Kanye is back and he brought some new friends with him. Primarily John Brion (producer of Fiona Apple) who has given this disc a layer or sound that Kanye lacked in his spectacular debut disc The College Dropout. The disc is packed with your usual skits about being a member of the fraternity Broke Fi Broke, loads of guest appearances Twista, Cam'Ron, Nas and Jay-Z just to name a few. The stand out tracks on this disc are most defiantly Roses and Hey Mama. The second of the two being what I think to be Kanye's finest song to date. In addition to more musical elements of the disc the lyrical content has also been stepped up. Kayne talks about how the government created AIDs and how the diamond mining in Africa has contributed to the world being more dysfunctional. For those of you expecting a repeat performance of The College Dropout, be prepared to be slightly disappointed. Though this disc is still exceptional it lacks that certain "I waited my whole life to write this disc" factor. However for a Sophomore effort Kanye puts himself on a great path to a long very successful career. When a rap star who has no history of dealing drugs or shooting people can create an album so powerful that you get on the cover of TIME magazine, then you know you've made it.Read full review
Let’s everyone take a big step back, inhale deeply and try and make sense of this. Galvanizing doesn’t begin to describe the musical, pop cultural, sociological, and economic reaction to Kanye West and his vanity-piece turned musical touchstone turned target turned “instant classic” otherwise known as 2004’s The College Dropout. Jay-Z called him the future of rap—not for his voice, but for his middle-class/nouveau riche background. The public told him to shut up when he pouted at award shows like a preppy kid who just got waitlisted at Dartmouth. He kept telling everyone about his genius. And only now are we getting somewhere near the truth: Dropout wasn’t a five star album, but it wasn’t totally an early De La Soul-mimicking piece of hype-trite either. What remains: a continued dialogue with himself that’s sincere enough to hook the whole world into his psyche. Though he has a lingering obsession with college—the album’s title, the series of skits where Kanye takes aim at the black male experience in higher education—this time around he’s more focused on execution than self-delusion. Impressively enough (and I’m willing to bet that 20 years from now this is seen as Kanye’s true gift), he’s gotten everyone in the English speaking world to wonder if one man’s experiences (albeit an endlessly self-promoting man) are actually gospel. No one has asked if he didn’t have fun in college because he was lonely? Or a prick? He seems to want to talk about race and education: what are his feelings about school vouchers? Affirmative action? Reparations? West never alienates anyone or takes a bold stand because he won’t give any solid answers (musically that is, after his ridiculous tirade during an appearance in the name of relief for Hurricane Katrina, he seems willing to take any position in public). Late Registration makes a few unremarkable, tired stands: crack was bad, Reagan was evil and white people love hearing about drugs (“Crack Music”). Oh, and our current President might be up to something. Great gumption, but the details are lacking. Musical bombs of protest that actually work, like P.E.’s “911 Is A Joke,” breathe with specific, small incidents that have the “big” topics painted in gracefully. Frustrated as he may be about the general public’s inability to feel his struggle, Kanye really hasn’t stood for anything fresh enough to turn himself into a lightning rod. He’s almost reserved now, more methodical in his song writing and certainly less laughably pompous and ignorant than he was on Dropout. Uncertainty is a great theme for the record, producer Jon Brion’s gentler take on Kanye’s usually hammering neo-Stax vibe revels in the soft middle ground. “Drive Slow,” the most modest song in concept and one of the most fruitful in execution, is a few Chicago comfortable stories and a mournful lone saxophone. Kanye doesn’t try to out do guests Paul Wall and GLC. Then something magical happens: he manages to take the track on his own merits, no hype needed. He lingers on emotions and images and hangs with oodles of Houston car culture references. Kanye blends in. Yet shades of the young Mr. West haunt his attempted vocal evolution. As wrenching as the memories behind “Roses” are, he can’t turn his exposed moments into a full-fledged pop song. He raps too loud over the soft, tapping xylophone. He can’t alter his vocals to fit the mood of the piece. To hijack Frost’s famed quote about free verse, Kanye’s music is playing tennis with no neRead full review
The second record released by the superstar artist, Kanye West. Classics such as "Gold Digger," and "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" are featured in this album, so purchasing it is vital to any collection of his albums. I personally enjoy the uppity soul-sampled beats, and the lyrics that make me feel as if I truly am "on top of the world." Excellent album by Kanye West overall, and for the $5 it cost me, I'm beyond satisfied.
This album is not as good as Kanye's previous effort, College Dropout, but it still holds its own. Most of the beats are really artsy and not club droppin killer tracks. There is probably only two or three 'radio worthy' tracks on this album. His first single didn't get enough airplay, so he had to do a remix with Jay-Z which lyrically isn't as good as the original. On a side note, the album cover is really dope, so you should not download this.
This is my second favorite album by Kanye begins Graduation. The songs bring back good memories from my childhood! There isn’t a song on this album that I skip. I totally recommend buying it.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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