"Flashing Lights"

by Kanye West ft. Dwele

(Roc-a-Fella)

"Stronger," Graduation's first single, was slow-mo Euro-techno sourced from the most beloved group in the style. It was also a bit turgid, though that hasn't stopped it from garnering acclaim, and it does improve in the album's context. "Flashing Lights" is where Kanye takes the same basic idea to the bank. The jetliner synth line evokes both strings (even though those are already on the track) and the rave riffs of other post–Daft Punks like Justice. (Anyone else want to start calling this stuff 'botsploitation?) The words are appropriately full of jet-set ennui, too, which is both appropriate and (!) actually interesting.

"I Still Love H.E.R."

by Teriyaki Boyz ft. Kanye West

(Def Jam/BAPE, Japan)

"Pro Nails"

by Kid Sister ft. Kanye West

(Fool's Gold)

He rhymed over "Young Folks" on a mixtape. He enlisted Zach Galifianakis and Will Oldham for a viral video. Based on what he tells interviewers, the new music he likes most essentially amounts to the KEXP playlist. Forget battling 50 Cent for sales domination or his repeated vow to become the biggest music star in the universe: Kanye West's 2007 was most memorable for his shameless courting of blog cred. That was also pretty much the deal with these year-bracketing guest spots—the one with Yokohama quintet Teriyaki Boyz released in January, the cameo with fellow Chicagoan Kid Sister in December. Both feature West having fun on small-budgeted videos; he also looped the airy MFSB strings of "I Still Love H.E.R." as well as throwing in some words he probably scribbled on the plane trip to Japan. It didn't break the Boyz in the U.S. the way its label hoped it might, because one Jurassic 5 is enough. Kid Sister rides a fairly ace, Pong-bouncy track, and if West is mostly there for moral support, he doesn't get in the way, either.

"Us Placers"

by CRS

(Self-released)

This, on the other hand, is probably my favorite of West's nonalbum work this year. Like "Flashing Lights," it's star griping, but here the tone is reflective, which helps. So does the track, a shrewd flip of Thom Yorke's "The Eraser" with nicely offhanded verses from Lupe Fiasco (new acquisitions include "A 50-foot yacht with an anchor/A young supermodel that shall remain nameless"), Kanye ("How many people almost famous/You almost remember what they name is"—kinda humble there), and Pharrell Williams (seen-it-all: "Young, dumb, high-strung, who can handle us?"). With Yorke moaning "The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear," this could have been Smug City; instead, both music and MCs sound appropriately dazed by their newfound place in the sun.