Happy Tenth Birthday, Late Registration!

Late Registration is Kanye West's best album to-date--as well as being number 118 on Rolling Stones' list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time--so let's revisit it!

Let's take a trip back in time. Back before Kimye became a thing. Back before Kanye got on stage during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the VMAs, and said what every Beyoncé fan was thinking--which, essentially, gave Taylor Swift's musical career an incredible boost. And slightly before Kanye made his public indictment of the media's portrayal of Black people, and George Bush; and how conditions were much worse for Black people during Hurricane Katrina.

Kanye West / Via en.wikipedia.org

The date was August 30, 2005, and the brilliant and timeless Late Registration dropped. And on that album:

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He reminded us that "diamonds are forever."

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And told us about how hard life can be. As well as reminding us that "nothing's ever promised tomorrow today." ("But we'll find a way.")

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And warned us about getting involved with gold diggers.

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And introduced us to the best fraternity ever, Broke Phi Broke! (We ain't got it!) Which he later got kicked out of for various reasons including eating every day. "Can you believe that? Eating. Every. Day."

He also talked about an emotional time when his grandmother was in the hospital. And gave us--what I like to call--a song that has enough confidence in it to fuel a nation.

And talked about why rap and hip-hop is important to Black people who come from rough neighborhood, as well as making his (first) indictment of George Bush, and blaming Ronald Reagan for the crack epidemic in Black communities.

He even told us about "[his] homie Marley [that] used to stay at 79th and May [who was] one of [his] best friends from back in the day."

Late Registration is a masterpiece. Every song on the album could have easily been a hit single. All the people featured on the album were great choices. Even the songs that were sampled on the album were brilliant. The lowest rating the album received, a 7/10, was from Jon Caramanica at Spin, which says a lot.

If you've never listened to Late Registration yet--which would be a crying shame--you should absolutely listen to that album right now. And if you're like me and you've listened to this entire album a billion times from start to finish without skipping a single song, then listening to it one more time on its tenth birthday won't hurt one bit.

Also, I'm hoping that Kanye does us a solid and releases a tenth anniversary edition of the album. (And maybe he can call it Ten Years After Registering Late or something--and hopefully a lot more creative.)