It was impossible to predict the direction Kanye West was going to go after his monumental debut The College Dropout<\/i>. He could have easily used the exact same formula, gained even more commercial success and still held on to his fan base. Instead, West decided to go in a very different direction, which happens to be Late Registration\u2019s <\/i>yin and yang.<\/p>\n
Kanye brought in Jon Brion, a very non-hip-hop producer, to help him create a slightly darker album, and this is evident immediately. Whereas Dropout <\/i>started out with \u201cWe Don\u2019t Care,\u201d a middle finger to critics of the ghetto, Registration <\/i>opens with the somber and almost hopeless \u201cHeard \u2018Em Say,\u201d a very different introduction. Not to say Kanye lost his swagger, but the different opening definitely sends a message; what that is may be for the listener to figure out.<\/p>\n
Like Dropout<\/i>, Registration <\/i>contains numerous quality guest appearances. Common provides Kanye with an unbelievable verse on \u201cMy Way Home.\u201d Jay-Z and Kanye get together again on the \u201cDiamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix),\u201d which includes a very clever transition. Nas assists Kanye on the longest track on the album, \u201cWe Major.\u201d Lupe Fiasco appears on \u201cTouch The Sky,\u201d a rare upbeat moment on the album, and it\u2019s also produced by Just Blaze (the only track not produced by Kanye).<\/p>\n
Kanye does a great job of tying this album together, with the consistency of production and the very clever skits containing a fake fraternity Broke Phi Broke. The fraternity serves as a metaphor for the rap game in general, and is apparent when the frat is constantly criticizing Kanye for having new shoes and just being different in general (Lil\u2019 Jon\u2019s signature \u201cWHAT \u201c is even present in \u201cSkit #4\u201d).<\/p>\n
It is quite clear that Kanye\u2019s focus on Registration <\/i>was the production. Every track is meticulous with detail and creates a defiant atmosphere for the respective song. The problem is when Kanye slacks lyrically on songs like the glamorized \u201cAddiction,\u201d the unnecessary \u201cBring Me Down\u201d and possibly his worst song to date, \u201cCelebration.\u201d The tune is not a bad song, it just really lacks lyrically. Kanye of all people should know hip-hop does not need another song about partying, especially one that does nothing out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n
The highlight of Registration<\/i> does not come until the twentieth track, \u201cDiamonds From Sierra Leone.\u201d The lead single serves as an update to what Kanye has been up to since Dropout<\/i>, and displays his trademark honesty and wit at its finest.<\/p>\n
Registration<\/i> is a great achievement in production and creativity. It shows that we really have no idea where Kanye will go with his next release, and while he falters a little lyrically here, he still is the best commercial rapper today. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":28810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7798],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-40308","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kanye-west","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40308"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40308"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}