My Global Hustle » Archive » Kanye May Have Passed Big Brother w/Graduation

Kanye May Have Passed Big Brother w/Graduation

Here is a review of the album that I came across… I’m note sure who wrote it, but it poses some very interesting points. Many of the writer’s assertions are points that I’ve agreed with for years…. Like minded.. 🙂 -!YG

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“This is an exciting time in Hip Hop. I can’t remember the last time I’ve actually felt compelled to go buy a CD. If only we can figure out how to get brown people exciting about voting. Oh well. But for now, I guess we’ll have to be satisfied with getting Kanye a win on 9/11. Anywho, after several listens to Graduation I’ve come to a realization and it was a difficult one to come to but I think Kanye West has surpassed the Jigga man as an artist. I know this is virtually blasphemy but peep game and this may be minconstrued as stannery but **** it…

Think about the impact each has had on the game. Jay’s career is largely based upon exaggerated tales of a hustler (maybe they’re accurate, maybe they’re not). Whether you’d like to admit it or not, Jay got rich by selling that persona to the public; the persona of the cool, intelligent hustler with plenty paper and his choice of woman. Right? Think about the effects that had on the game and the community. For the game, it made it just a hell of a lot harder to get on if you weren’t that character or a different shade of that character. For the community, it made a few knuckleheads hit the corner to pitch with dreams of Cristal, foreign cars etc. only to get ethered out of existence or get sent to the pokey. I personally think that’s why Kingdom Come didn’t do well with alot of Jay fans. They’re so used to the persona of Jay-Z that when Sean Carter had a few things to say, they were like get this **** out of here.

Kanye, on the other hand, forged his lane by being who he is. In essence, with this album and past efforts, Kanye is making it okay in Hip Hop and Rap to be yourself again. Think about how powerful that is and the effect it’ll have. It’s been about being this caricature of gangster or pimp for so long no one, just came and did them. Kanye didn’t get guaped up by selling fantasies about triple beam scales, he got paid by actually selling inspiration (Spaceship), faith (Jesus Walks), coping with lose (Roses), self empowerment (Touch the Sky & Champion) and things real people could use. Ye selling an insane amount of albums might actually open up a lane for artists to actually make good music again.

More importantly, I think Ye can connect with fans in a way that Jay could never do. Not everyone can really relate to hustling packs, popping bottles of that Ace of Spade or flying out to St. Trope. This is certainly not all that Jay discusses but alot of what he’s discussed throughout his whole career has been related to his affluence, drugs or chicks. The character he’s created doesn’t allow him to talk about everything. Contrast that to Ye. His message usually revolves around following your dreams, being so passionate about what you believe in that no one can deter you from it, being rejected and how you bounce back from that and many other things but you don’t have to be from a certain background to relate to Ye. You just have to have lived. Granted he talks about some unimportant **** and every song he makes isn’t life altering but in the three albums he’s made I’ve been able to feel his music on a personal level more than I’ve been able to relate to Jay’s 3 times as many albums.

Lyrically, Jay runs circles around Kanye. This, I know. It’s fairly obvious. But as an artist, Kanye is going to take listeners places Jay could never take a them to and he’s still at the beginning of his career. He’s still growing as a man and an emcee. I think the title Graduation for this album is apt. I’m not sure if he meant for it to happen like this but with Graduation Ye has transcended the Roc and his mentor. He’s accepted himself, his faults and showed a level of maturity that’s beyond making a track about how cool your age is. He’s graduated from being just a rapper to being truly an artist. I mean it’s a stretch but what do yall think?”