Which rapper’s 2005 album “Late Registration” was nominated for Album of the Year? Kanye West.
Kanye West’s 2005 album Late Registration was nominated for Album of the Year at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards. The ambitious follow-up to The College Dropout expanded West’s production style with orchestral arrangements, live instrumentation, soul samples, and contributions from composer Jon Brion.
The album was released on August 30, 2005, and debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling about 860,000 copies in its first week. Its best-known singles included “Gold Digger,” “Touch the Sky,” “Heard ’Em Say,” and “Diamonds from Sierra Leone.” “Gold Digger” became one of West’s biggest commercial hits.
Late Registration ultimately received eight Grammy nominations. It did not win Album of the Year, losing to U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, but it won Best Rap Album. That distinction is the common trap in this question: the record was nominated for the overall award while taking home the genre-specific rap prize.