To Kanye or not to Kanye...?

Sasha Frere-Jones on the Kanye West problem: fantastic producer/arrangement, Brand X voice. I've never agreed; I have a bigger problem with the self-regard which has begun to enfeeble the rhythmic sense which anchored his beats as surely as a second guitar. "Diamonds (From Sierra Leone)" and "Gold Digger" are lame songs. So I await Late Registration with some trepidation.