Late Registration is the second studio album by the American rapper Kanye West. It was released on August 30, 2005, through Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. West recorded the album over the course of a year during sessions held at studios in Hollywood and New York City, in collaboration with Jon Brion. The album features guest appearances from Adam Levine, Jamie Foxx, Common, Brandy, Lupe Fiasco, Jay-Z, and Nas, among others.
West's production for Late Registration departed from the sped-up soul samples of his debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004), moving towards a more elaborate and orchestral style with a 20-piece ensemble. Drawing creative inspiration from alternative acts such as Fiona Apple and Portishead, he experimented with musical shifts, string arrangements, and a variety of instruments not usually associated with hip-hop, including a celesta, harpsichord, and Chinese bells. In an effort to write authentic yet relatable lyrics, West engages in storytelling while showcasing his Christian heritage that informed his relationship to the capitalist market economy. He critiques multiple issues, such as institutional racism, higher education, health care, and the blood diamond trade.
A widespread critical success, Late Registration has often been viewed as a progression from The College Dropout and a pivotal release in hip-hop. Numerous reviewers praised the former's elegant and ambitious musical direction, while some highlighted West's songwriting and performances for their balance of pop and conscious hip-hop sensibilities. It was named to year-end lists for 2005 by multiple publications, such as Rolling Stone, Time, and USA Today. The album led to West receiving eight nominations at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best Rap Album, winning the latter.
Surpassing The College Dropouts commercial success, Late Registration debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and sold 860,000 copies in the first week, while reaching the top 10 in nine other countries, including the United Kingdom and Ireland. It eventually sold more than 3,000,000 copies in the US and received a five-times platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as well as sales certifications in several other territories. Five accompanying singles were released, including the hits "Touch the Sky", "Heard 'Em Say", and "Gold Digger", the latter of which topped the Billboard Hot 100. Music videos for all five singles were produced, while West also promoted the album with the Touch the Sky Tour (2005–06) and his debut live album, Late Orchestration (2006). Since then, Late Registration has frequently appeared on top albums lists, including Rolling Stones "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", on which it ranked 117th in 2020.
Background
Late Registration is the second of Kanye West's planned four education-themed studio albums, following the major success of his 2004 debut The College Dropout. The album showcased his signature production style of using sped-up vocal samples from soul records, known as "chipmunk soul". However, because of its success, other hip-hop artists widely imitated this sampling style. In response to this, and fearing his own dependence on the technique, West decided to find a new sound and progress in both songwriting and stylistic range. whose direction West described as "that Coldplay, Portishead, Fiona Apple style". By November, West had completed around 75 percent of the album. However, he felt unsatisfied with the outcome and this led to Brion becoming involved in March 2005, which drastically altered the project's direction. Levine is featured on the album's opening track, "Heard 'Em Say". The two had previously collaborated on a remix for "This Love" (2004) that Maroon 5 commissioned West to work on and later became good friends when sitting together on a flight to Rome for the 2004 MTV Europe Music Awards. While playing songs from his second album via his iPod for him on the flight, West presented the demo for "Heard 'Em Say", to which Levine added a hook he had recently written and thought was an ideal fit.
Wall appears alongside West and his GOOD Music labelmate GLC on "Drive Slow". It was recorded in Los Angeles after the two had formed a friendship while posing for a photo shoot for an August 2005 issue of King, in a spread titled "Coming Kings". West had originally wanted British-Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. to appear on the track, but she opted out of the appearance due to a busy schedule. "My Way Home" is performed solely by West's GOOD Music associate and fellow rapper Common, whose sixth studio album Be was being produced and recorded by West alongside Late Registration. 107 tracks were recorded during a Pro Tools session for "Bring Me Down"—48 of which were solely sung by Brandy— and the editing process for the tracks lasted one day.
West first crafted "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" as a song about his friendship with his crew, until he learned of the civil war in Sierra Leone financed by conflict diamonds and re-recorded it. While the original version of the song featured West as the sole performer, he decided to record a remix with a guest verse provided by Jay-Z. The recording was further delayed when West and Brion were required to wait two weeks to rent the harpsichord that they used for the percussion. West recorded a verse by fellow rapper Nas for the track "We Major", even though the rapper was engaged in a feud with Jay-Z at the time. Despite this, West revealed that the song is regarded by Jay-Z as his favorite on Late Registration. "Hey Mama" was first recorded by West as early as 2000.
