Late Registration [PA] by Kanye West (CD, Aug-2005, Def Jam USA)

Kanye is back and he brought some new friends with him. Primarily John Brion (producer of Fiona Apple) who has given this disc a layer or sound that Kanye lacked in his spectacular debut disc The College Dropout. The disc is packed with your usual skits about being a member of the fraternity Broke Fi Broke, loads of guest appearances Twista, Cam'Ron, Nas and Jay-Z just to name a few. The stand out tracks on this disc are most defiantly Roses and Hey Mama. The second of the two being what I think to be Kanye's finest song to date. In addition to more musical elements of the disc the lyrical content has also been stepped up. Kayne talks about how the government created AIDs and how the diamond mining in Africa has contributed to the world being more dysfunctional.

For those of you expecting a repeat performance of The College Dropout, be prepared to be slightly disappointed. Though this disc is still exceptional it lacks that certain "I waited my whole life to write this disc" factor. However for a Sophomore effort Kanye puts himself on a great path to a long very successful career. When a rap star who has no history of dealing drugs or shooting people can create an album so powerful that you get on the cover of TIME magazine, then you know you've made it.