Kanye West
Album : Late Registration
Release Date : 30th August 2005
Label : Universal

Review: For haters eager to see Kanye hit a sophomore slump —no such luck. Late Registration can’t replicate the novelty of last year’s College Dropout, but otherwise, this is an impressively more mature and labored-over album. Lyrically, Kanye’s only improved a notch but musically, the album sounds incredible, especially with co-producer Jon Brion helping polish the songs to perfection. Tracks like "Heard ’Em Say" (featuring Maroon 5’s Adam Levine) and "Hey Mama," are richly textured in their soulfulness while the flint-edge of "Crack Music" and "Gone" (feat. Cam’ron) will appeal to the street-oriented.

There’s a few duds on here —the sickly-sweet, syrupy "Bring Me Down" (feat. Brandy) being one of the worst offenders —but when the album’s good, it’s very, very good. In short, Kanye’s detractors may not be swayed in their resistance to his charms but not only will his past supporters be rewarded but Late Registration has enough appeal to earn new crowds of fans. —Oliver Wang

Watch Kanye West "Gold Digger" Video feat Jamie Foxx

Listen to "Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)" feat Jay-Z
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Listen to "Diamonds"
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Customer review:
With only 2 albums under his belt, Kanye West is quickly becoming the best rapper of the post-modern era. Like the College Dropout, this album delivers hit after hit with amazing sampling and producing courtesy of Mr. West. Nearly every track is amazing. The only disappointment is the skits (which are just annoying and unnecessary) and also the second hidden track which is only on the UK version of the album.

The song titled "We Can Make it Better" featuring the likes of Talib Kweli, Common, Q-Tip, and Rhymefest is one of the best tracks on the CD, but is not on the North American copy of the album. Kanye even gets lazy and decides to throw a mixtape song on this CD. I am referring to the Song titled "Hey Mama" and this track is more than deserving of being on the album. It is not only his best mixtape single, but one of his best songs overall.

The guest appearances of Nas, Cam’ron, and many others add to the quality of the CD without distracting from the main artist Kanye West. All 16 songs (17 if you count "We Can Make it Better") have that Kanye West feel. You don’t need to know who is rapping or who’s CD it is to realize who produced the beat. "My Way Home" seems to be only Common and no Kanye West. However, it is still a solid track, if only it were longer. This CD satisfies everybody’s needs with a mix from slow R&B and hip-hop, to street rap as seen in the single Crack Music. If Kanye West keeps making hit CDs at this pace, he will go down in history with names like Tupac, Nas, and Jay-Z. "Late" is my least favorite of the tracks, although it is not weak enough to change my opinion on the album.

With 7 CD’s worth of songs and only 2 of albums released, most people haven’t heard that much Kanye and are blown away by how good this album is. Kanye’s mix tape songs are better than most of the songs you hear on the radio today. Now maybe Kanye won’t be able to keep producing and rapping at such an extraordinary pace, but for now he is on top. I hope to see the next video from this album (Preferably "Addiction" or "We Major"). I see this album going down as one of the all time best in hip hop... right beside the College Dropout. I waited for a year and a half for this CD. I watched as the released date got pushed back twice. I have 7 Kanye West CD’s and have heard every song he’s ever made. I had high expectations to say the least and this album surpassed them. So Whether you like hip-hop, R&B, rap, even pop, classical, rock, it doesn’t matter because this is a 5 out of 5 album no matter what you are into. Kevin King-Scott

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