"Graduation" day nears for Kanye West

And West is aware of times he's stepped over the line. By way of example, he recalls Island Def Jam chairman Antonio "L.A." Reid "talking me out of doing the 'Gold Digger' video and making it all slaves ... Sometimes as a creative person, you go off the deep end a little. The downside is, you don't always know when to stop."

West endured a well-documented rocky path from Chicago obscurity to Roc-a-Fella Records hitmaker. Born in Atlanta, he moved to the Windy City with his English professor mother, Donda. After high school at the American Academy of Art, he enrolled at Chicago State University. He eventually dropped out to produce music full time, but he always viewed his time behind the boards as a means to an end.

"I was inspired by the Doors movie," West says. "I saw Jim Morrison and said, 'I want to be just like that."'

"He'll play his songs for any and everybody that's willing to listen," longtime friend and producer 88-Keys says. "But his true friends are who he really listens to just because they're most likely to tell the truth, like 'Aw, man. Take out that high-hat.' He's very open to criticism."

'DROPOUT' MAKES GOOD

Following the success of such West-crafted hits as "H to the Izzo" and "Bonnie & Clyde," Roc-a-Fella partners Jay-Z and Damon Dash saw past initial fears that he was not street enough to market as a rapper. They gave him the green light to make his debut album, 2004's "The College Dropout."

"He stretches boundaries," Jay-Z says.

At a time when the street-hustling lyrics of 50 Cent, T.I. and Jadakiss were pervasive, West was touting himself with a teddy bear as a mascot. "Dropout" has sold 3 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and spawned the singles "Through the Wire," "All Falls Down" and "Jesus Walks."

Other artists recognized West as a unique talent capable of transcending genre boundaries. "I was sitting in Sting's dressing room at Live 8," Def Jam's Waples recalls. "And Sting, Bono, John Mayer and Kanye were making up a song. In that moment I understood why he was able to be there. 50 or T.I. would never be able to be in that room."

In 2006, West defied the sophomore slump with "Late Registration," which shifted 860,000 units in its debut week. First single "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" highlighted the diamond industry's violent practices and even inspired Russell Simmons to go on a fact-finding trip to South Africa. The mood was much more party-friendly on the follow-up, "Gold Digger," which sampled Jamie Foxx covering Ray Charles and spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. West calls the latter cut "my most perfectly written song to date."

SELECT FEW

On "Graduation," only Coldplay's Chris Martin, T-Pain, Mos Def and DJ Toomp made the cut as guest contributors, because, as West says, "When I hear the records of my favorite bands -- the Killers or Coldplay -- you only hear one voice from start to finish," a departure from the recording trend of duets and guest vocalists.

West proudly cops to being influenced by such left-field albums as Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke's 2006 solo effort, "The Eraser," while crafting the music for "Graduation." And though he may feel liberated from hip-hop's sonic constraints, one has to wonder if his new sound is going to translate with the Brooklyn bodega regulars.