Graduation, American rapper Kayne West’s third studio album was released September 11, 2007. The album sold over 957,000 copies during its first week and reached #1 on the US Billboard 200. The Hip-Hop album features several collaborations including; Dwele, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Mos Def, DJ Premier, and Chris Martin. Graduation’s cover and interior artwork was designed by Japanese Contemporary Artist, Takashi Murakami. The album completes the trilogy of West’s education themed albums, College Dropout and Late Registration.
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Graduation is West’s most streamed album on Spotify with over 7.1 billion streams according to Kworb. Several songs off of Graduation make up the artist’s most listened to discography on Spotify. “Stronger” ranks third, “Flashing Lights” ranking fourth, and “I wonder” ranking tenth, courtesy Kworb.
The album has a length of 51 minutes and 23 seconds. Its tracklist includes; “Good morning,” “ Champion,” “Stronger,” “I wonder,” “Goodlife,” “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” “Barry Bonds,” “Drunk and Hot Girls,” “Flashing Lights,” “Everything I Am,” “The Glory,” “Homecoming,” and “Big Brother.” Graduation features five singles in the album, “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” “Stronger,” “Good Life,” “Flashing Lights,” and “Homecoming.”
Graduation has earned a plethora of awards during the span of its debut. The album has since sold over seven million copies. During October of 2007, the album went Platinum for the first time. This was followed by the album going platinum six more times, making it a certified septuple platinum album by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). It won “Album of The Year,” by the HipHopDX Awards, along with the “Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album,” by the American Music Awards. Graduation was nominated for both BET Hip Hop Awards, “CD of the Year,” and ECHO Music Awards, “Album of the Year Hip-Hop/R&B.”
The album earned West his third Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, along with his third Album of the Year nomination in 2008. Accompanying West’s Grammy Award, Graduation won the Fonogram Hungarian Music Awards’ “Best Foreign Rap or Hip-Hop Album of the Year.” Followed by two nominations, NAACP’s “Outstanding Album” award and Swiss Music Awards’ “Best Album Urban International.”
Graduation was praised by both critics, and fans. It was named “One of the Best Albums of 2007” by multiple publications. This included Rolling Stone, and USA Today. Since then it’s also been placed on both Rolling Stone’s and MNE’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” Pitchfork critic Mark Pytlik dives into the album from a more technical perspective.
“While it might not be as substantial a record as we’re used to hearing from him, it is his greatest leap forward and further proof that few are as skilled at tracing out the complicated contours of pride, success, and ambition as he is,” Pytlik says.
