The Brilliance!

Take a step back and look at this Graduation album as an art installation in a museum. (this is ultimately Hip Hop, some people are calling the artform dead, fyi.) The artwork itself is on another level. Some are familiar with Murakami, others are not. At the end of the day, that artwork that comes along with the album is worth more than the price of the CD, period. As for the music, it really speaks for itself. I would argue there is a lyric on every verse of every song that everyone can identify with. There is a song that fits everyday of the week, from “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”…grinding away at work, to “Champion” when your giving your self a pep talk, to “Drunk and Hot Girls” when Friday night turns into Saturday morning. The videos, geeze. “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” based off the look of those shots. When is the last time you’ve seen those desert rock star shots like that done with a creative twist of the vintage Lambo and color lightning strikes and those fabrics. Or Stronger and the celebration of Akira and the brand new “Goodlife”. I mean the whole bar has been raised up, the music matches the “look” and the fashion is on a higher level. I have been saying, every time I listen to the album it makes me wanna dress better. It just a metaphor for the fact that this album encompasses life, art and style. Sonically this is 2007 and beyond hip hop music. The drums he is using, the synths, the strings at the end of “I Wonder” defines the “you can’t do this at home” sound of the album. I mean the cohesiveness is unmatched, and that cohesiveness stems from his talent as a designer at heart. Dislike individual elements but when you get an art directed package that is so cohesive AND on a MOMA level, the full body of this album is not compromised. In my mind I cannot deny this is one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time and the only album from the genre that respectively could go up against the likes of U2 & the Rolling Stones in the same sentence. Done and done. Just giving credit where credit is due.