Graduation

is the third studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West, released on September 11, 2007, through Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records. Re ... cording sessions took place between 2005 and 2007 at several studios in New York and Los Angeles. It was primarily produced by West himself, with contributions from various other producers, including DJ Toomp. The album also features guest appearances from recording artists such as Dwele, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Mos Def, DJ Premier, and Chris Martin. The cover art and its interior artwork were designed by Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami.

Inspired by stadium tours, house-music and indie rock, marked a departure from the ornate, soul-based sound of West's previous releases as he musically progressed to more anthemic compositions. West incorporated layered synthesizers and dabbled with electronics while sampling from various music genres and altering his approach to rapping. He conveys an ambivalent outlook on his newfound fame and media scrutiny alongside providing inspirational messages of triumph directed at listeners. The album prematurely concludes the education theme of West's first two studio albums, (2004) and (2005), as his aborted "Good *** Job" album would have concluded the concept album's themes as a tetralogy instead of a trilogy as it ended up being.

debuted at number one on the US 200, selling over 957,000 copies in the first week of sales. It has since sold over 5 million copies in the United States and been certified quintuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Five accompanying singles were released, including the international hits "Stronger", "Good Life" and "Homecoming", with the former of the three topping the US Hot 100. The album received widely positive reviews from music critics, with several of them praising the production, and earned West his third Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, as well as his third nomination for Album of the Year. It was named as one of the best albums of 2007 by multiple publications, including and , while also listed among numerous decade-end lists and later named to the lists of 's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and 's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Due to a production error, an icon of the Rascal Flatts album is contained on the first printing of CDs released. Accordingly, first editions can be recognized by the icon appearing if the disc is inserted into a computer.

The coinciding release dates between and fellow American rapper 50 Cent's generated much publicity over the idea of a sales competition, resulting in record-breaking sales performances by both albums. The success of the former and the outcome of its competition with the latter marked the end of the dominance of gangsta rap in mainstream hip-hop. This is credited with paving the way for other hip-hop artists who did not conform to gangster conventions to find commercial acceptance. Read more