I'm really feeling the new Kanye West album, Graduation. It's not the instant classic that College Dropout was but it's also not as bloated as either that album or its follow-up Late Registration. It's a mere 13 tracks with NO SKITS and a limited number of collaborations, In fact the only other guest MC is Lil Wayne on "Barry Bonds." The other guest collaborators largely provide either vocal work or production work -- Timbaland handles some programming duties, DJ Premier does some scratches and Jon Brion helps out on a couple of tracks as well.

Unlike Ye's first albums this one isn't going to hit you over the head. Somewhere along the way -- despite the continued growth of his ego and public tantrums --Kanye seems to have learned that a little can go a long way. It's the lesson I expected to impact Late Registration a couple of years ago after his duties behind the boards of Common's excellent Be. Kanye's large ambition is still present but it's balanced by a suprising amount of discipline.