The record label that co-released Late Registration with Roc-A-Fella was Def Jam Recordings.
Late Registration, Kanye West’s second studio album, was released on August 30, 2005, through Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. Roc-A-Fella was West’s principal label home, while Def Jam provided the larger corporate distribution and label infrastructure behind the release.
The album followed The College Dropout and expanded West’s production style through his collaboration with composer and producer Jon Brion. Together they added orchestral arrangements, live instrumentation and unusually detailed pop textures to West’s sample-based hip-hop. That ambitious sound helped make Late Registration a defining mid-2000s rap album.
The label pairing is sometimes confused with Roc Nation, which was founded later by Jay-Z in 2008. Atlantic and Mercury were not the co-releasing label credited for this album. Late Registration was issued during the period when Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam were closely linked in West’s recording career.