In his latest album, the Louis Vuitton Don has taken to singing instead of rapping, and that's just the beginning. Much else is different as Kanye West tries to come to terms with a painful year in his life. Are the changes an improvement? In this second of two Gargoyle reviews of Kanye's "808s and Heartbreak," Laura Dripps says not really.

The past year has been difficult for Kanye West. He lost his mother and went through a painful breakup with his fiancée. Not surprisingly, those events have affected his music. But does the change in his style represent a move forward or backward for the man who wants to be the next Elvis? Will Fernandez says yes in this first of two Gargoyle reviews of Kanye's latest album.

As the title of Kanye West's latest album indicates, there’s something more distinctly celebratory about “Graduation” — the most remarkable aspect of this being that the world of pop music (and, perhaps, Kanye himself) is starting to believe that he may actually deserve the legendary status he has been half-jokingly bestowing upon himself for the last four years. Kumars Salehi explains why.