2005

On August 30, 2005, West released his second album Late Registration. Reviews were mostly favorable: "Late Registration is an undeniable triumph" (Rolling Stone), "As ornate and bloated as West's ego." (Spin September 2005, p.99). With the help of producer samples in different ways along with compositions of strings and other sounds. The record earned the number one spot on the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll of 2005. The first two singles from Late Registration were "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" (which features vocals from Shirley Bassey's "Diamonds Are Forever") and "Gold Digger" featuring Jamie Foxx (which contains an interpolation of Ray Charles's "I Got a Woman") to sell over 860,000 copies in its first week[14], and earned him eight Grammy Award nominations including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for the song "Gold Digger." The album also included "My Way Home," a track that sampled Gil Scott-Heron's mournful "Home is there the Hatred Is."

In September 2005, West announced that he would release his Pastelle Clothing line in spring 2006: "Now that I have a Grammy under my belt and Late Registration is finished, I am ready to launch my clothing line next spring." Even months after its speculated release, the current status of this project is unknown.