With his third studio album "Graduation," Kanye West completed his transition from hip-hop outsider to mainstream heavyweight. Moving past the chip on his shoulder of his earlier work, Kanye embraced and ultimately helped define the pop-leaning hip-hop sound dominating the mid-2000s.
With accomplished guests like T-Pain, Dwele and DJ Premier in tow, "Graduation" swelled Kanye's vision to epic proportions without sacrificing cohesion. It proved him an unequaled hitmaker and taste-maker who could leverage hip-hop to top the pop charts.
Over a decade later, "Graduation" remains relentlessly replayable, a chronicle of Kanye at his most ambitious, sharp and assured. It solidified his remained one of the most important albums in hip-hop history.