Kanye West's Graduation: The Louis Vuitton Don's at it again

This wasn't the first time I found myself wandering into a Best Buy to purchase a Kanye West CD as soon as it came out, and once again, I was not disappointed.

In my mind, this is the album of the year. Kanye's finally lost the silly skits from past albums and produced a tight album that leaves you wanting more.

This album showcases Kanye's incredible creativity when it comes to production. It has touches of old-school soul, electronic pop, and just about everything in between. Songs like "The Glory" and "Homecoming" (two of my favorite tracks on the album) don't even present themselves as hip hop tracks...the raps kind of sneak up on you.

While it does have a couple of eye-rollers (Drunk and Hot Girls? We all love Mos Def, but really?), even those are still strong tracks, and I'm even willing to allow that I might grow more fond of them over time.

Here are some of my favorite songs from the album:

2. Champion -- Just a fun song to listen to and sing along with.

3. Stronger -- If you haven't heard this by now, you must be living under a rock. But I enjoyed it even more in the context of a full album.

5. Good Life -- T-Pain's presence has become kind of ubiquitous on hip hop albums of late (although he's not quite up there with Akon), but Kanye uses him sparingly on this ode to life no longer sucking, and it works.

11. The Glory -- You get all wound up for a gospel track or something, and then you're treated to a does of Kanye's extensive ego. This sounds like it would be obnoxious but is somehow endearing. Ye gets bonus points for reworking some old Tribe Called Quest lyrics: "We on Award Tour with Muhammad my man/Goin each and every place with the mic in their hand" turns into "I'm on a world tour with Common my man/After each and every show a couple d---- in the van." Unfortunately, in my mind the bonus points are then taken away for using the word which rhymes with mics and is usually a derogatory word to describe females who like other females.

12. Homecoming -- Kanye's song for his home city of Chicago. Not only does it kick off with some old-school Common vibe, it has a memorable piano melody that I may have to use my pitiful piano skills to learn to play over and over.

Biggest disappointment: 7. Barry Bonds with Little Wayne. This song just doesn't do it for me...Kanye still shines, but it feels like a lazy effort on the part of both artists.

Random tangent, Part 1: If you're trying to be a cool parent and buy your kids hip hop CDs for Christmas, I recommend a Kanye West album over anything else out there.

Does he swear? Yes. Does he have personal and political views that you likely won't agree with? Yes. But he is an independent thinker, and in a country where most entertainers keep their views to themselves for fear of alienating customers, Kanye West says what he thinks. And whether we agree with him or not, I think the world would be a better place if some of his honesty wears off on other people. This album isn't as introspective as his other two, but he's still not afraid to give opinions and appear vulnerable and human.

So you can go out and buy Junior some Souljah Boy and have the chorus burned into your brain for a couple of months until it's no longer in fashion, or you can buy him a classic album that will hopefully stimulate thought and discussion from him. Your choice.

Random tangent, Part 2: While this isn't something that's often relevant anymore, I have to make note of the album liner art, which is awesome. It was done by contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. If his name sounds familiar, he's known in the pop-cultrue realm as "That dude who designed the brightly colored Louis Vuitton bags a couple of years ago."

The art features Kanye's "College Dropout Bear," who you may remember from previous albums, presumably on his way to graduation. The album cover shows him kind of being shot into the air, I guess to symbolize a graduate being thrown out into the world. (I'm not big on metaphors, but that seems logical enough.)

Seeing the art was enough to make me wish albums were still records so I'd have a big version of the artwork. Then I realized the version I'd bought came with a small poster, which immediately went up on the wall in my office.

To give you an idea of how this stacks up with Kanye's other albums, here's my current rankings:

1. College Dropout: West's debut album was a classic, and he may never top it -- but that's OK.

2. Graduation: An incredibly strong album with catchy lyrics that draws influences and samples from everywhere,

3. Late Registration: A solid album with incredible production. It just doesn't hold up as well as the other two over time, although tracks like "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Hey Mama" still stand out.

4. 808s and Heartbreak: A fascinating piece of work with some of Kanye's best production yet, but the awful lyrics and mediocre singing keep it from being ranked any higher.