Kanye West - Graduation

The Louis Vuitton Don donned a cape and mask instead of the traditional cap and gown on his graduation day September 11th, 2007. My brief stream of thought on his speech at the ceremony is as follows: 'Graduation is a guilty pleasure, filthy leather, immature, corny but pure. An (un)predictable detour. It's worthy of applause, while self loathing, with nice clothing and still self assured. On an award tour, throwing tantrums for sure, for over shores or round the corner explorers. 55-70% or so of the tunes on this album are pretty much single material. (Something most artists never successfully pull off unless their names happen to be Big Boi & Andre 3000). Elton John, Quincy Jones, George Clinton & Hank Shocklee are just a handful of beings of influence without whose presence this production could literally not have manifested. "Everything I Am" is a great song. The impulse to kick the squat out of Kanye while he's suited in that bear mascot outfit does exist, but it's well balanced with the idea of a celebratory high five and victory shuffle to cheer the home team winning 07's state championship. Lastly, Kayne did not sell any narcotics or murder a soul. He just ran his mouth and shopped'. I guess that's not so terrible.