Mods, we really need a sticky for Kayne.

If anything, Kanye West is too modest. Yeah, he's got an ego or two -- he's liable to compare himself to Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Bill Gates and Prince, sometimes in the same sentence. But he pours all that ego into musical ambition. As he says, "I ain't putting nothing out unless I can talk shit afterward." On Late Registration, the Louis Vuitton Don doesn't just set out to create pop music -- he wants to be pop music. So he steps up his lyrical game, shows off his epic production skills, reaches higher, pushes harder and claims the whole world of music as hip-hop turf. He aims for what he calls "that Coldplay, Portishead, Fiona Apple style" in his mad quest to explode every cliche about hip-hop identity. Can he get it done? Yes, he can. And like Reggie Jackson used to say, it ain't bragging if you can do it.

West blew up last year with the bling/backpack synthesis of The College Dropout, the preppy-fabulous debut smash that people still can't stop arguing about. For some, Dropout proves hip-hop is in a rut, as an example of what everybody else isn't doing; for others, it proves hip-hop is still evolving, as music nobody outside hip-hop could make. Whatever your pet theory on the state of hip-hop, Dropout gave you a challenge, flaws and all. But Late Registration is an undeniable triumph, packed front to back, so expansive it makes the debut sound like a rough draft. West has turned into a real MC, earning the right to boast about opening a store for aspiring Kanye wanna-be's: "But if they ever flip sides like Anakin/ You will sell everything, including the mannequin/They got a new bitch, now you're Jennifer Aniston."

All over Late Registration, he indulges his sentimental R&B-poet side ("Roses"), his Seventies slow-jam love jones ("Celebration"), his wit ("Gold Digger"), his hard-ass politics ("Crack Music") and his love of Maroon 5 ("Heard 'Em Say," featuring Adam Levine). He calls in the heavyweights: Jay-Z, Common, Brandy, Cam'ron, Consequence, the Game, Paul Wall. But his MVP is Fiona Apple producer Jon Brion, whose previous hip-hop experience is zero. A bold move, yet a brilliant one -- Brion brings in live orchestrations and weird instruments as raw material for West's imagination. Give 'Ye a harpsichord and he will make it funky.

If this album has an emotional stunner a la "Jesus Walks," it's "Hey Mama," where West honors his mother, who had to work nights to keep on the lights. It loops a simple la-la-la vocal hook into a soul-sonic force, like Side Two of Prince's Sign 'o' the Times after aliens hacked into it. It's the best family-affair tearjerker since Ghostface's "All That I Got Is You," as West raps, "Can I cry, please?/Gimme a verse of 'You Are So Beautiful to Me.'" He also promises her he'll go back to school, though we'll believe it when we see the tuition check. "Gone" builds a totally mental funk loop out of an Otis Redding groan. Even weirder, "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" flips a James Bond theme into an ominous lament for slave labor in Africa.

"We Major" is the high point, but it's a close call on an album where nothing sucks except the skits. It's a splashy Love Boat disco groove, featuring a guest rap from Nas -- a megasurprise considering that West produced Jay-Z's Nas-bashing classic "Takeover." Midway through, the music fades to silence and then West asks, "Can I talk my shit again?" The beat kicks back in and West proudly talks his shit, still going strong as the groove rolls on past the seven-minute mark. After the triumph of Late Registration, he can talk all he wants.

ROB SHEFFIELD

I bet it is, but come on, can we all just wait till it come out!!!???

paisleypark4 said:

Heard the album....If you were a fan of hip-hop from 1989 to 1993 then you'll love it...Fuck all of the ego-driven, insecure bullshit that Kanye kicks off in his interviews...The production (which mixes live instruments with samples...comes off...) this album is on some new age Native Tongue shit to the 4th power....It's that good...seriously....Key tracks: "Heard 'Em Say" (The shit with the Maroon 5 shit...channels Stevie W.'s Song In The Key Of Life); "We Major" (This joint with Nas is truely some old school B-Boy shit...) "Touch The Sky" (Samples Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up"...truely fire); and "Late" (hidden track with full orchestra...it's beyond words)...I can't wait for some of the people on the org to hear this album so they can pick up their faces....Funny ass line: "Will I make it from a student loan to a Benzo, Like old folks pissing I guess it all Depends...oh..." shit is crazy...."
[Edited 8/28/05 0:47am]
[Edited 8/28/05 0:53am]

My 2 cents: It's musically a step beyond College Dropout but lyrically, it's a step behind. Songs concepts are just kind of run of the mill bragging, love my mom, girl wants my money, etc. The first CD was surprising because he was rapping about eating dinner through a straw.

paisleypark4 said:

Heard the album....If you were a fan of hip-hop from 1989 to 1993 then you'll love it...Fuck all of the ego-driven, insecure bullshit that Kanye kicks off in his interviews...The production (which mixes live instruments with samples...comes off...) this album is on some new age Native Tongue shit to the 4th power....It's that good...seriously....Key tracks: "Heard 'Em Say" (The shit with the Maroon 5 shit...channels Stevie W.'s Song In The Key Of Life); "We Major" (This joint with Nas is truely some old school B-Boy shit...) "Touch The Sky" (Samples Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up"...truely fire); and "Late" (hidden track with full orchestra...it's beyond words)...I can't wait for some of the people on the org to hear this album so they can pick up their faces....Funny ass line: "Will I make it from a student loan to a Benzo, Like old folks pissing I guess it all Depends...oh..." shit is crazy...."
[Edited 8/28/05 0:47am]
[Edited 8/28/05 0:53am]

murph said:

Move On Up unfortunatley has been touched b4 but I hope Kanye steps this up rather than it just being a over-lapped sample.

I know I will probably love this album

paisleypark4 said:

It's really the only outright sample on the record...everything is either cut up or very obscure...but most of the album is a mix of live instruments and some sampling....