Brion experienced difficulty conducting a 20-piece orchestra for "Celebration", as its musicians were distracted when giggling at West's humorous lyrics. West and Brion had some minor discord for "Roses"; Brion initially layered it with keyboard arrangements, only for West to remove his keys along with the beat and completely reconfigure the entire song so that the verses are built around the rhythm of his vocals, while Brion's arrangements arrive during the choruses. Brion later lightheartedly compared the indecision surrounding the construction of the track to that of Prince's well-known last-minute removal of the bassline from "When Doves Cry" (1984).
Music and production
The music of Late Registration blends West's primary hip-hop production with Brion's elaborate orchestration and experimentally delves into a wide variety of genres, drums, among other symphonic instrumentation. harpsichord, Kim observed a heavy difference between the album and West's previous work, stating, "West ambitiously attempts to depart from the street sensibilities of Dropout by giving Late Registration a shiny, quasi-alt-pop finish."
thumb|West played with an extensive orchestra on "Bring Me Down", "[[Gone (Kanye West song)|Gone", and "Celebration".|alt=West accompanied by an orchestra]]
The first full track on Late Registration, "Heard 'Em Say" exhibits a cascading piano melody provided by excerpts of "Someone That I Used To Love", as performed by Natalie Cole, embellished over tumbling beats, a bass synthesizer, and brief plucks of acoustic guitar. The song's intricately composed outro features the last vocals fading out as various bells and whistles are incorporated, succeeded by the bass synthesizer. "Gold Digger" contains an interpolation of "I Got a Woman" by Charles and a bouncy beat that relies on handclaps, West's production approach is simplified for "Drive Slow", a song that contains a looped sample of the alto sax from Hank Crawford's recording of the 1973 track "Wildflower" by Skylark, before slowing down the sample towards the end, which is antithetical to West's "chipmunk soul"-styled loops.
The interlude "My Way Home" contains a sample of "Home Is Where The Hatred Is" (1971) by Gil Scott-Heron. "Bring Me Down" has more orchestration than any other track on Late Registration, including string arrangements, violins, and cello. "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" is built around a sample of Shirley Bassey's theme song for the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, layering it with lush instrumental arrangements that feature drums, horns, strings, The melody of "Hey Mama" is laced with a looped "La-la-la" vocal sample from the 1972 track "Today Won't Come Again" by Donal Leace, "Celebration" is a cinematic-styled song that includes contributions from a 20-piece orchestra and contains a sample of the KayGees's "Heavenly Dream" (1979). West stated that his goal for the album was to touch on topics that people from all walks of life could find relatable, while remaining true to himself, intending his rapping to be "just as ill as Jadakiss and just as understandable as Will Smith". West later told Berlin-based artist Tino Sehgal in 2021 that being "under capitalist rule" is "killing us" and declared, "It's time to change that." Robert Christgau summed up West's lyrical persona to be "mammon in practice, Christ in spirit". They involve a fictional black fraternity called "Broke Phi Broke", which West's character joins. The members pride themselves in living a life without money or worldly possessions, despite the clear disadvantages such a lifestyle brings. West's character is eventually expelled from the fraternity after the leader discovers that not only has he been making beats for cash on the side, but has also broken some of its rules, such as eating meals everyday, buying new clothes, and taking showers. According to Hess, the skits serve to encapsulate "a contradiction at the core of contemporary American life: the need to belong, to fit in, with your fellow humans versus the Darwinistic mad grab at material things, success in the latter being the very definition of success in our culture". The album's critique of higher education, including historically black colleges and universities, as a useless institution for African Americans is considered by some scholars to be a variation of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's theories connecting education to social and cultural reproduction. According to academic journalist Chris Richardson, West advances "a theme critical of institutional education and the broader social distinctions it produces" that is specifically connected to Bourdieu's concept of symbolic violence, which is "defined as the ability to impose meanings while concealing their underlying power relations".
The fraternity theme is revisited towards the end of the album on the UK edition bonus track "We Can Make It Better", featuring guest raps from Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Common, and Rhymefest over a sped-up sample of "Make It Easy on Yourself", as covered by the Three Degrees. In his lyrics, West addresses a girl as a tour guide through her first day on a college campus while trying to alleviate her fears of dating black men in the aftermath of an abusive relationship. The guest rappers offer observations on urban threats such as exploitative criminals, drug addicts, and dangerous police officers, concluding with Rhymefest's blame of government tactics in terrorizing African Americans. On the Japanese and Australian Tour editions bonus track "Back to Basics", West explores the materialist-conscious rapper contrast.
