Album: Late Registration
Artist: Kanye West
Born: Atlanta, Georgia
Released: August 2005
Genre: Hip Hop
Kanye West's success was a watershed moment for hip hop. His upbringing wasn't on the mean streets of America but in a suburban middle class home, under the watchful eye of his English Professor mother. His father, a Black Panther activist, left home when he was just 3 years old, so Kanye was obliged to follow his mother across the country (Chicago) and even abroad (China) as part of her work. This different outlook on life to most rappers also informed his music, with Kanye just as inspired by Portishead records (notably Dummy) as he was by contemporaries like Common. Kanye in fact produced Common's 2005 record, Be, which was a source of inspiration and a touchstone for Late Registration; Kanye wanted to better it. His production work from the late 90s onwards, collaborating with the likes of Jay-Z on The Blueprint, contributed to his reputation just as much as his first solo record, The College Dropout (2004), but the release of Late Registration elevated him to superstar status. Some of the hype surrounding the record was related to how Kanye was working with Jon Brion, a producer better known for his film scores and his work with indie pop star Fiona Apple (notably 1999 release, When The Pawn..., which has the longest album title in history). Maroon 5’s Adam Levine was another off-the-wall collaborator, as was Jamie Foxx, who's better known for his film work. You quickly got the sense that Kanye was trying to redefine the rules of hip hop, while remaining very much a mainstream star.
West invested a significant amount of his own time and money in this record, which is partly reflected in the wide array of high-profile cameos, including Jay-Z, Nas, Q-Tip, Common, Lupe Fiasco and The Game. The high-production music videos can't have been cheap either, especially for an album front-loaded with singles -- Heard 'Em Say, Touch The Sky and Gold Digger -- the latter featuring an inspired Ray Charles sample (Foxx was promoting his starring role in Ray at the time). Touch The Sky, with its elaborate music video paying homage to the 70s and Evil Knievel, is likewise based around a brilliant sample (Curtis Mayfield's Movin' On Up). The use of live orchestras and strings samples gives Late Registration a baroque feel, but one of the record's real strengths is its balance, with harder and angrier songs like Crack Music offset by quieter, more reflective tracks like Roses. The album also has a real attention to detail, with Diamonds From Sierra Leone apparently mixed 14 times by Kanye before he got the version he was happy with. Away from the singles, two of my favourite moments on the record are Gone (featuring a great cameo from Cam'Ron and an evocative Otis Redding sample) and the weird chopped-up beats of Addiction. Kanye declares on Gone that, "I'm ahead of my time, sometimes years out", and though it sounds like standard rapper braggadocio, he gets away with it because of his unique ability to fuse street poetry with conscious hip hop. His use of samples (like Shirley Bassey's Diamond Are Forever) is also unmatched. Following Late Registration's release, the trappings of fame definitely got to him and his behaviour was very erratic, but Kanye's 2010 record My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was a big return to form, following time he spent away from the limelight in Hawaii. This remains my favourite Kanye album though.
Kanye West's success was a watershed moment for hip hop. His upbringing wasn't on the mean streets of America but in a suburban middle class home, under the watchful eye of his English Professor mother. His father, a Black Panther activist, left home when he was just 3 years old, so Kanye was obliged to follow his mother across the country (Chicago) and even abroad (China) as part of her work. This different outlook on life to most rappers also informed his music, with Kanye just as inspired by Portishead records (notably Dummy) as he was by contemporaries like Common. Kanye in fact produced Common's 2005 record, Be, which was a source of inspiration and a touchstone for Late Registration; Kanye wanted to better it. His production work from the late 90s onwards, collaborating with the likes of Jay-Z on The Blueprint, contributed to his reputation just as much as his first solo record, The College Dropout (2004), but the release of Late Registration elevated him to superstar status. Some of the hype surrounding the record was related to how Kanye was working with Jon Brion, a producer better known for his film scores and his work with indie pop star Fiona Apple (notably 1999 release, When The Pawn..., which has the longest album title in history). Maroon 5’s Adam Levine was another off-the-wall collaborator, as was Jamie Foxx, who's better known for his film work. You quickly got the sense that Kanye was trying to redefine the rules of hip hop, while remaining very much a mainstream star.
West invested a significant amount of his own time and money in this record, which is partly reflected in the wide array of high-profile cameos, including Jay-Z, Nas, Q-Tip, Common, Lupe Fiasco and The Game. The high-production music videos can't have been cheap either, especially for an album front-loaded with singles -- Heard 'Em Say, Touch The Sky and Gold Digger -- the latter featuring an inspired Ray Charles sample (Foxx was promoting his starring role in Ray at the time). Touch The Sky, with its elaborate music video paying homage to the 70s and Evil Knievel, is likewise based around a brilliant sample (Curtis Mayfield's Movin' On Up). The use of live orchestras and strings samples gives Late Registration a baroque feel, but one of the record's real strengths is its balance, with harder and angrier songs like Crack Music offset by quieter, more reflective tracks like Roses. The album also has a real attention to detail, with Diamonds From Sierra Leone apparently mixed 14 times by Kanye before he got the version he was happy with. Away from the singles, two of my favourite moments on the record are Gone (featuring a great cameo from Cam'Ron and an evocative Otis Redding sample) and the weird chopped-up beats of Addiction. Kanye declares on Gone that, "I'm ahead of my time, sometimes years out", and though it sounds like standard rapper braggadocio, he gets away with it because of his unique ability to fuse street poetry with conscious hip hop. His use of samples (like Shirley Bassey's Diamond Are Forever) is also unmatched. Following Late Registration's release, the trappings of fame definitely got to him and his behaviour was very erratic, but Kanye's 2010 record My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was a big return to form, following time he spent away from the limelight in Hawaii. This remains my favourite Kanye album though.
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