Some reviewers were more qualified in their praise. In "The A.V. Club", Nathan Rabin found "Late Registration" as ambitious as "The College Dropout" but "less successful" because of melodramatic lyrics and "symphonics" without a "strong narrative" to hold the songs together, with him concluding that the album "plays like a brilliant first draft, flawed and uneven, but radiating humor and heart." Jon Pareles believed West's elevated status undermined the underdog quality that had accentuated his debut studio album; he wrote in "The New York Times" that "for much of "Late Registration", the striver has turned into a hip-hop V.I.P., and a cool arrogance has crept into the songs." Hattie Collins of "NME" was highly impressed by the beats in the music, which she called "pure cranium-crushing boom bap at its best", but lamented the lack of "rubbish lyrics" and clumsy charm that distinguished West's debut album for hardcore fans. In the opinion of "Spin" magazine's Jon Caramanica, the augmented versatility and eccentricity of West's flow still "pales in comparison to his sonic ambition."