Kanye's Graduation softer than the teddy bear on the album cover

Multi-platinum selling rap artist, Kanye West, released his latest installment of gimmicky college—themed albums this past fall and once again proved Nas right for claiming “Hip-Hop is Dead.”

Somehow Kanye found time between being a selfish materialistic snob, and an ego-maniac, to actually get in the studio and put together another one of his half-assed albums, complete with his played-out ‘signature' beats, and his overly lazy, and weaker-than-ever, rhymes.

Not only did Kanye have to fall back on his played-out fake college kid image and style again, but he also had to create a marketing scheme with 50 Cent. Both artists released their albums on September 11, which sparked 50 Cent to claim that he would quit rapping if Kanye sold more albums than him in the first week. If I didn't see through this manipulative marketing ploy, I would have bought anybody's album to rid the hip-hop scene of the half-dollar.

Well it worked for Kanye, many 50 Cent haters went out and bought Graduation and Kanye won the sales competition. But don't expect 50 Cent to ‘drop out' or ‘graduate' any time soon, he will continue poisoning the soul of hip-hop until he has milked it for every last dollar, just like Kanye West.

Kanye begins the album with a track called “Good Morning” in which he repeatedly calls himself “fresh” before delivering the horribly inappropriate, and totally disrespectable, line; “I'm like a fly Malcolm X/ Buy Any Jeans Necessary.” The song continues on with materialistic and uninspiring lines until a looped, irrelevant, Jay-Z lyric; “Husslers, that's if ya still livin'/get on down” finishes the track.

The first single off this album is called “Stronger,” which actually hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It is through Kanye's lyrics on “Stronger” like “Bow in the presence of greatness, …you should be honoured by my lateness, that I would even show up to this fake shit” and “There's a thousand yous/And only one of me” that Kanye shows his true self-obsessed egotistical, yet delusional, visions of grandeur.

Musically, “Stronger” is just a weaker recycled version of “The New Workout Plan” single that appeared on his first album. The synths, the tempo, the samples and just about everything else is the same. This is sure to leave many hip-hop heads wondering if Kanye's running out of material and creativity.

But that is obviously not the case. In December, Graduation was nominated for both Album of the Year and Rap Album Grammy Awards, along with six other nods.

On the album's second single, Kanye is joined by the “I'm in love with a stripper” R&B crooner T-Pain. Titled “Good Life” Kanye uses this track to reinforce and rub in the fact that he's way richer than us. He reminds us that “The best things in life aren't free” and goes on to talk about driving fancy cars like Ferraris, having his way with women, drinking champagne on planes, counting money, shining, being on T.V., and reminds listeners to be greedy like him with the chorus line; “I go for mine/I gots to shine.” This song basically sums up the message of his entire album.

Unlike his first two albums, which included some socio-political commentary, you'd be hard-pressed to find a single socially conscious line in the entire Graduation album. Instead, he writes lines like, “…but when he get on he trade yo ass for white girl,” he claims “I'd do anything for a blonde dyke.” He also spits degrading lyrics like “You know that need to bring some extra hoes/Not in joggin' pants either tell ‘em wear some sexy clothes.”

This album was actually one big advertisement. All we heard out of Kanye was ‘Versace this' and ‘Louis Vuitton that'.

Everyone involved in making this album should be ashamed. The only thing saving Kanye from his terrible album is the fact that other rappers he put on it were even worse. Lil' Wayne's verse on Barry Bonds was so terribly lazy, tired, off-beat, dull and meaningless that it actually forced me to press skip. Young Jeezy's remixed version of ‘Can't tell me nothing” was so pointless that it shouldn't even have been included on the album.

Kanye's known for his beats, not for lyrical ability. Yet the beats on Graduation were sub-par at best and his lyrics actually sank to a new low. Who knows how Kanye managed to actually graduate out of ‘Hip-hop College,' but let's just be thankful he's on his way out and hope he doesn't re-enlist any time soon.