The 2005 release "Late Registration" is the second album from the producer and rapper from Chicago, Kanye West. It follows on from the massively successful "College Dropout" which was an unexpected success from a newcomer, only famous on the Hip Hop circuit as a producer at the time. Here Kanye had to come with something huge in order to top to popularity of his debut album, which was able to cross genre boundaries as a refreshing sound in Hip Hop, taking you away from the Gangsta Rap which dominated the style.

**Four Stars**

Everyone always says that they recognize the sample from this, but I'm yet to hear anyone specifically name Cutris Mayfield's "Move On Up" as wherthis track around, and this is a very imporant aspect to it when you consider the lyrics o this and of the original (displaying that Ye didn't just use it because of the melodies). It is also the introduction to Lupe Fiasco, who took a lot of influence from Kanye, and it all come out in his delivery here.

Kanye's humour is able to shine here as he drops in lots of subtle lines on a misleadingly fun track as he directs it towards females who are only in relationships for the money of the partner. You can't deny that its one of the best tracks Kanye has made in his time, both in terms of the lyrcism and production.

This one is quite haunting as it has a blusey feel to it by utilizing Hank Crawford's "Wildflower", I believe that this meant it lended itslef well to a tune which had little in the way of production, other than to provide a steady rhythm. This is what focuses you upon the lyrics, as there is no way of escaping them once the beats are only put in minimally. It seems as though Paul Wall misse dout on the purpose of this one as Kanye's lyrics are a lot more conscious and guiding, whereas he just read the words and sees it as another opportunaity to rap about his car collection (which is annoying because I usually like him), but he doens't fit in here at all.

I was surpised that Kanye, being so opposde to the sounds of the West Coast, would go for a Gangsta rapper liek The Game to feature on his album, and initally I had doubts as to whether this combination would work, howeer I think that it was a success. I believe that the influence of The Game allows Kanye's street cred to be raied as he directs his words to black people and attempts to sway them away from a life which they are thought to be forced into. The marching beat which leads it puts you in a position where you feel rather militant and radical, which is what the track is about.

11. "Addiction"

Thsi is the remix to Kanye's most conscious Hip Hoptune off this album, the only differnce here (in comparison tpo the original) is that it features additional lines from Jay-Z, insead of just jhimself from start to finish. With a hook which samples Shirley Bassey's James bond theme "Diamonds Are Forever", Kanye is able to rasise the issues of where people get their jewellery from and the processes which go into doing so, such as the hardship of the miners in places like Sierra Leone. Overall it's very thought-provoking.

14. "We Major"

Although I am aware that Kanye and Jon Brion produced this, apart from the use of the sample of "Heavenly Dream" as performed by The KayGees, this sounds like the type of spacey beat which The Neptunes would come up with. It isn't much of a rap, and has him just flowing in a laid-back manner as if he's not concerned with what comes out, he's just chilled after finishing the majority of the album (it shuould be placed at the end really).

I have to say that this isn't as strong as the first album, but as "Graduation" was so strong, he could come up with something as big in the future, but it is still around about what you want to hear from him. Due to this, you can't argue wth it being as popular than it was in its time. However I thought that it differed from "College Dropout" as quite a few tracks were forgettable here, whereas material from his debut release will never lose its novelty when you hear it.