It was tempting to call it over for 2005 when Shirley Bassey's voice first crept through the radio ahead of an unmistakable K-West production. Sampling has long been a staple of hip hop, but hardly anybody has been able to take a song and make it their own the way Kanye West has. Since he first showed up on Jay-Z's 'Heart Of The City', there has been a steady climb over the greater hip hop community until we reach 2005 where, fresh from his '04 Grammy wins, West stands atop his genre. Given that rap music has defined the pop charts since the real Slim Shady was asked to stand up, West can sit back and comfortably cast his gaze over the entire industry.

If 'Diamonds From Sierra Leone' is the single serving warning that the most talented rapper/producer on the planet is going to keep pushing the boundaries, the third track 'Touch The Sky' is the one that leaves all others in its wake. It makes efforts from 50 Cent, Ludacris, or even Eminem himself seem like tracks dropped several years ago, not songs released to conquer the charts in anything the music industry would consider the modern era of rap music. The only other artist making hip hop as compelling as this is Missy Elliott, but even she has a long-standing partnership with Timbaland. This brings us back to a basic fact: nobody in the industry today, rap music or music in general, can do it as effortlessly and as single-handedly as Kanye West can.

The real genius of Late Registration lies in tapping Jon Brion for co-production duties. Having worked in the past with artists of the quiet singer/songwriter variety (Fiona Apple, Badly Drawn Boy, Rufus 'Bleeding' Wainwright), Brion was brought in to give a more theatrical feel to the album. Where artists of any genre consistently look to those who create the best sounds for their particular niche, West's venture outside the known realms of hip hop results in a sound equal parts grandiose and more accessible than his competitors, while losing none of the essence of what makes great hip hop. West's roots still run through the street, and while he still can't help but brag, the verses are full of substance rather than full of himself.

The one area where Late Registration doesn't differ from other hip hop releases is the list of guest appearances: The Game, Common and Nas all make appearances representing the rap community, but the highlights come from Brandy, Adam Levine (Maroon 5) and Jamie Foxx reprising his outstanding role as the late great Ray Charles. Of course it wouldn't be a Roc-A-Fella record without West pulling Jay-Z in from retirement to lay down a verse on 'Diamonds From Sierra Leone'. His appearance reminds anyone who had forgotten why Jay-Z held the rap world in his hands; he remains the standard where tradition is concerned and is the only rapper on the album who gives West a run for his money.

The skits in-between tracks feature again, though thankfully not as heavily and their appearances serve to provide a little light-relief to the overall album, making you less likely to skip over them than was the case on College Dropout.

Ultimately it's a tighter, more focused production this time around. The rap world was praying 'Late Registration' would be far less than it is. Kanye West is one of the most loved and at the same time one of the most hated rappers working today, though the reason is the same for both:  he is just so damn good at what he does, and isn't afraid to let people know. It seems suddenly some would rather hip hop was about holding back, though these calls are coming from people who just don't know how to compete. On 'We Major', West says the album is called Late Registration because he's sending everyone back to school. The smart rappers will already have their reading lists. They should get to it.