Kanye West: Late Registration

Herald rating: * * * * *


Kanye West has been sitting high on his pedestal since his debut album, The College Dropout. Yet his arrogant facade has done little to distract from his hip-hop vision, which has effortlessly infiltrated the pop world with wit, charisma and soul-rejuvenating beats.

The fact he was a well-dressed producer to the stars rather than a beefcake gangsta upped the intrigue, and his first rap recording blew everyone's expectations out of the water. Hell, this month he's on the cover of Time.

On his second effort, in which he raps that he could "do this in his sleep", the boasting is hard to argue with. Once again West has created a pop triumph, each track anchored on solid hooks, soul-soaked arrangements and rhymes clever enough to withstand his ego.

Of the shop he's about to open for those who dare copy his style: "If they ever flip like Anakin, you will sell everything, including the mannequin. They got a new bitch, now you're Jennifer Aniston."

On Touch the Sky he refers to the car crash immortalised on Dropout's Through the Wire: "I think I died in that accident, this must be heaven."

And it's not just the rhymes that have improved. This time he's outsmarted everyone with a genre-bending list of guest stars. Arch rivals Jay-Z and Nas now have this in common, as do Brandy, Common, the Game and Cam'ron.

Jamie Foxx does his impersonation of Ray Charles on Gold Digger alongside samples of the singer himself, French film director Michel Gondry drums on Diamonds from Sierra Leone and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine blends in perfectly on Heard 'Em Say.

The other significant collaboration is with musician and film composer Jon Brion, (clients include Badly Drawn Boy, Aimee Mann and Fiona Apple), who adds expansive string arrangements that stretch West's tracks to epic proportions.

West doesn't bother to hunt for rare samples, instead borrowing from the bold and wise: Etta James, Curtis Mayfield, Shirley Bassey, as if to align himself with their greatness. But he needn't bother. Kanye, you're already there.

Label: Roc-A-Fella