Kanye West: Late Registration
By Keith Boykin, in music
Tuesday, September 6 2005, 4:22PM
And now for something completely different. The last time we heard from Kanye West he was reminding us that "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and telling homophobic rappers to cut it out. Thankfully, Kanye West is more than a political commentator. He is also a talented recording artist, which we see on his new CD, Late Registration.
From the very first track on West's new CD, you know you are in for something different from your standard rap album. Music fans will recognize the first sampled melody from Natalie Cole's "Someone That I Used to Love," which reappears in the second track, "Heard 'Em Say." With the lyrics, "nothing's ever promised tomorrow today," you get the feeling that West knows all too well that success, like almost everything else in life, is fleeting.
And then he shows us why his success is so well deserved. Dropping knowledge like an old school rapper, the scholastic theme of Late Registration evokes warm memories of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and West, like Hill, is every bit the iconoclast. To underscore the theme, the liner notes include images of West, symbolized by the now familiar teddy doll, walking into an exclusive looking private school, sitting in class and reading books in the library.
The catchy lyrics behind "Gold Digger" and "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" are likely to steal much of the attention from the CD, but I also like the Curtis Mayfield sound of "Touch The Sky" and I love Brandy's voice in "Bring Me Down."
Like Meshell Ndgeocello's Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape, West's music is political and beautiful all at once. But perhaps the genius of West's music is that you can't tell if he's deconstructing or glamorizing our culture when he raps. For example, in "Drive Slow," West says, "My cars like the movies my cars like the crib/I got more TV's in here then where I live." In an era of vacuous pop music, West happily ruminates on materialism, education, addiction, health care, celebrity, fame and motherhood.
West seems to give us some insight into his musical philosophy in his song "Crack Music," in which he describes black music as similar to crack cocaine. "Sometimes I feel the music is the only medicine/So we cook it, cut it, measure it, bag it,sell it/The fiends cop it."
No doubt, the best song on the CD is "Diamonds from Sierra Leone," West's political examination of the connection between the African diamond industry and black America's demand for the very ice that exploits many of their brothers and sisters in the diaspora.
But don't worry. If you don't like one song, the next may suit you. Late Registration includes something for everyone. West collaborates with Brandy, Jay Z, John Legend, Common, The Game, Cam'Ron and even Jamie Foxx, and he features samples from old school favorites Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Natalie Cole, Etta James and Gil Scott-Heron. If you can't find something in here you like, then you just don't like black music.
There's nothing quite like "Jesus Walks" or "All Falls Down" from West's first CD, but this album stands alone as a major achievement. West should be proud, and we should be supportive.
Comments conceal
Tyler
September 6 2005, 5:21PM
Kanye's a talented brotha, but he's also very overrated as a rapper. His rhymes are pedestrian at best, elevated by flawless production. He is nowhere near as political as Meshell was with Cookie; Crack Music and Diamonds from Sierra Leone are great songs, but 2 political songs does not a political album make.
Anywho..just my two cents.
Bklynbro
September 6 2005, 7:23PM
It's too bad (and a little suspect)that West said has said nothing about the "Black elected folks" that represent the poor areas in NO who were the very first ones to realize the situation of their poor constituents. But what did they do while the mayor was telling folks to evacuate? They fled without staying to help with evacuation efforts of those people. How many black elected officials (state, local, federal) did you see with the mayor? They left their brother ( the mayor) holding the ball on his own in so many ways. Sure,I can't stand Bush and feel the administrations response was too slow like everybody else. But the black on black help failed big time. In a city that's 70% black it doesn't bode well that so many black folks haven't faired that well for so long. What are we black folk doing to help ourselves across this country? It makes you think how vulnerable living in the black community really is.
Keith Boykin
September 7 2005, 1:56AM
Bklynbro,
You have already made your point about the N.O. black elected officials in a different post. Please keep comments related to the article. Thanks.
Keith
Larry D. Lyons II
September 7 2005, 2:56PM
The Kanye album is strong indeed. Though I agree with Tyler's comment that he's not the strongest rapper in the game, he does show that he's grown as a lyricist/wordsmith since his last project (I'm thinking about songs like Roses where he refuses to makes the rhyme scheme subject to the storytelling rather than vice versa, a skill lost on many of his contemporaries). Further, I don't think anyone bills "Late Registration" as a political album. West is an entertainer whose public political outbursts and proclamations have happened to coincide conveniently with the release of his album. But let's not confuse things, the album itself is not [intended to be] solely political in nature.
Liquid Fonts
September 7 2005, 5:15PM
dammit Keith, u done talked me into going to best buy and picking up this childs cd. and I think imma get some Common as well.
Dave
September 9 2005, 2:20AM
While his music is not bad, Kanye West's recent idiotic comments confirm that he is a reverse racist and the "Diamonds" video underlines his ignorance about who really was screwing the black people in the S.L. Diamond trade. His videos (like most Hip Hop and Rap videos) exploit women and mis-inform.
Who buys his CDs? White middle class kids.
I rest here.
FARE
September 14 2005, 4:27PM
In response to dave's comments on Sept. 9th.
Please learn the concept of racism before you call someone a reverse racist. In order to be racist one must have the power to force prejudice or discrimination on another person. Neither Kanye West nor any other black person in America has that type of power. It would only be fair to call Kanye West a racist if he had the power to have the President impeached... he does not have that power.
Also, I may be wrong, but Kanye West never said he didn't like white people... he said President Bush didn't care about black people. So how do you deduce that Kanye West is a any type of racist?
Clint
September 24 2005, 4:57PM
I'm not sure what to think of Kanye West. His video about DIAMONDS seems to depict only rich, white folks purchasing diamonds (regardless of where they came from, diamonds are diamonds). This comes across as racist to me. Especially when black musicians are notorious for sporting loads of gold and diamonds. Not that I care, but come on! Kanye comes across as one that encourages a segregation of races by constantly reminding people of problems instead of actually attempting to fix them. How many DIAMONDS does he have and why doesn't he give a significant portion of his riches to foundations that can help those in need, no matter what race they are, instead of spending lavish amounts on personal possessions? If he actually cares? As far as Bush is concerned, who knows, maybe he is racist, maybe not. I too question his actions at times.