Kanye reveals Graduation tracklist, cover

When he's not asking hilarious, bearded comedians to make him hilarious, bearded videos, or collaborating with über-hyped indie-rock bands, or getting nominated for MTV VMA Video of the Year awards, or...

Well, suffice it to say, dude's got a few things on his plate. Namely, Graduation (cover photo shown above, track list below), which comes out on September 11. The record features guest spots from Chris Martin, Mos Def and T-Pain, and (perhaps surprisingly) only two skits. It also comes out the same day as 50 Cent's Curtis, marking mid-September 2007 as a big time for hip-hop.

The Chicago rapper was kind enough to play Paste the nearly completed album during a recent swing through an Atlanta studio, and we can report that it’s worth waiting for. Surprisingly, piano melodies decorate several tracks. Unsurprisingly, the album is full of smart, swaggering rhymes.

West, the subject of our September cover story, exudes a bit of modesty these days. “I feel like people's lives are a movie,” he told us, “and I just want to be part of the soundtrack.” But don't think the Louis Vuitton Don has lost his trademark confidence. “I just think 20 years from now, 30 years from now, I’m gonna go down as the one,” he says. “I’m gonna be that black kid that f—in’ broke all those boundaries and really got respect on an art level and a style level.”

For more on West and Graduation, be sure to check out Paste’s cover story which hits newsstands in early September.

Graduation tracklist:
1. Good Morning
2. Homecoming [ft. Chris Martin]
3. Stronger
4. Champion
5. Good Life [ft. T-Pain]
6. I Wonder
7. Even More Broke Phi Broke (Skit)
8. Can't Tell Me Nothing
9. Drunk and Hot Girls [ft. Mos Def]
10. Evrything I Am [scratches by DJ Premier]
11. Good Night [ft. Mos Def & Al Be]
12. Big Brother
13. Graduation (Skit)
14. The Glory
15. CRS [ft. Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell] [pre-order only]