[19] West cites the rock bands The Killers, Keane, Modest Mouse, and indie-pop singer-songwriter Feist for being among his favorite musicians and having considerably profound influence on the sound of Graduation.

[20] Around the time of the recording of the third studio album, West would often listen to songs written by folk and country singer-songwriters Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash in hopes of developing methods to augment his word play and storytelling abilities.

The former musician had been recommended to West by multiple of his friends, including English disc jockey Samantha Ronson, all of whom claimed his music and the way he dealt with the press reminded them of Dylan.

West also listened to his most favorite alternative rock bands, including The Killers, Radiohead, Modest Mouse, and Keane, in order to gain new ideas on how to make his hip-hop production style more stadium-friendly.

[23] However, though he originally intended for Graduation to be completely devoid of guest rap verses, West decided to invite New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne on the track "Barry Bonds".

[9][32][33] This original version possesses West's once trademark classic soul vocal sample production style, with singer John Legend on the chorus, which contains lyrics that are different than Martin's.

[34] Widely considered by music critics and listeners alike to be the most radio-friendly track on Graduation, West defines the studio album's third single "Good Life" as the song with the most "blatant hit-recordness".

[29] West features vocal harmony during the chorus with guest artist Mos Def, who just after his voice experiences a four-second audio delay, also delivers the song's reverb-filled bridge.

With this in mind, he placed a significant amount of concentration on speaking at high volumes with fewer wording and initially delivers his defiant lyrics in an intense staccato vocal style.

[9] Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot commented on the incorporation of synthesizer sounds, saying he viewed Graduation as "an album steeped in keyboard tones, in all their richness and variety".

[63] Graduation has been regarded as a pop-rap album by music journalists Brad Callas,[64] Joshua Botte of NPR,[65] AbsolutePunk,[66] Vice magazine's Eric Sundermann,[67] Jay Willis of GQ,[68] and The Atlantic's Spencer Korhaber.

[9][76] For Graduation, West produced songs that combine hip-hop beats with anthemic refrains and continued to employ his skill in layering keys, strings, and vocals to obtain the melodies of samples.

[77] Through acting as his own producer, West managed to maintain quality control over the album's music to ensure that "his productions build momentum even when they revolve around a handful of repeated samples [and] nearly every song on Graduation is memorable for both its hooks and its overall sound".

[61][80] The drone is drowned by the music that arrives at the chorus, which is a conflation of ambient synths and an astral backing choir crafted from a non-verbal vocal sample of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" by Elton John.

[26] The low-key track has a scratched hook by DJ Premier formed with the vocal sample which says "Here we go again" taken from "Bring the Noise" by Public Enemy from their 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.

[15][18] It displays a sped-up and high-pitched vocal sample of "Save the Country" by Laura Nyro accompanied by uplifting strings, keys, and an all-male gospel choir with drums from "Long Red" by Mountain.

[74] The Jay-Z ode "Big Brother" begins with West uttering the words, "Stadium status...", backed by a string orchestra, pounding drums, a distorted guitar riff and plinking piano keys.

[77][84] West stated that he wanted to make inspirational music and placed more focus on individual perspective and experience that listeners could connect with in an attempt to create "people's theme songs".

[98] Bringing the educational theme expressed by West's previous albums to a close, the visual plotline of the images contained within the liner notes lead up to a graduation ceremony that takes places within a fictional college institution situated within a futuristic metropolis called Universe City.

[107] The mixtape features preview clips of songs that would appear on Graduation and showcases various artists signed onto West's record label GOOD Music as well as collaborations with other unaffiliated musicians.

[121] Later that day, West performed at V Festival in Chelmsford, England before an audience of over 50,000 people and again played new material from Graduation as well as a tribute cover of Amy Winehouse's hit single "Rehab".

[124][125] After he returned to the United States, West joined 50 Cent onstage for a surprise performance before an audience of over 20,000 people at a show held on August 22 in Madison Square Garden during Ciara and T.I.

[2] There, West explained his influences and aspirations for the album and played songs over video clips taken from a variety of futuristic sci-fi films, including Tron, Akira, 2046, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[62] Greg Tate, writing in The Village Voice, dubbed him "the most genuinely confessional MC in hip-hop today" and said, "bouts of narcissism aside, Graduation contains killer pieces of production".

For MSN Music, Robert Christgau deemed Graduation a "minor success" in which "every single track offers up its momentary pleasures—choruses that make you say yeah on songs you've already found wanting, confessional details and emotional aperçus on an album that still reduces to quality product when they're over".

[154] Dorian Lynskey from The Guardian said West often "undercuts rap cliches with wit and ambivalence", but observed some disappointing lyrics such as on "Can't Tell Me Nothing", which he said revealed his limited perspective.

[213] It was succeeded by the high chart placings and multi-platinum sales of singles by artists and bands ranging from "Just Dance" (2008) by singer Lady Gaga to "Right Round" (2009) by rapper Flo Rida.

Kanye led a wave of new artists— Kid Cudi, Wale, Lupe Fiasco, Kidz in the Hall, Drake—who lacked the interest or ability to create narratives about any past gunplay or drug-dealing".

[223] In retrospect, Highsnobiety writer Shahzaib Hussain recognizes Graduation in West's opening trilogy of highly successful, education-themed albums that "cemented his role as a progressive rap progenitor".

[226] The competition between 50 Cent and West, when the two released their studio albums on the same day, was penultimate in a series of articles that lists fifty key events in the history of R&B and hip-hop music, written by Rosie Swash of The Guardian.