Fourteen years ago on September 30th, Kanye West’s debut single “Through the Wire” was released under Roc-A-Fella record. With high praise, there was much anticipation for his first studio album which was set to release early of next year in 2004. Kanye West’s debut album "The College Dropout" is a landmark hip hop record that changed the genre as people know it. From his humble beginnings, Kanye West grew up in Chicago faced with many conflicts at his way, and music was there to save him.
However as a producer, he struggled into getting people to believe he was a good enough rapper. For his debut album, Kanye pushed the creativity envelope and worked with his past collaborators to produce a great rap record. "College Dropout" is a concept album which follows a true story since Kanye really did drop out of Chicago State University to pursue a music career. The “Intro” is a piece of dialogue by a college administrator asking Kanye to sing something nice to the kids for their graduation.
Kanye’s response is the following song “We Don’t Care” which features a lively tune and a catchy hook. The irony behind the song is that Kanye is singing about the opposite of what the administrator is asking him to do. “Drug dealin just to get by, stack your money ‘till it gets sky high, we weren't supposed to make it past twenty-five, jokes on you we still alive, throw your hands up in the sky saying we don't care what people say”.
Kanye decides to talk about his experience of living in Southside Chicago, especially through a very drug-influenced childhood. The “Graduation Day” skit goes back to the administrator who tells Kanye, after hearing the song that he is not college material and to pack his bags and leave campus. There's a small interlude by John Legend, which goes “My momma would kill me so don't tell anybody, She wants me to get a good ass job just like everybody, She ain't walked in my shoes I'm just not everybody” which demonstrates the dissent from his mother about his education choices. Ironically, West’s mother Donda was a professor at the University he attended for a short period of time. This is where the concept of the “College Dropout” ends until it reappears again in one of the later skits.
“All Falls Down” is a great hip hop tune that has become a classic, mainly due to its great hook and acoustic guitar. Bringing in other instruments into the table into a rap song, especially a string oriented instrument was rare at the time. Kanye popularized the sound and added a new touch to the genre. “I’ll Fly Away” is a short traditional gospel song that Kanye decided to put on the album. Even though the song is short it has many purposes, to add a little sound of diversity to the album, to let the listener know that Kanye is a religious man who is close to god (something that will come up later in the album) and to segue into “Spaceship” the next song.
“Spaceship” follows the same exact concept of “I’ll Fly Away,” Kanye is waiting to spread his wings and fly to the life of success he deserves. In the song, Kanye talks about how he barely made any money as a teenager working at the GAP store. The song also features rapper GLC, who talks about the same issues a Kanye in his line “Waitin' patiently I ask myself, Where I wanna go, where I wanna be, Life is much more than runnin' in the streets, Holla at 'ye, hit me with the beat, Put me on my feet, Sound so sweet”.The song just sounds so much better when both the rappers are talking about the same issue. Unlike today’s rap, which is more like jamming in all the popular rappers in one song where each verse has no connection whatsoever, this is a departure from that.
Other highlights of the album are “Slow Jamz” and “The New Workout Plan." Both songs include intensive amounts of producing, which are a great addition to the album and shows off Kanye’s producing skills. “Slow Jamz” is a homage to the great R&B songs and has soulful singing from Jamie Foxx. The most interesting part of the songs is how many instruments there are and all the little sounds that the listener can spot.
For example the hidden acoustic guitar at the end of the song. “New Workout Plan” is accompanied with a skit for a fictional workout video that Kanye directed. The album has a great ending named the “Last Call” which is Kanye singing in prose. He basically tells the story of how he started off as an average producer, how many of his peers believed he could not rap, then his work with Jay Z, who ultimately signed him to his record label Roc Nation. "The College Dropout," is the story Kanye West, who is the underdog of the story and prevailed through his great music.
This album is highly recommended for any hip hop fan, who is interested in a new sound even after 10 years after its release, it still holds up as a landmark album.
