Kanye West was never going to be just the producer for Roc-a-Fella. His ego inflated, his hubris hefty, he would always want something more. College Dropout saw Ye transcend the role of soul sample magician into hip-hop’s everyman. He’s brash and arrogant, silly and absurdist, righteous and pensive, fiery and emotional, all wielded effortlessly and honestly. Kanye is the kind of artist to make a Happy Gilmore reference smack in the middle of a soulful crisis of faith. So what happens after breaking past the old mold? Where do you go after 5 beats a day for 3 summers? Go bigger. On this day 20 years ago, Kanye West releases his massive opus Late Registration, a grandiose extension of his artistic mission statement. He resists reinventing the wheel and instead swells his ideas with an even bigger scope. The rawness that made College Dropout so endearing is honed on a global scale via iconic composer Jon Brion. His work spanned everything but hip-hop by that point. Kanye actually engaged with his work via Fiona Apple and the score of Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind.In hindsight, Brion’s work aligns with Kanye’s ideas on art in general. There’s a raw humanity to Brion’s scores, tender, intimate mixing choices that introduce a ton of clarity to all forms of expression. Additionally, it widened the playing field that Kanye West could play with, aided the wild, vivid imagination he had for his art. Consequently, the pair hit it off immediately. Kanye West Releases Timeless Classic late Registration 20 Years Ago Today“When he hears something he likes, he knows it,” Brion says of Kanye in an old MTV interview. “He has vision, and when the guy makes quick, intuitive decisions, he just has it. I’d watch him take a rough track that I had worked on and completely stand it on its head in 10 minutes — and it’s just better. It was mind-boggling.”With Brion, Kanye weaves massive scale with soft, personable touch. “Heard ‘Em Say” shines like the twinkling lone star in the sky, bolstered by barreling drums, delicate chords, and Adam Levine crooning the kind of blue eyed soul you’d never imagine from “Moves Like Jagger.” Similarly, “Addiction” is vulnerable, though attacking it through a sensual, hilariously on-the-nose perspective. The Etta James vocal stitch and the fuzzy mix on the bridge are delightfully warm. Still, there’s room for Kanye’s trademark goofy, horny demeanor to juxtapose the lavish backdrop.Then, in other moments, Kanye West will blast the doors wide open. Take “Touch The Sky,” a soaring Curtis Mayfield flip turns orchestral, horns parade the track, one of many victory laps Ye takes on Late Registration. Frankly, it borders on overkill, especially when songs like “Celebration” feel a bit redundant in the larger tapestry at work. Regardless, when there’s explosive compositions like “Diamonds From Sierra Leone,” it’s easy to overlook. The Addicting Allure of Kanye WestThe best records on Late Registration manage the near impossible feat in pulling both feats off at once. This manifests on his most personal records on the album. Take “Roses,” where Kanye’s verses isolate him in a spotlight delivering sobering soliloquies. Then, after each closing line, the tension implodes to a moving gospel-like arrangement with Tony Williams, Patti LaBelle, and worn Bill Withers vocal samples. Moreover, Kanye West and Jon Brion expand the emotionality of “Hey Mama” by inserting smaller musical flairs. The searing, moaning vocoder, harmonies stacked on top of the initial vocal sample, the childlike wonder of the xylophone, they distill the unmatched feeling of flipping through an old family photo album. Mama’s home cookin,’ the fuzzy feeling in the stomach at family reunions, it’s all remarkably tender. These shifts take Ye from a mere dazzling producer to an outright musical savant. When fans moan about what happened to the ‘old Kanye,’ an album like Late Registration is usually what they’re referring to. Anyone even remotely paying attention knows that Kanye West was always a delirious egomaniac. It’s been true since the beginning. But it’s endearing because he’s still relatively tangible here. He’s brash as ever but he’s not impossible to understand where he’s coming from. In the twenty years that followed, Kanye West stopped being hip-hop’s everyman. His success guaranteed he would never hold that title forever. His albums grew exceedingly maximalist, either in angry revolt (Yeezus) or in indulgent excess (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, The Life of Pablo). Late Registration marks the moment where his full self shined, conceited but considerate enough to ask us “can I talk my s**t again” before doing it anyway.The post On This Day in 2005, Kanye West Released His Second Classic Album ‘Late Registration’ appeared first on VICE.