Late Registration

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.com
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

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Customer reviews

review by: Mama date: 2008-12-21 rating:
Pleasantly Surprised
Like anyone, I've heard of KW. He seems to show up in the press every so often, and I allowed that to turn me off to his recordings. I assumed that someone vying so hard for the media spotlight probably wasn't making good records, like Madonna, Britney, Kiss, Marylin Manson, and others. Spectacles, but not musicians.

I saw this at the library and picked it up out of curiosity, and I was very pleasantly surprised. I liked it. The rhyming has some honesty to it, not just 60 minutes of bragging or senseless violence. I'm not going to go along with his rep as a revolutionary or philosipher or prophet, but I'm embarassed I let something as silly as public perception prevent me from listening to his music for so long.

The production is uncluttered, interesting, and seems to fit the message of the rhyme. The rhymes are blunt and honest, nothing fancy, but nothing held back either. So much of rap sounds the same, follows brainless trends. Like any genre, I guess. This record is different enough to be interesting.

And it sounds like this isn't even his best work. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest.

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review by: date: 2008-07-31 rating:
pretty good
i like this one, there's a couple of tracks that i skip over, but for the most part the whole thing is pretty good.

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review by: date: 2008-07-29 rating:
Perfection
This album is likely my favorite album ever. Every song is a masterpiece in itself and even the skits tie into the concept of the album. Kanye's improved lyricism and the numerous guest appearances combine with amazing beats to make a fantastic sophomore cd. It is probably the only 20+ song album that I can listen through every single song and not skip one. It is the definition of a perfect album.

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review by: jasontheslacker date: 2008-07-14 rating:
Good Stuff from the Master
This is a solid album with solid beats. Lots of colab on this. Not as good as his first or his third album, but still enjoyable. Too many versions of "Diamonds". I wish his version of "Hey Mama" from the grammies was on this. The standard version doesn't convey the immotion.




review by: managerman date: 2008-06-21 rating:
poseur: an overblown self important hack
This guy is terrible. Throw your money down a sewer and it will be better spent.

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