I Wonder How Smashed Kanye Was When He Recorded "Drunk and Hot Girls"

When Kanye West stepped onto the rap scene with the release of his critically lauded 2004 album The College Dropout, many fans considered him an inimitable figure. Unlike the vast majority of his peers, Kanye wasn’t a crack-slinging, tough-talking thug; he was a Polo-wearing everyman who discouraged misogyny, homophobia and violence instead of glorifying it. Four years, two more platinum plagues and ten Grammy Awards later, Kanye has evolved into perhaps the biggest rap star in the world, and undeniably the most unique and memorable. He posed as Jesus on the cover of Rolling Stone. He claimed that Ronald Reagan invented crack. He accused President Bush of being a racist at a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser. He toured with U2 and the Rolling Stones, two of the most revered rock bands in the world. He interrupted the MTV Europe Awards to protest that his “Touch the Sky” video should have won Best Video, and he later boycotted MTV. He showed up to the 2005 Grammy Awards wearing angel wings. No artist in recent memory has been as shamelessly arrogant as Kanye, but it’s hard to be mad at him, since he consistently backs that arrogance up with great music.

Graduation is Kanye’s third album since 㤌. I really liked his first two, the aforementioned The College Dropout and 2005’s Late Registration—both records had warm soul samples and instrumentals, which were helped by Kanye’s great story-telling abilities. Graduation does not benefit from that warmth: with its techno samples, simplistic synths and keyboards, heavy bass and hooks from European singers like Chris Martin, Graduation is a club-friendly record, more Curtis Alan Jones than Curtis Mayfield. Graduation didn’t gain quite as much critical acclaim as its predecessors did, probably because it isn’t as soulful, but I actually like it a lot more: Kanye’s majestic production on The College Dropout and Late Registration wasn’t as great as many critics made it out to be, and those albums also suffered from large amounts of filler. Graduation, on the other hand, is a quick 51-minute album with no skits, so it’s much easier to get through than The College Dropout and Late Registration.

Graduation starts radiantly, with the relaxed, subtle “Good Morning,” the blissful “Champion” and the club-banger “Stronger.” “Stronger” samples the French House group Daft Punk, making for an extremely innovative record, and Kanye’s complacent lyrics on the song really sting: “Bow in the presence of greatness/’Cause right now that has forsakenness/You should be honored by my lateness/That I would even show up to this space s**t.”

The angry subject matter continues on the gorgeous “I Wonder,” where ’Ye chronicles a troubled relationship: “You say he get on your f**king nerves/You hope that he gets what he deserves, word?” And on “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” which features ad-libs from Young Jeezy, Kanye vents about the mistakes he makes: “The drama, people suing me/I’m on TV talking like it’s just you and me,” “I feel the pressure, under more scrutiny/And what I do? Act more stupidly.” He continues to sabotage himself on the piano-laced, DJ Premier-assisted “Everything I Am” (“Haters start your engines, I hear ’em gearin’ up/People talk so much s**t about me at barber shops that they forget to get their haircut”). Kanye has said in interviews that this is his least self-indulgent album, but I’m not sure if that’s the case; I agree with him that the beats are more danceable and the hooks are bigger, but Kanye still talks about himself constantly.

In fact, besides “Champion” and “The Glory,” the only time Kanye seems particularly happy is on Graduation’s best track: the T-Pain-assisted “Good Life,” where Kanye talks about popping champagne on a plane. The rest of the album deals almost entirely with anger and annoyance. On “Homecoming,” he talks about feeling alienated from his hometown of Chicago. On “Flashing Lights,” ’Ye discusses his hatred of the nosy paparazzi (“Damn, these n**gas got me/I hate these n**gas more than the Nazis”) over disco-sounding synths, and the aptly-titled “Drunk and Hot Girls” is about how maddening women can be when drunk. “Drunk and Hot Girls” is probably Graduation’s worst track; the lyrics are hilarious, and the song has grown on me quite a bit recently, but the chorus and Kanye’s delivery are both gallingly slow.

But that’s the only time Kanye raps poorly on Graduation. He’s been criticized excessively in the past for allegedly being a poor emcee, but his lyrical performances on this album—particularly “Good Morning,” “Stronger” and the awesomely arrogant “Barry Bonds”—prove how unmerited that criticism is. On “Barry Bonds,” Kanye even manages to outfox guest rapper Lil’ Wayne with lyrics like:

It's what you all been waiting for ain’t it?
What people pay paper for damn it
They cant stand it, they want something new
So let's get re-acquainted
Became the hood favorite
I cant even explain it
I surprise myself too

Needless to say, Graduation is amazing, probably the best album of 2007 and definitely Kanye’s best album. The lyrics are sharp, the beats are breathtaking, the album is short and there’s only one track (“Drunk and Hot Girls”) that I don’t love. With this album, Kanye didn’t just graduate; he graduated with a 4.0 GPA.

Track listing:

1. "Good Morning"
2. "Champion"
3. "Stronger"
4. "I Wonder"
5. "Good Life"
6. "Can't Tell Me Nothing"
7. "Barry Bonds"
8. "Drunk and Hot Girls"
9. "Flashing Lights"
10. "Everything I Am"
11. "The Glory"
12. "Homecoming"
13. "Big Brother"

BEST TRACKS: "Champion," "Stronger," "Can't Tell Me Nothing," "Good Life," "Barry Bonds"