For "Late Registration", Serena Kim of "Vibe" magazine took note of how West uses unconventional styles and sudden musical shifts in song structures, drawing comparisons to The Beatles during their experimental era. "Rolling Stone" described "Late Registration" as West claiming "the whole world of music as hip-hop turf" chronicling the album as "his mad quest to explode every cliché about hip-hop identity." Kim concurred with this sentiment, stating, "West ambitiously attempts to depart from the street sensibilities of "Dropout" by giving "Late Registration" a shiny, quasi-alt-pop finish." The album has also been described as a work of pop rap, by journalists Caleb Wossen of the "Dallas Observer" and "Vice" magazine's Eric Sundermann.