On 2004's The College Dropout and 2005's Late Registration, he's friendly, bright, amused, funny and serious, obsessed with upward mobility, a little shallow at times. … and nobody in any genre knows how to put a record together like West does, especially when it comes to making the beats themselves signify — juxtaposing an Auto-Tuned whine about the perils of being rich and famous with a “Strange Fruit”sample in “Blood on the Leaves”or closing the record with … …

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The Legendary Auteur: Deconstructing Pazz & Jop