right now, when you hear Kanye rap, you feel like you're hearin' the real deal. And while his flow might come across as a little sloppy at times, I think that actually helps add to dude's everyman appeal. Can you imagine 'Ye rapping with Nas-style technical precision? Me neither, but if he did, it might take away from the current way he emphasizes and delivers his lyrics.

West's latest effort Graduation, to me, represents his best work yet. 'Ye wasn't lying when he said he saves all the good beats for himself, and like Late Registration, Graduation not only finds him reinventing his sound, but doin' it well and not spiraling off into an eclectimess. Gone are the Kanye samples-meet-Jon Brion string arrangements of LR, and in their place, we have Kanye-in-space -- with a little help from DJ Toomp.

"DJ Toomp? Haven't his main collaborators in the last year been T.I. and Young Jeezy? What kind of sellout bullsh*t is this!?!" Calm down random italics. Aside from the fact that you're just plain frontin' if you don't think Toomp's recent beats're dope, this is clearly a creative partnership him and 'Ye have goin' here, rather than some abrupt attempt on 'Ye's part to morph into the Southern rap stars you love to hate. While Toomp only contributes to three tracks here on the production end, songs like "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and "Good Life" help set the template for the rest of the album. Don't get it twisted -- this's still unmistakably a Kanye album. It's just that the new-n-improved 'Ye happens to be quite synth-happy.

'Course, with that last paragraph I may've made it sound like none of the previous staples of 'Ye's production are in place here, which ain't true. There's plenty of Late Registration-style string arrangements that make appearances throughout the album, and on tracks like "Champion" and "The Glory" 'Ye brings you a kind of updated version of the more traditional sample-based style that made him famous. On the whole though, while 'Ye still samples like there's no tomorrow, Graduation finds him pushing boundaries like he hasn't before. It's like he said, he never does the same thing twice. For his own albums at least.

I suppose at some point here I should start talking about the actual songs, but the thing is I like damn near every song here. So how 'bout we get "creative" and get what I don't like outta the way first -- "Barry Bonds." No, not the real Barry Bonds. I'm Giants for life, f*ck the Dodgers! The song though? Not very good. Admittedly I am still listening to it when I play the album cuz it's not THAT bad, and 'Ye's first verse (which contains that line 'bout him being big-headed) finds him kickin' probably his most lighthearted rap here. My main beefs here are a) Nottz's beat, which sounds kinda sloppy and unfinished, and b) Lil Wayne AKA Weezy Fitzgerald Bartholomew, who has the honor of being the only featured emcee (sorry Mos Def) on the album. And his verse here is just wack. Admittedly, it's not really much different from the type of sh*t Wayne's been kicking on his recent mixtapes lyrically, but whereas his "retarded flow" as he likes to call it often makes even his simplest punchlines sound better than they actually are, here his flow is just constipated. Adding to my irritation is the fact that Weezy has time to drop hot guest verses for David Banner, Ja "Washed the F*ck Up" Rule, and even his random-*ss "I'll show up on everything with anyone at any time in any place, and chances are I'll be high" appearances with Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger and Fall Out Boy at the VMAs. Don't get me wrong, when he's on, Weezy's one of the illest emcees doin' it big right now. This though? Not a great start to the Yeezy/Weezy partnership. Although I suppose it is good that dude's workin' with 'Ye rather than, say, his "daddy" Birdman.

The rest of the album though? Fantasmatic. Lyrically, this is probably 'Ye's least specific album -- he said that he intended it to be that way, so his words could better connect with different people. Broadly speaking, a lot of the album's about his fame. Doesn't sound like somethin' the average Joe can connect with yeah? Well actually, while you obviously won't be able to relate on a direct level to some of the stuff 'Ye's talkin' about here, he has a real personable quality that keeps him from sounding out of touch, and a way of making his lyrics relatable in a more general sense. A great example of this is "Good Life," 'Ye's "I made it" song of the album. To put it in a real basic and cheesy way, this is just a celebratory, feel-good song, straight-up. 'Ye's rappin' 'bout the great things that come with fame, but not in a way that sounds like "I'm better than you." It also helps that the D-Ye Toomp (my official lame celebrity name for Kanye and Toomp's co-productions here) beat here is just nuts, thanks to the MASSIVE synths (which I'm told sample a Michael Jackson hit) and drum hits that dominate the track. If I was a betting man I'd say this is a smash once it drops as the third single. And I should probably mention that T-Pain, in all his robot-singing glory, does a bang-up job on the hook here. Trust me, that's a compliment -- I ain't a big fan of the rappa ternt cyborg.

Can I also just mention real quick that the video girl in "Good Life" is smokin' hot? And she's the only one 'Ye got for it. Such restraint!

