Reviewing the album in "Rolling Stone", Rob Sheffield deemed it "an undeniable triumph, packed front to back, so expansive it makes the debut sound like a rough draft", while calling West "a real MC." "Uncut" magazine's Simon Reynolds found most of the songs brilliant and highlighted by what he called an unparalleled use of vocal samples by West, while Josh Tyrangiel from "Time" said the sampling and string arrangements on "Gone" may persuade listeners to believe West's own hype. In "The Guardian", Alexis Petridis praised West's topicality and subversive studio production, writing that ""Late Registration" suggests an artist effortlessly outstripping his peers: more ideas, better lyrics, bigger hooks, greater depth." Andy Kellman from AllMusic viewed West's rapping on the album as similar to his rapping on "The College Dropout", though claimed that "he can be tremendous as a pure writer" and noted the change in West's production style: "Crude beats and drastically tempo-shifted samples are replaced with a more traditionally musical touch from Jon Brion." Kitty Empire of "The Observer" viewed "Late Registration" as a significant milestone in hip hop while calling West "the Brian Wilson of hip-hop" because he "plays up the struggle between conscience and covetousness, the pop mainstream and what can be achieved within the notional boundaries of hip hop." Robert Hilburn of the "Los Angeles Times" compared West's dignified execution of pop crossover on the album to that of The Beatles, Johnny Cash, and Bob Marley. Sean Fennessey from "Pitchfork" felt West avoided the sophomore slump with an "expansive, imperfect masterpiece" that drew on his enthusiastic, ambitious, and scattered personality. Christgau, writing in "The Village Voice", praised the album's "exquisite details", both lyrical and musical, and concluded that West is "as good as he thinks he is ... He wants everybody to buy this record. So do I"; he would later assign it an "A+" grade.