I'm Telling You Something

I've made a final decision about Kanye's three albums.

Now that all three albums have been released, and 50 was shamed, predictably, and some of the heat has died down from the release, I've made a decision about which of the three albums is the best, and I believe this statement will stand the test of time. Firstly, it is not, as I'd previously been heard to remark, Graduation, but I'll understand if someone argues with me on this point, but they will be wrong. If you specifically concentrate on the production value, then Graduation is an easy winner, but that's not the point, I don't think, or it shouldn't be, leastly to Kanye, as it's important to him to be a rapper, and not a rapper/producer, which is especially evident if you think about the fact that some tracks were not produced by Kanye himself (on Graduation). And therefore, you have to think of every album as an album, in the general sense, which you should anyway, but I understand that few probably will.

Therefore, I offer the following:

The College Dropout: It's clear that Kanye was trying to prove that he could be an MC, and that's fair enough. Cause nobody had any faith in him as a rapper, for reasons it would be redundant to mention, and therefore it's full of him trying to impress Jay, Kweli, etc., and the beats are mostly one-dimensional phat beats to ride, and I'm not saying that it doesn't work, cause it does, but I'm saying that it's all you get. (That and far too many skits.)

Graduation: This album has the opposite feel, probably due in part to his fondness for Girl Talk and the general producer appreciation thing that's been happening for the last little while. This is also a good thing, because the production really is incredible and untouched by any except maybe Timbaland, but it's not like Timbo could create something this incredible independently, as we all found out from his unfortunate solo debut. But because it runs with the producer thing, it depends far less on being an MC (save for 'Good Morning,' which is pretty much an homage to Eminem, as far as spitting goes, and 'Barry Bonds,' where he outflows Lil Wayne somehow).

Late Registration: This is the middle point, literally and figuratively, as it finds a comfort zone with both concepts, and therefore the production and rapping is top notch, and pretty much every track is incredible. There are a few songs that I care about far less than others, but the album is generally listenable start to finish. It would be much better if it didn't have so many fucking skits, though, which is something Graduation has over the first two LP's.

Therefore it would seem to defy logic to suggest that either the first or last of the three is as thoroughly fantastic an album, as Late Registration. Kanye was right, Gold Digger was the fucking single of the year, and every other single was always the best song you came across on the radio at any time, and the wierder, more indie-backpack producer tracks were just neat and a nice little break, and they just sound great. Plus the hidden track is cool as fuck, and fucking Cam'Ron is on this album, which is really enough said.