Staff Lists: The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s: 20-1. Today concludes our P2K coverage of the decade in music with... drumroll... the top 20 albums of the 2000s. You've read and listened to the tracks, read essays about developments in technology, pop, noise, and indie, watched the videos, heard what the artists' thought, taken in our recap of the big events, and read about albums from #200 to #21; now it's time for the best of the best.
As indicated earlier in the week, in the interest of keeping the list broad, we capped the number of albums for any given artist at three. And, as with tracks, we're going to assemble an addendum with deserving albums released since we polled our writers for this list. Look for that in January. Thanks to you, our readers, for following along with our coverage of the decade. We also want to offer huge thanks to interns Chris Bosman, Eliot Gronstal, and Susannah Young for all of their work on the P2K features. OK, here we go, the top 20... 20. 19. 18. Kanye, you jerk. 17. 16. 15. 14. 13. 12. 11. Album Reviews: Kanye West: Late Registration. "Can I talk my shit again? " Contrary to popular opinion, hubris does have a righteous appeal. Those who claim Kanye West's antics hinder his work are missing the point.
His self-importance is obvious, but the arrogance that comes pre-packaged with his insecurity is what makes West the most interesting hip-hop figure of the past five years. That's the reason he landed on "Oprah" and the cover of Time Magazine last week, rather than 50 Cent or Nelly or Slug. That said, at the end of the day, it's his ear, a golden instrument, and his adventurous collaborative spirit that have made him the most fully formed artist of his genre. Without Brion, this album probably sounds a lot like its predecessor, The College Dropout-- full of tough horns, jacked soul, and flashes of brilliance.
Flashes like this surround the sometimes urbane, often cheeky West with a new resonance. "We all self-conscious" has not taken on a new meaning post-Dropout. Kanye West: Rapper and Reanimator. Pop CD of the week: Kanye West, Late Registration | Music | The. Kanye WestLate Registration (Roc-a-Fella) £12.99 Kanye West's debut album, The College Dropout, was a masterpiece. It deservedly won the Grammy for best rap album last year, one of three Grammys the hip hop renaissance man pocketed that night. (Another was for his production work on Alicia Keys's 'You Don't Know My Name'.) The path to those Grammys took in some dramatic scenery. Knocked back as a rapper, West's dextrous production skills were put to excellent use by Jay-Z. Finally signed as a vocalist, a serious car crash nearly derailed West's ambitions.
In hospital, with his jaw wired shut, he rapped his first hit, 'Through the Wire'. The College Dropout might not have sold the multiple millions of copies that pop thugs such as 50 Cent habitually shift, but it immediately catapulted West into hip hop's creative elite. The sense of expectation for Dropout's successor, then, is vertiginously high, buoyed by West's boundless faith in his own abilities, one he articulates loudly and often. Does Kanye West Deserve the Grammy? - New York News - Status Ain. Kanye West - Kanye West : Late Registration - Album Reviews - NM. September 5, 2005 Further adventures of hip-hop saviour with added Kapranos… possibly More Kanye West news, reviews, videos and tour dates Buy Kanye West music from Amazon Photo Gallery: Kanye West 8 / 10 Seemingly sidestepping any sign of “second album syndrome”, rap’s self-proclaimed Louis Vuitton Don returns with a record that not only lives up to his debut but possibly surpasses it.
Moan over, and, presuming what we heard doesn’t radically alter, then, yep, West has apparently done it again. Typically, guest stars are everywhere. The only misfire comes with saccharine slowie ‘Hey Mama’, a concept Tupac pulled off in the early ’90s with far more panache. Hattie Collins Rate this album Average rating Previous : Next Album Review : Goldfrapp : Supernature More Kanye West Comments. CD: Kanye West, Late Registration. Since the release of his debut album, The College Dropout, in 2004, rapper and producer Kanye West has cultivated a reputation for overbearing arrogance.
In hip-hop, where no one turns a hair at Jay-Z regularly comparing himself to God, this is a staggering achievement. The trouble is, it's quite hard to find any reason to contradict him. You could, if you were so inclined, debate his originality. His trademark production technique - speeding up old soul vocals to chipmunk squeakiness - was pinched from the Wu-Tang Clan, while the samples on his second album, Late Registration, suggest that West has spent not hours painstakingly sourcing rare breakbeats, but minutes raking through the kind of records drunk aunties ask wedding DJs to play: single Diamonds From Sierra Leone features Shirley Bassey's Diamonds Are Forever, Touch the Sky Curtis Mayfield's Move on Up.
Still, you would have a hard time arguing that West is less than unique. West connects with heart and sophistication. Kanye West "Late Registration" (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) POP crossover isn't always a bad thing. The Beatles made music that appealed to people who loved rock and those who had little tolerance for it. Johnny Cash did the same with country music, Bob Marley with reggae and so on ... down to Kanye West and hip-hop. The rapper-producer's "The College Dropout" hit pop and rap last year with the impact of a winning three-point basket in the NBA playoffs. This even more ambitious, superbly crafted follow-up, due in stores Tuesday, could connect even more strongly. Working with pop sophisticate Jon Brion, the album's co-executive producer, West packs each track in this joyful collection with elements that make you spend your first time through the album marveling at the sonic features alone, from Otis Redding samples to sweeping string arrangements.
Then come the rhymes, including such clever delights as "choosey"/"Ruby Tuesdays," "ladies/Mercedes" and "porn star"/"foreign car. " Robert Hilburn. Overdrive. There are few pop stars as consistently discontent and as obstreperously proud as the rapper and producer Kanye West. You might think that after selling nearly three million copies of his 2004 début album, “The College Dropout,” winning three awards at the Grammys (where he cavorted onstage in angel wings), hearing Jay-Z, hip-hop's paterfamilias, call him a “genius” in a rap song, and launching a line of diamond-encrusted Jesus head pendants, West would be feeling reasonably swell. But listening to his thrilling and frustrating new record, “Late Registration,” is a bit like being chauffeured around in the fanciest car you can imagine by a driver who won't stop complaining about the mileage or the radio reception.
You're annoyed, but at the same time you don't want the ride to end. West, who is twenty-eight years old, made his name as a producer on Jay-Z's 2001 album, “The Blueprint.” But West was not satisfied with working behind the scenes; he wanted to perform. A Producer in Another Star Turn.