Release and promotion
Late Registration was originally set to be released on July 12, 2005, but was pushed back to August 16 by West's record labels Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam. The release date was postponed once more to August 30, 2005, for which over 1,600,000 copies were distributed to stores in preparation because the album was expected to be the best-selling record of the year. On the iTunes Store, it became one of the most pre-ordered titles in history up to September 2005.
thumb|upright=0.9|West performing on [[U2's Vertigo Tour in late 2005|alt=Kanye West performing for U2's concert.]]
An advertising campaign for Late Registration was directed by Maggie Rogers and Paul Tuersley, while commissioned by Rachel Paley. It was produced by Abby Johnson for Mr & Mrs Smith Design. At the 2006 Cads Music Vision Awards, the campaign received a nomination for Best Music TV Commercial. Late Registration was released for online streaming via AOL Music on August 30, 2005. That same day, West made an in-store appearance at the Tower Records location in New York's Lincoln Center to autograph copies of the album for fans. In September 2005, Def Jam announced tour dates across North America from October to December of that year for West's Touch the Sky Tour, titled after the song. West was supported by Common, Keyshia Cole, and Fantasia on the tour. Common had cancelled his involvement, until he performed with West for the Touch the Sky Tour's kickoff show at the University of Miami Convocation Center on October 11, 2005. The rapper was then supposed to support U2's Australian concerts on their Vertigo Tour in March 2006, but the shows were postponed.
Artwork and packaging
The art direction and music packaging design for Late Registration were both handled by Brooklyn graphic design studio Morning Breath, Inc, while Louis Marino served as creative director. The photography was done by Sarah A. Friedman and Kris Yiengst, the latter of which also did art coordination. Styling and grooming were handled by Charlene Roxborough and Ibn Jasper, respectively, for the company Partos, while Doug Joswick was responsible for package production. The mascot has goggle eyes, perky ears, and a collegian outfit, wearing a blazer with a school insignia. In the album booklet, Dropout Bear appears in the university, sitting alone in classrooms and reads books before exiting. The booklet includes a banner that reads Tardus Subcriptio, translated as Late Registration. It charted at number 43 on the US Billboard Hot 100, alongside reaching number eight on the UK Singles Chart. "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" has been certified platinum in the US by the RIAA for amassing 1,000,000 certified units, while the BPI has awarded it with a silver certification for sales of 200,000 units. An accompanying music video was debuted on June 15, 2005, in which rough scenes of young children mining for diamonds are juxtaposed with shots of West rapping through the streets of Prague. On July 5, "Gold Digger" was released to US rhythmic contemporary radio stations as the second single from Late Registration, through West's labels. The song was a smash hit, topping the Hot 100, ARIA Singles Chart, and NZ Singles Chart. It experienced similar success on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at the second position. The song was later certified triple platinum by the BPI for selling 1,800,000 units in the UK.
On October 24, 2005, "Heard 'Em Say" was issued on a 12" vinyl as the album's third single by Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam. The song peaked at numbers 26 and 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart, respectively. The song's first music video depicts a Christmas world in Macy's flagship New York store, while the second one utilizes animation and shows West taking on the role of a cab driver in an imaginary city. "Touch the Sky" was released on a digital EP in the UK as the fourth single from Late Registration on January 1, 2006, through West's labels. The song reached number 42 on the Hot 100, while it debuted at number six on the UK Singles Chart. The song's music video was debuted in February 2006 and features West portraying the character "Evel Kanyevel", preparing to travel across the Grand Canyon in homage to Evel Knievel's unsuccessful 1974 jump across the Snake River Canyon. On June 6, "Drive Slow" was released on a 12" vinyl as the album's fifth and final single by Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam. The song was later certified gold by the RIAA for shelving 500,000 certified units in the US. An accompanying music video was filmed, featuring cameos from Wall and fellow rapper T.I.
Critical reception
Late Registration was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 85, based on 31 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Reviewers generally regarded it as far superior to The College Dropout.
Writing in Rolling Stone, Sheffield deemed Late Registration "an undeniable triumph" throughout, seeing it as expansive enough to make "the debut sound like a rough draft" and adding that West proves he is a real rapper. In the Los Angeles Times, Robert Hilburn compared West's dignified execution of pop crossover to that of the Beatles, Johnny Cash, and Bob Marley. The New York Times critic Jon Pareles believed West's elevated status undermined the underdog quality that had accentuated his debut, writing that "for much of Late Registration, the striver has turned into a hip-hop V.I.P.", with his "cool arrogance" being prominent on the songs. Time, Rolling Stone also gave the album this accolade, with the staff hailing it as a "sweepingly generous, absurdly virtuosic hip-hop classic". In The Village Voices 2005 Pazz & Jop nationwide poll of 795 popular music critics, Late Registration finished at number one with 2,525 points. It scored a 107-point lead, standing as the narrowest margin in the poll's history. Christgau, the poll's supervisor, also ranked Late Registration first on his own list, and assigned it an "A+" grade in his "Consumer Guide" column. On the Washington City Papers list of the top 20 favourite albums of 2005 calculated from points assigned by the magazine's music writers, the album finished at number four with 43 points, becoming one of the five albums to score over 40 that year. Late Registration was West's second consecutive album to be rated "XXL" by XXL, the magazine's highest rank, which had been awarded to only 16 other hip-hop albums by 2005.
