Kanye West - "Can't Tell Me Nothing"

Dorothy Young,
I am so not anti-hiphop.



I'm just very picky when it comes to hip-hop. I really don't know what it is that determines what I do and don't like. It usually has to do with certain production styles, but that's not always the case.

Kanye's new album, Graduation is not as bad as I initially thought it was. I was initially so disappointed by the fact that the beats sounded so European and synthetic, as compared to Late Registration, but I've found my way through that stage to discover how good the hooks really are. The determining factor here was staying power. "Stronger" got on my nerves a little, just because Daft Punk is a bit dicey for me. I feel like sampling something like that is a mistake, but I can't really say anything, since I'm not a huge Euro-techno-aficionado. The case with Late Registration was that the beats were so strong, it made the hooks better. On Graduation, Kanye's mainly self-produced beats are so simple, that it puts the focus on the lyrical hooks. Songs like "Good Morning" and "Good Life," even "Homecoming," the self-proclaimed "Billy Joel hook" song, have great lyrical/vocal hooks that are not only single worthy, but are good singles at that.

All things considered, "Can't Tell Me Nothing" is really the standout for me. Not only is it like a five and half minute single, but you don't really lose interest, which is the real struggle when you're talking about terrestrial radio. The chorus hook is just so damn good, that you can't say no. I've never seen the value in much of the hip-hop on the radio mostly because of the subject matter (I just found out what "Superman-ing that ho" meant... who does that?), so you either have to shock me with your beats (Timbaland, Benny Blanco, some stuff by Swizz Beats, Dr. Dre) or you have the hooks to outshine the beats. Very few artists can do both, but Kanye is definitely one of them, though it seems like he hasn't had a song since"Heard 'em Say" that had a brilliant hook and a beautiful beat.

So there, D.