Just got back from Best Buy with ‘Graduation’. The whole event of purchasing something you’ve anticipated just can’t be matched on Itunes or downloading or even mail-order. I don’t care about Kanye getting #1 (I seriously think it’s going to be Kenny Chesney) so this isn’t an “event” the way it’s being hyped but you know, a personal event in that the new album from my favorite working rapper is released. I talked to Monique around 11 who had biked to a record store up the street from her dorm to buy it. She said three other people were in the store at 10:30 with ‘Graduation’ in hand. Driving over to get it, I passed my friend Jesse’s girlfriend and thought to text Jesse to see if he had gotten it yet (Kanye” comes out on cell-phone predictive text, weird) and he was on his way to get the album as soon as his girlfriend got to his house. On the way into the Best Buy, I passed by a guy in ballin’ shorts that I went to high school with who had ‘Curtis’ in-hand. In front of me in line, was a true redneck (as in, his neck was red), who had rushed over during his lunchbreak to get the Chesney disc. On the way out, a young black couple, got out of their car, the guy holding an umbrella for his girlfriend, and I heard among their talking “Kanye”…it’s just kind of cool to you know, feel some connection to other people. This is why popular rap or just plain pop music, especially when it’s good and artistic, exciting: You feel like you’re part of something!
Last night, my father’s best friend came over to watch the Ravens game. He’s in his early thirties and attended college during the Golden Age and so, he has a decent knowledge of that era’s rap but of course, age, children, and everyday stress has taken him out of the loop. He also teaches Sex-Ed to “inner-city” teenagers and spends a great deal of his time with them. Perhaps you saw the fairly gross ‘Graduation’ advertisement that was passed-off as a first-half highlight reel during last night’s game. Amongst, my father, his friend, and myself, it sparked a brief discussion of Kanye West. This teacher, a guy who deals with reality like pregnant teens on a daily basis and as a result, has little patience with “I didn’t win any awards bitch-fits” was mocking Kanye but also expressed how his students were talking about the album all day yesterday. My father also chimed in that indeed, who wouldn’t be upset if your performance was all chopped-up and interrupted and then you don’t win any awards. They are both kind of right. I also began telling them about the overstated but not totally incorrect concept that a purchase of ‘Graduation’ is a purchase of smart, positive rap (“So, not cop killing?” said my rap-ignorant father) which motivated the teacher to think of possibly purchasing it to hear and maybe even a couple copies for particularly participatory students in today’s class…
The people who say the packaging is ugly are pretty stupid. It’s supposed to be ugly and just generally kind of out-there and weird and Japanese and on that level, it succeeds. Also, because the entire packaging is Murakami’s art, it really does work as a cohestive product. The card-board case is also a good look; I’ll forever associate cardboard cases with 90s indie rock so maybe it’s a continuation of Kanye’s vague “indie” influences. The ‘Late Registration’ special edition too was in a cardboard case and it fits Kanye’s music/persona. A little sleeker, a little nicer-looking than the average rap album. It also opens the opposite way, some kind of reference to Japanese Manga books? The addition of the poster and the “THANK YOU” printed on the CD’s booklet is a nice gesture in a world where nobody is buying CDs…even if all of this 50 vs. Kanye stuff is hype, I believe that Kanye really does want people to hear his album.
The design and style reminds me of ‘Paprika’ which I’ve only read about and seen the trailer, but does come to Baltimore sometime soon…
I’ll uh, actually write about the music when I get back from work. Until then, check out Straight Bangin’s excellent review: Music For a Monday on a Tuesday: Graduation.
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