



Kanye West album Graduation is a beautiful album cover contrasting with all different colors and abstract objects. Graduation was Yeezus’s third album following College Dropout and Late Registration, but they all have one thing in common: Kanye’s trademarked Dropout Bear. Dropout bear has made appearances in many of Kanye West’s albums, from being blatantly obvious to being hidden somewhere in the album cover. The analysis of Graduation reveals that Dropout Bear is Kanye West, and shows his life is turning around and is looking brighter in the future.

To begin with, the illustration depicts a multicolored white floating island with other animal characters tossing their graduation caps into the sky. Also it has a cannon propelling Dropout Bear aka Kanye West into the beautiful purple and orange sky. What I got from this image was that everyone was caught in the moment of gradation and is happy and celebrating, but Kanye is propelled into the real world ready to embrace his future. By having Dropout Bear being propelled it shows that Kanye can see his future and it is looking brighter. Additionally, it shows that Kanye is already realizing that he is in the real world now and that his class mates are still in the graduation state. Also Dropout Bear is wearing a gold chain, white shirt, jacket and signature shoes (Yeezys) opposed to all the other animals in the illustration that are in their cap and gown. This could mean that Kanye did not graduate and is already in the real world and has a future in sight, as opposed to his classmates who just graduated and have no clue what their future is. I see this because Kanye is a college dropout and has already experiencing the world and has been building his future while his fellow classmates just graduated. Another thing that I noticed in the album cover is that the colors used are all bright and vibrant, showing calm, serenity, and happiness. This is much different from Yeezus’s first 2 albums, which feature dark and negative colors that are sad and serious. This could mean that Graduation symbolized Kanye’s career was taking off so it was time to produce a positive and beautiful album cover. All in all, the cover shows the upward rise in Kanye West’s career and that he is about to take the world by storm.

Next, a hidden part of the album cover is the image of three eyes on the floating island. One looks surprised and in shock, the other looks like it is watching but could care less, and the other is paying close attention. I associated these eyes with his fans and society in general: the shocked eye represents the people that are surprised by his actions in social media and public comments. The eye that looked like it could care less are the people that despise him, and the eye that is paying close attention represents the media and his loyal fans and followers. The shocked eye symbolizes the events where Kanye has done some questionable things in public such as getting on stage during Video Music Awards to state why Beyonce deserved the award over Taylor Swift, which was highly questionable. This shows that there will always be fans that will be shocked about what Kanye does and says, but that will not stop Kanye from having a brighter future and pushing to be the best he can. Next the eye that looks like it could care less would represent his fellow rappers and other vocal artists that are trying to make a career for themselves and just see Kanye as competition. For example, Wiz Kahlifa has a feud with Kanye because he insulted his wife Kim Kardashian. Wiz could care less about Kanye, so he says what he wants about him. Kanye recognizes that some people are not concerned with him, and he creates an eye to show that. Now, the third eye, the eye that is closely paying attention, represents social media and his close fans. Kanye has 26 million followers on Twitter, which shows how much Kanye has grown with respect from his fans. If Kanye was not respected, his career would have ended or taken a bump in the road because the media has the power to ruin people’s lives. Kanye is supported by other vocal artists such as JayZ and Chance the Rapper as they praise him for the work he has done and how he supports them back.I saw this because it represents what Kanye is about; he cares about himself and believes that he is a god and that there are three types of people that view him but, he does not care what people think and will keep pushing to be the best he can be.

All of this, relates to Dropout Bear’s eyes because his eyes are as wide as can be and look like they are looking towards the future. If you look closely, a music record can be seen along with a sparkle which symbolizes stardom. This shows that Kanye sees himself with a bright future in music and focuses on himself and his future. He’s not looking back, always continuing to move forward. This is much different from the first two Dropout Bears from College Dropout and Late Registration as those ones seem by themselves trying to prove a point, to make a way for themselves and eventually make it big. Those bears show that Kanye is not giving up until he can be the best. The two Dropout Bears were making a point about establishing themselves, but the one from Graduation is ready to take off and make an even bigger name for himself in the music world as an established artist. Kanye has proven from the evolution of the Dropout Bear that he is on to a bigger and better career.

To wrap this up, Kanye West has made name for himself in the music world thus proving that he has turned his life around. Graduation’s cover shows how Kanye has finally moving on to a brighter future. Because he does not care about what other people think of him or how people see him, he cares about himself and him looking forward to the future. From the three eyes, to the evolution to the dropout bear, and the beautiful abstract album design Kanye West showed that he was ready to take his career and life to another world. Yeezus showed was ready to make a statement and turn his life around and become a superstar.




