Producer turned hip-hop artist Kanye West returns to the music scene with another swaggering, brash album. The follow-up to 2004’s “The College Dropout,” West’s sophomore release’s credits name-drop more than Ryan Seacrest. The catchy “Gold Digger” features Jamie Foxx doing his best Ray Charles imitation while Brandy sings on the hater-dissing “Bring Me Down,” in which West claims, “Dog, If I was you, I’d kill myself/ Made a mill myself, and I’m still myself.”

The Grammy-winning West is nothing if not cocky. And while he’s good, he’s not the savior of hip-hop he thinks he is. He has Adam Levine of Maroon 5 sing on a track, for goodness sake.

West is at his best when he comments on social issues, such as on “Diamonds From Sierra Leone.” There, West tells of his discovery that his precious stones often come from violence-laden slave mines in Africa.

On many songs, West uses smooth strings, saxophones and pianos as a perfect juxtaposition to his clear and occasionally biting rhymes. It’s nice to hear a mainstream hip-hop artist use such varied instrumentation successfully.

The artist, raised in Chicago, can certainly spin clever lines such as, “Says she want diamonds, I took her to Ruby Tuesdays/ If we up in Friday’s, I still have it my way,” but his rhythm patterns sometimes blend together from track to track without the element of unpredictably.

West is nothing if not commercial. He aims to sell as many records as possible and doing so can only booster his claims to be more important than Prince.

However, if anyone can claim the title of a preppy-street king, it’s Kanye West. His album may be called “Late Registration,” but West is right on time.