Tracks like "I Wonder," "Barry Bonds" and "Everything I Am," although very different in the respective sounds, all lived comfortably in perfect musical harmony on the Grammy Award-winning album. You could also argue that Graduation was a changing of the guard of sorts that helped usher in the genre-blurred era that we've been enjoying for almost a decade. No longer relying on his signature sped-up soul samples, Kanye saw the success of singles like the Daft Punk-assisted "Stronger" and hood anthem with the Young Jeezy ad libs, "Can't Tell Me Nothing,” expand his reach. It also saw the College Dropout graduating from very successful "conscious" or "backpack" rapper status, in an unapologetic pursuit of pop stardom.
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The sound of popular music began to feel a lot different following the release of Graduation and the music Kanye had been making at the time absolutely played a major role in the musical shift. Kanye's career-defining moment is Graduation. A career-defining moment is one that is very important in making someone successful in their job or in deciding how they will be remembered. However, following the arrival of his third album, the Roc-A-Fella "Champion" found himself reaching a new zenith.
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Prior to the album hitting the streets, Yeezy had already established himself as kind of like a big deal, due to him dropping a couple of multi-platinum albums, topping the charts with several songs, winning six Grammys and mastering the art of crafting classics for himself and others like JAY-Z and Common.
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Today marks the ten-year anniversary of Kanye West’s Graduation.