Anyway, now that I've got that very important thought outta the way -- the dynamic D-Ye Toomp duo strikes again on "Can't Tell Me Nothing," and if you'd asked me what I thought back when this dropped as the album's lead single, I'da said: bullsh*t. However, playing it on my speaker system rather than my apparently sh*tty headphones was the insta-cure on the first go around. It's probably the weirdest-sounding song 'Ye's ever done, thanks to Toomp smothering the beat with gothic-sounding synths, but it's got a strange way of gettin' to ya. Relative to the rest of the album, 'Ye's whole "inner conflict" may seem a little contrived at first, but he gets off some lines here that're both insightful and amusing -- "I'm on TV talkin' like it's just you and me" and a clever line 'bout him bein' fresh to death are particular standouts.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Kanye album without some serious hater-hating, and "I Wonder" and "Everything I Am" fit that bill nicely. "I Wonder" has a woozy beat that's simultaneously pretty and aggressive, thanks to a vicious drum effect thrown into the mix. It finds 'Ye at his most frustrated-sounding on the album -- the line "You say he get on your f*ckin' nerves" is delivered in a way that's intended to, well, get on your f*ckin' nerves. Hearin' 'Ye's conviction over production this good though, it's hard not to sympathize with dude. Kinda at least. "Everything I Am," meanwhile, opts for a more ruminative feel rather than a confrontational one. Sure 'Ye gets off some lines 'bout his detractors -- "People talk so much sh*t about me at barber shops, they forget to get their hair cut" -- but even his jabs here are delivered in a contemplative fashion. The beat is probably the most "conservative" of the album, featuring primarily a solemn piano loop and some purposely toned-down scratching from DJ Premiere (is dude British!?) on the hook, and it all works perfectly with 'Ye's reflective lyrics here.

Of course, it ALSO wouldn't be a Kanye album if he didn't have some straight-up goofy sh*t on here, and "Drunk and Hot Girls" is your go-to track for that. Personally? I'm predicting that this becomes a sleeper hit at college parties throughout this morally-upright country of ours. The song's already been widely panned in a lot of professional reviews, but dammit if I don't think this sh*t's brilliant. You just gotta hear the sing-songy way in which 'Ye tells his "story" here, not to mention Mos Def's incredibly amusing fake-serious sung bridge. And the sample 'Ye uses here goes for a bizarre, loopy circus feel. Again -- a perfect complement. It's like what "Celebration" (my guilty pleasure off Late Registration) would sound like if it was 1000x weirder. It's also a great lead-in to "Flashing Lights," where 'Ye flips "Drunk's" carnival-synth sound into more downtempo, string orchestration-meets-synth-buzzes production that works beautifully.

However, possibly my favorite song on the whole album, and easily one of my favorite 'Ye songs ever, comes with the closer "Big Brother," which serves as his most personal song here. If I can use a comparison point that's probably already played out by this point, this song is what The Game's "Doctor's Advocate" love letter to Dr. Dre would sound like if Game was a grown-*ss man and not a deranged fanboy. First of all, Toomp's beat here (ain't it a little weird that the album's most personal track isn't produced by 'Ye?) is some of the most powerful sh*t I've heard all year. Dare I say, better than his defining "What You Know" moment with T.I. Toomp's production is both rocked-out and downbeat -- a guitar riff sets the tone for the track, but background piano and stretched-out synths that double the guitar line help give things a more dramatic feel. What I love about this song is that it's genuinely emotional without ever becoming cheesy. Essentially, 'Ye chronicles the ups-and-downs of his relationship with Jay-Z, the "big brother" in question, starting with him getting his big break producing beats for Jay's Blueprint classic coming up to today. What might sound forced and lame as rapped by someone else just comes out as real honest from 'Ye -- he gives you the good with the bad, and the result is one of the most well-rounded, focused and affecting songs of his career.

And 'Ye's relationship with Jay is relevant to me for broader reasons extending beyond this song. In my glowing review of T.I.'s still-criminally-critically-shat-on T.I. vs T.I.P. (it's OK, you can un-roll your eyes,) I basically referred to dude as the Southern Hov in terms of flow and charisma. Well, if Tip's the Southern Hov, then Kanye's the new Hov in terms of making great popular music without dumbin' down for his audience to double his dollars. No other name producer in hip hop right now's as committed to constantly reinventing his sound and pushing it to new boundaries, while maintaining his pop smarts. He's a dude who knows how to make hits, even though those hits sound like damn near nothin' else on the radio right now. More importantly, though, is that he just plain makes good music (no bad pun about the name of his record label intended.) We can talk all day about "experimentation" and all that nice stuff, but experimentation doesn't really mean much if the music sounds like bullsh*t. 'Ye knows how to try new things that're exciting to listen to, without sounding like someone who's being pretentious or trying to go over your head. And when you compare a bold statement like Graduation with businessman Curtis "I'm 'Experimenting' with Timbalake Cuz I Need to Shore Up My Female Demographic" Jackson, is it really a surprise that so many people're rooting for Kanye to win the sales battle here?

Although, to be honest with ya I was thinking of giving this album four stars because it doesn't have the "Can't Tell Me Nothing" Jeezymix. ...Juuuuust kiddin'.