Kanye West recently appeared on Time’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world today. Now that is rap with a message- just like it used to be in the good ol’ days of Public Enemy, Ice-T, and Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five. West was born in the hot, muggy summer month of June in Atlanta, Georgia, where Ray Charles’ “Georgia On My Mind” is the state song. Clearly his birth place affects his style and appreciation of music.

A Grammy Award winning artist, he uses his fame and fortune to speak his mind. Just six days after Late Registration (courtesy of Rock-A-Fella records) was released, he declared that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” ending a tirade he began by slamming the media and government on national television while partaking in a live telethon and concert for NBC to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Unlike the “rap” artists of today, he uses real words instead of the absurd tongue-tied mess heard most often today. His authentic rap essence might be lost on listeners who just dig the hip-hop on the verge of techno backbeats, but this combination is what makes Kanye a transcendental artist.

He breaks barriers, bringing the new and the old together creating a sound people of all generations can swing to.

Generally one to absolutely abhor new rap and hip-hop for its irreverence to real music (yes, they made music before the 1980’s) and its lack of an actual tangible message, I already had a pre-conceived notion of how Kanye’s music would be. However, after the opening line of “Addiction,” my mind was opened. His music is cleverly laced with riffs from classic artists’ such as Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Shirley Bassey, and other chief musicians of that time period. This combination of the sweet classics and new hip-hop styles makes Late Registration an ingenious album.

Not only does he use the greats that came before him, he works with several other recent artists on this album. Most are relatively small names, but he has collaborated with Brandy and Jamie Foxx as well.

His music career started out with album production, producing for artists on such a caliber as Jay-Z. This experience is highly evident in the brilliant mixing of this album. How else would one man be able to come up with idea of putting real rap on top of a modern hip-hop beat, and adding the most addictive and popular musical phrases- like the tune of the Macarena? These bits of musical genius and their similar careers makes Kanye West the new Puff Daddy, or P. Diddy, or Sean Puffy whatever-you-want-to-call-him. The only difference: Kanye raps to a better beat.