The Inside Pulse:
Kanye West is an Everyman. He’s less a rapper than the guy you chase skirts with at the club. He’s never sold drugs or been shot nine times, and his most near-fatal incident occured during a car wreck in 2002. West, however, is the top star in the world of hip-hop right now, and his 2004 album College Dropout earned him three million records sold, three Grammy awards, and a slew of other accolades that left the former producer and beatmaster behind established stars like Jay-Z counting his millions and proclaiming his greatness acrss the globe. Yes, he’s arrogant, but when you’re as obviously talented as Kanye is, you can afford to be.
How does he follow up The College Dropout? With Late Registration, the second album in his four part “Education Quadrilogy” (the final two albums being Graduation and Good-Ass Job, which will probably be released over the next two years). Unless you’re Eminem, you don’t even attempt releasing a series of concept albums as a brand new artist, yet that’s exactly what West has done. While he may spew lines about former teachers and Gap store clerks, the talent West clearly possesses sets him apart from 95% of artists on the planet. When he says he’s the best rapper on the planet, you don’t have much choice but to believe him.
Positives:
Kanye essentially has two themes on this record. There’s the work done with producer Jon Brion (Fiona Apple) that takes hip hop, runs it through a time warp of musical history, brings it back together and then smashes it into pieces with a large hammer. This is hip hop in the Andre 3000 vein, where live orchestras are used instead of samples and multiple movements abound in the same track. Then there’s the Dark Side Of Kanye, which comes to light (or dark, whichever you prefer) in tunes like “Gone”. In it, Kanye wishes he could get away from the fame he so clearly desires, thus opening up a paradox: does he want to be the best, most famous rapper on the planet and a respected artist, or will he just move to Oklahoma and live with his aunt, as he threatens to do? Kanye’s no fool, and these tense moments paint a new shade of grey where once only black, white and bling existed.
Negatives:
It’s messy, self-indulgent and all over the place. There’s no middle ground on this record, which is admirable; it’s either a big, shocking screwup or a glorious album. That’s risky, but it’s also the single thing that separates great artists from merely good.
Reason To Buy:
You should own this record. You don’t even have to be a hip hop fan, just a fan of music, to appreciate Kanye West and his artistry. Talent is never overrated, and just about anyone from any race, religion or age group is going to find something to appreciate here. Kanye is not hardcore and he doesn’t rap about the thug life; he simply raps about what he knows, which remarkably ends up sounding a lot like the stuff we regular people know as well.
