Rewind: Kanye West 'Late Registration' (Part 2)

Welcome to the second part of our look at Kanye West's second album 'Late Registration'.

To me, one of the best sample flipped on 'Late Registration' is that of Gil Scott-Heron's forever chilling junkie dirge 'Home is Where the Hatred Is' used for Kanye and Common's 'My Way Home'. West's track leaves much of the sample intact, but the original track is still necessary for complete music collections. Nas makes an appearance on Kanye West's 'We Major' produced by West, Jon Brion, and Warryn Campbell. The song uses samples from Stevie Wonder's 'Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)' from his 1972 album 'Music of My Mind'. Kanye, Cam'ron, and Consequence rhyme over portions of Otis Redding's 'It's Too Late' on the late album track 'Gone'. Finally, the lead single 'Diamonds from Sierra Leone' produced by Kanye, Brion, and Devo Springfield flips Shirley Bassey's theme to 'Diamonds are Forever' from the James Bond film soundtrack of the same name.

'Late Registration' was more successful than its predecessor, 'College Dropout', but both were later eclipsed (in terms of sales) by Kanye West's third album 'Graduation' (which was previously reviewed on this blog).

The Lowdown:
Kanye West 'My Way Home', 'We Major', 'Gone', and 'Diamonds from Sierra Leone'
from 'Late Registration' (2005) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edits: 'My Way Home', 'We Major', 'Gone', and 'Diamonds from Sierra Leone'
Gil Scott-Heron 'Home is Where the Hatred Is'
from 'Pieces of a Man' (1970) (MP3/CD)
Stevie Wonder 'Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)'
from 'Music of My Mind' (1972) (MP3/CD)
Otis Redding 'It's Too Late'
from 'The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads' (1965) (MP3/CD)
Shirley Bassey 'Diamonds are Forever'
from 'Diamonds are Forever OST' (1972) (MP3/CD)

Related Posts:
Kanye West 'Graduation' (Part 1)
Kanye West 'Graduation' (Part 2)