SOUNDTRACK: KANYE WEST-Late Registration (2005).
I 
can’t get over how much I’ve been enjoying Kanye West’s music as of late. So much so that I went back and bought Late Registration. I wanted to check out his early stuff, so naturally I started with…his second album. And it’s a really enjoyable, soulful, gospel-filled rap album. Complete with Kayne’s bizarre, humorous and often offensive lyrics.
Musically the samples are wonderful—they create a very specific feel of pop soul that both works with and sometime against the lyrics. The album suffers from two things that I’ve found I do not like in rap, and in articular in Kayne’s albums. It bugs me when rappers intro their songs with several “uh, yeah”s. I don’t know why but it does and that’s how Kanye opens the disc.
And, I wish there weren’t so many guests on the record. While I understand the guest singers who provide backing vocals, I don’t get all the guest rappers (and there are a lot: Paul Wall, GLC, Lupe Fiasco, Common, Game, Jay Z, Really Doe, Nas, Cam’ron Consequence). I mean, I’m not here for them, so why devote so much time to others, it makes you seem like you couldn’t thin of enough to say (and we know that’s not true about Kanye). After a few listens, I have grown to appreciate the guests, but I like Kayne’s style so much that the other guys are just distractions.
Late Registration is largely produced by Jon Brion, who has made some amazing music with Fiona Apple and Aimee Mann—and while it is certainly stripped down Brion, the flourishes that Brion often employs are apparent here. Like the tinkly pianos and farty bass that opens “Heard ‘Em Say.” There’s some falsetto R&B-esque vocals from the singer from Maroon 5 here—I had no idea he sang like that. It fits very well with the song. And the instrumental section at the end is very Brion.
“Touch the Sky” uses a long sample (slowed down quite a bit) of Curtis Mayfield’s “Move on Up.” But the sample is so much of that original song that it almost seems like cheating. Except that he has slowed it down and modified it somewhat, and…his raps work perfectly with it. The other really crazy sample is from Gil Scot-Heron which samples “Home is Where the Hatred Is.” The strange thing is that the song is 1:44 and the last 45 seconds of the song are just Scot-Heron’s song playing along by itself. It’s weird to have given up that much to another song…but it sounds great.
“Gold Digger” is a very funny song about, well, gold diggers. The topic isn’t new (the fact that it samples an ancient Ray Charles song attests to it), but the chorus of “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger, but she ain’t messin’ with no broke niggers” is great. There’s also an intro section with Jamie Foxx doing his now patented Ray Charles. It’s a pointed song but done with a very funny twinkle in his voice (the Kayne twinkle). “Drive Slow” is a cool slow-tempoed number with a great sample from Hank Crawford and an interesting slowing effect at the end of the song. “Crack Music” is a great political song equating making records to selling crack. The metaphor works well. And this is one of Kayne’s strong pro-black songs. It’s really powerful.
The surprising thing is the two really sensitive songs: “Hey Mama” which is a sweet song to his mother in which he promises to go back to school and get his doctorate and “Roses,” which is an angry but beautiful song about his grandmother being in the hospital. There’s a great verse about her being poor and therefore not getting the best care: “you telling me if my grandmother was in the NBA right now she’d be okay” As well as a line about a nurse asking for his autograph while they are worried about his grandmother—although, realistically, how often is a nurse going to meet a star like Kayne? The end of the song has some great soulful crooning by (as far as I can read) an uncredited singer. And I feel like Brandy, who opens up the next song really falls flat in comparison to this unnamed singer (I don’t care for the way newer black singers wail their scales). But the Etta James sample of “My Funny Valentine” that floats through “Addiction” is gorgeous.
“Diamonds from Sierra Leone: is a surprisingly political song that samples “Diamonds are Forever.” There’s two version on the album. I like the remix featuring Jay-Z a lot less, in part because I’ve never been a huge Jay-Z fan, but also because his verses completely interrupt the flow of the song. “We Major” has a very retro, almost easy listening vibe. There’s a lot of backing vocals going on and they remind me somewhat of Ben Folds Five’s backing vocals (which is pretty weird, I suspect). This song is interesting for its talk of worrying about daughters—as with many rappers, women are bitches and hos unless they are your grandma, your mama or you daughter—which is kind of awkward, really.
“Celebration” is perhaps the weirdest juxtaposition of contents. It’s a celebration, bitches. A celebration apparently about the fact that he and a woman (who had a fatty) accidentally had a baby (“You my favorite accident”). That line makes it sound like the child is at the party, which makes the chorus “Grab a drink, grab a glass, after that I grab your ass” hard to fathom.
“Gone” has a nifty piano melody (and some cool interstitials very Brion-infused melodies) that plays under Cam’ron and Consequence’s raps. The song is kind of a muddle (although a funny muddle) until Kanye comes in at around 4 and a half minutes. I really like the way the album ends: with Kayne rapping “Sorry Mr West is gone” and the music completely cutting off.
The bonus tracks include the original of “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” and “We Can Make It Better” (which features Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, Common and Rhymefest). It’s an interesting track (especially the sped up backing vocals) but it seems like a bit of a throwaway (which is surprising given the number of guests). “Late” is a unlisted bonus track which is very strange. There’s lots of “ah ha ha has” in a posh sounding falsetto). But there’s some witty lines in here, especially this verse:
They said the best classes go to the fastest
Sorry Mr. West there’s no good classes, and that’s what yo’ ass get
Not even electives? Not even prerequits?
You mean I missed my major by a couple of seconds?
Now I’m in the shop class or the basket weavin
With all the rest of the muh’fuckers underachievin
So Kayne is clever and stupid. A great rapper and a not so great singer. And amazing producer and a good song writer. And this is as good an album as I’ve heard it was.
[READ: August 8, 2013] The Commitments
I have been reading a number of big, heavy books lately (which I have yet to post about…later in the week), so I decided to take a break with a light, fun book. And one that I’ve read before (and seen the movie of many times). I looked on the inside cover where I wrote the date of acquisition (a thing I did for a while until I realized it was kind of silly, and yet I’m glad i did it here) October 1993, almost twenty years ago.
But aside from Jimmy playing songs on vinyl, there’s very little that’s dated about the album–which may even be the point of the book.
This is the story of a bunch of misfits in Ireland who join together to form a soul band. The nucleus of the band is Jimmy Rabbitte, a local kid who lives and breathes music. He had Frankie Goes to Hollywood before anyone else and he knew they were shit before anyone else.
Some of his mates have started a band (called hilariously And And! And) which plays new wave. Jimmy tells them they should play soul instead. He plays them some James Brown and they love it. Which leads to the talk of music and sex. And they are really into it. And then there’s the oft quoted line from the movie: “The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once and say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud.”
And so they begin a quest to find the rest of the band. Jimmy puts an ad in Hot Press (the Irish music magazine) and interviews everyone (some very funny jokes in there). And the recruits form a crazy quilt of characters. (more…)
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SOUNDTRACK: SAMPHA-Tiny Desk Concert #606 (March 21, 2017).
The name Sampha sounded sorta familiar. I see that he is a producer to the stars (Kayne, Drake). He’s also a musician in his own right. The blurb says “Sampha’s music is more feel everything than feel good, which is why his fans hold him so close to their hearts.”
I Just Read About That... 