Late Registration

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Performer: Kanye West
Artist: Jamie Foxx; Adam Levine
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Rapper/producer Kanye West's second album, LATE REGISTRATION, incredibly lives up to expectations following his universally acclaimed debut, THE COLLEGE DROPOUT, which took the art of sampling to a new plateau. Here, for example, "Gold Digger" features a sample of the legendary Ray Charles alongside actor Jamie Foxx in Oscar-reprising character as Charles. "Addiction" pairs a frenetic African beat with a stuttering, singular use of a snippet of Etta James crooning "My Funny Valentine," while "Diamonds From the Sierra Leone" teams the majestic Bond glory of Shirley Bassey's "Diamonds Are Forever" with perfectly subtle Miami bass to explosive effect. All the while, West pulls lyrics out of his rhyme bag at a fever pitch, tackling hefty topics like civil war in Africa and the impact of drugs on leading Black minds. Throughout the album, West merely continues to perfect his craft, slowing tracks down and speeding them up into an awe-inspiring mosaic. While his MC style is often discounted as being of secondary importance, he shines when put up against the best in the game, as with Common on the bluesy "My Way Home" or Nas on the lush "We Major." And in the spirit of Bob Dylan, West knows how to make the most of a very original voice. LATE REGISTRATION is ample proof of West's staying power.

Rolling Stone (No. 982, p.110) - 5 stars out of 5 - "...LATE REGISTRATION is an undeniable triumph, packed front to back, so expansive it makes the debut sound like a rough draft...." Spin (p.65) - Ranked #1 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2005" - "'Gold Digger' is the best kind of hip-hop hit: relentless, obnoxious, too smart and self-deprecating and laugh-out-loud funny..." Spin (pp.99-100) - "West showcases a more versatile, eccentric flow than on DROPOUT..." - Grade: B+ Entertainment Weekly (p.140) - Ranked #3 in Entertainment Weekly's 'Top Ten Records of the Year' -- West works on a commandingly large canvas. Hip-hop, not to mention pop, rarely sounds this surprising, panoramic, and irresistible." Entertainment Weekly (No. 837, p.77) - "West thinks creatively, not just monetarily; he has an artist's head and heart...[LATE REGISTRATION] rarely fails to engross at every step." - Grade: B+ Uncut (p.88) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Nobody deploys vocal samples better than West..." The Wire (p.41) - Included in The Wire's "2005 Rewind: 50 Records Of The Year." Mojo (Publisher) (p.60) - Ranked #10 in Mojo's "Top Ten Urban Albums Of 2005."

Kanye West first gained fame as an acclaimed hip-hop producer, working with Jay-Z, Foxy Brown, Mase, and others. West's solo debut was delayed due to a serious car accident, but when THE COLLEGE DROPOUT finally appeared in 2004, it took the hip-hop world by storm with its combination of old-school R&B samples, inventive contemporary production, and clever rhymes. And while West continued to churn out hot tracks for a bevy of artists, popping up in the credits of what seemed to be an impossible number of CDs, he was still able to continue his run of critically and commercially successful releases, 2005's LATE REGISTRATION and 2007's GRADUATION, and become the undisputed King of Hip-Hop in the '00s.

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