Preppies rejoice! Basked in the afterglow of critical acclaim off his stellar debut The College Dropout, a couple Grammy Awards and 3 million albums sold later, uberproducer and constant self-promoter Kanye West has traded in the scuffed backpack for the accoutrement of stylized magazine covers decked out in YSL three-piece suits. You've certainly come a long way, baby.

And now comes the inevitable question: can he do it again? Well, sort of. The now sole (and still relevant) flag bearer for the Roc breezed through the financial aid lines but doesn't quite ace his final exam on the long anticipated follow-up Late Registration. His willingness to stretch the boundaries of his sonic comfort zone is certainly ambitious enough as he handpicked Fiona Apple's producer - Jon Brion - as his chief collaborator. Together their partnership adds stark instrumentation to West's trademark sped-up soul samples.

Lyrically speaking, while West can deftly slide his fair share of witty one-liners into a verse or two, stepping his game up into the AP class of word smiths like his mentor Jigga among others still remains his Achilles heel.

Grade: B+
Must downloads: Addiction, We Major, Touch The Sky, Gold Digger, Drive Slow, Hey Mama, Gone.