Late Registration by Kanye West

Kanye West
Late Registration
2005
Hip Hop
Roc-A-Fella

1. Wake Up Mr. West
2. Heard 'Em Say
3. Touch The Sky
4. Gold Digger
5. Skit #1
6. Drive Slow
7. My Way Home
8. Crack Music
9. Roses
10. Bring Me Down
11. Addiction
12. Skit #2
13. Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)
14. We Major
15. Skit #3
16. Hey Mama
17. Celebration
18. Skit #4
19. Gone
20. Diamonds From Sierra Leone
21. Late
(Also included is a 500x500 album cover .jpeg)

They say people in your life are seasons
And anything that happen is for a reason
And nigga's guns a-clappin and keep to squeezin'
And Gran (Grandma) keep prayin' and keep believin'
In Jesus and one day that ya see him
'Till they walk in his footsteps and try to be him
The devil is alive I feel him breathin'
Claimin' money is the key so keep on dreamin'
And put them lottery tickets just to tease us

"Heard 'Em Say"

Late Registration was my introduction to hip hop. After years of completely dismissing the genre as real music, I heard "Gold Digger" and "Hey Mama," and all of a sudden, everything clicked. I immediately bought the album, and was surprised at the quality of the rest of the tracks. Kanye doesn't let his records suffer when compared to the singles. Almost every song will be stuck in your head after listening to Late Registration. In my opinion, this record is superior (however slightly) to his debut, The College Dropout.

What gives Late Registration it's edge over the other Kanye albums? The beats and the lyrics. I love Kanye's production and his mickey mouse soul samples, but collaborating with film composer Jon Brion to make the beats on this album was possibly the best decision of his career. All of the songs have a classical-sound behind the beats, and are arranged so that each track's mood flows perfectly into the next. It's also quite down-tempo, which makes for a good chillout record, or great for driving in winter weather.

People may disagree with me on this one, but I think Kanye's lyrics really separate Kanye from the rest of the top 40 rap filler, and Late Registration is definitely his best album to read the liner notes of. It's not really his rhymes that make the lyrics great, but the subject matter. The remix of "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" is about the african diamond mines that children die in every day, working to make the diamonds that wealthy Americans demand. "Crack Music" is about the government placing cocaine in inner-city communites after the civil rights movement, and the effects that are still being seen today. They aren't all as deep and meaningful as those two, but I they really are standout tracks.

Please listen to Late Registration at lease once, even if you've never liked a hip hop album in your life. It may change your opinion of the genre's stereotypes.

Click here to download part 1 (73.06 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (74.58 MB)

One part of hip hop's stereotype does live on in this record, however - it contains very strong language. Just be aware.

Buy it!
CD / Vinyl / Digital Copy