MSN Music selected the album as the seventh best album of the 2000s decade; the staff praised West's work with Brion for expanding his genre range. PopMatters ranked Late Registration as the 15th best album of the 2000s, while Pitchfork named it the decade's 18th best album. Observer Music Monthly listed the album as the 19th best of the decade, and the staff noted that West reached his ambition to be "bigger than hip-hop". Consequence named Late Registration the 26th best album of the 2000s, whereas La Vanguardia picked it as the 36th best of the decade. The album finished at number 40 on Rolling Stones list of the best albums of the 2000s, with the staff highlighting West's decision to work with Brion. The album was the highest entry among both recent albums and the three West releases to appear on the list. On a 2013 list published by Vibe of the 50 best albums since 1993, it was positioned 16th. In 2012, Late Registration was placed at number 100 on Spins list of the 125 best albums of the past 25 years. Three years later, the magazine ranked the album at number 104 on its list of the 300 best albums of the past 30 years. Late Registration was later listed at number 117 on Rolling Stones 2020 edition of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="border:none; margin:0;"
|+Select rankings of Late Registration
! scope="col"| Publication
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! scope="row"| Complex
| The 100 Best Albums of the Complex Decade (2002–2012)
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! scope="row"| Consequence
| The Top 100 Albums of the 2000s
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| The 200 Best Albums of the 2000s
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| 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2012)
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! scope="row" rowspan="2"| Spin
| The 40 Best Albums of 2005
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Industry awards
thumb|West performing at the [[26th Brit Awards|2006 Brit Awards, where he received a nomination for International Album.|alt=West performing a song medley at the 26th Brit Awards]]
Late Registration was a contender for numerous industry awards. In December 2005, prior to the nominations being announced for the 2006 Grammy Awards, West complained that he would have a problem with not winning the Album of the Year award. Late Registration received a nomination for the award at the ceremony, and West recalled himself and Brion saying in the studio, "We're making the Album of the Year!" At the 2006 Grammys, the album won the award of Best Rap Album, becoming West's second consecutive album to do so and he delivered an acceptance speech that night. "Gold Digger" and "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" were winners of the awards for Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song, respectively, at the same ceremony, while the former was also nominated for Record of the Year.
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| HipHopDX Awards
| Album of the Year
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| Album of the Year
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! scope="row" rowspan="11"| 2006
| BET Hip Hop Awards
| Hip Hop CD of the Year
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| rowspan="2"| Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Awards
| Top R&B/Hip-Hop Album
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| Top Rap Album
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| International Album
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| Danish Music Awards
| International Album of the Year
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| rowspan="2"| Grammy Awards
| Best Rap Album
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| MP3.com Awards
| Best Album
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| NAACP Image Awards
| Outstanding Album
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| TEC Awards
| Record Production/Album
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Commercial performance
In its first week of release, Late Registration debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first week sales of 860,000 copies, selling over 600,000 more copies than Tony Yayo's album Thoughts of a Predicate Felon at number two. This stood as West's first chart-topping album in the United States and gave him first-week sales nearly double those of The College Dropout. The album had the highest-selling first week sales in the US for two years, until West's next album Graduation suprassed it in September 2007 by selling 957,000 copies. The former's first-week sales also ranked as the seventh largest for a rap album up to March 3, 2020. In Late Registrations second week, it remained atop the Billboard 200 and sold an additional 283,000 copies, resulting in more than 1,140,000 copies sold within the first two weeks on the chart. In early 2006, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded the album a triple platinum certification, indicating sales of 3,000,000 copies in the US. In June 2013, Late Registration reached 3,100,000 copies sold in the US. On July 21, 2022, it was certified five-times platinum by the RIAA for sales of 5,000,000 album-equivalent units in the country. The former was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of 900,000 units in the UK on March 12, 2022. By November of that year, the album had sold 852,000 copies in the UK, ranking as West's highest selling album in the country.