I liked Kanye West's first record, despite its completely laughable lyrics in spots (I think "Like Kathie Lee needed Regis/That's the way I need Jesus" will be my example for a horrible rhyme until the day I die). And though he hasn't grown terribly much as a lyricist (I do enjoy the "Merrill Lynched" line from "Crack Music," however), I like his second one too. I do have one question about it though.

What's with all the OutKast references?

I'm not kidding, they're all over the record, and I'm shocked that no one else has pointed this out. Let me try to count off the ten I've found (and I'm sure there are more).

1. The most obvious one, of course, is in the song "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" in which he hawks the 'forever-ever' repetition from "Ms. Jackson."
2. There's a song called "Roses."
3. "Roses" sounds like it came straight off of ATLiens -- there's even a Cee-Lo soundalike (or is that actually Cee-Lo? I think it might be.)
4. "Touch the Sky" features Kanye repeating "sky high," basically the chorus from the Goodie Mob/Outkast song "Black Ice."
5. The skits feature a fraternity called Broke Phi Broke. On the album Stankonia, each skit was signified at the beginning and end by the word, "Break!"
6. The opening skit features speech while a piano fades in. That's exactly how ATLiens starts (it's the album he seems to be most in love with).
7. The song "Drive Slow" has an ATLiens-style choir.
8. "Drive Slow" is all about taking your time while going to meet a girl. That's what the Youngbloodz song "85 (South)," which guest stars Big Boi, is all about.
9. "Bring Me Down" is the requisite church-style, serious song with piano and choir. There's one on every Outkast record.
10. Doesn't it sound like Andre 3000 doing the "ah-ha-ha-ha" on "Late?"

Okay, some of those are stretches, I admit. But still, there's a definite OutKast influence here.

Not that that's a problem. I actually like it. Frankly, it's the strength that makes this record better than his last one. Being more like OutKast honestly makes everything better. I recommend it for everyone.

The songs are a little hit-and-miss, but the good ones more than make up for the missteps. "Gone" is the standout song of the record, mainly thanks to a killer Otis Redding sample (Otis Redding also makes everything better). "Gold Digger" is the club hit you want to hear over and over again, and it's about a hundred times better than the other single "Diamonds From Sierra Leone," which kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.

Speaking of "Gold Digger," I think Jamie Foxx is making a career out of impersonating Ray Charles, but if I'm learning anything from this record, imitation is not necessarily a bad thing.

"Touch the Sky" wins the make-you-feel-good award, again thanks to some killer production, and "Crack Music" succeeds even in the face of some pretty ludicrous assertions. "Addiction" is a production success, even though rhyming "man" with "man" is about as cheap as you can get. Seriously.

I appreciate that Nas appears on "We Major," but the song doesn't live up to its potential (a lot like Nas, actually). "Heard 'em Say" is an interesting experiment, but Kanye could have found just about anybody better than the Maroon 5 guy. "Drive Slow" is a beautiful approximation of a Dirty South song, but it basically just makes me want to listen to "85." "Hey Mama" and "Celebration" are nice, but that's about it. They also make me think of other songs with the same title.

If anything, Kanye seems to be overreaching a little on this record. Why not just make 10 or 12 really excellent tracks instead of 20 of varying quality (including skits)? I know that Kanye's got a reputation for being full of himself, but when's he going to make a record as dense as his ego? B.

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