The college dropout
While the rapper, singer, and fashion designer Kanye West’s reputation has been on a downward spiral in recent years, and his music output is a downgrade from previous albums, for a long time he was one of the most exciting hip hop artists in the game. He started out as a producer for rappers like Jay Z before a label finally supported him and produced his debut album, The College Dropout. It was released on February 10th, 2004, and it turned 20 years old this year. It’s also the first album in the college trilogy that includes Late Registration and Graduation. So how does it hold up?
After an intro, we begin the album with “We Don’t Care,” which is an anthem for people who’ve grown up in the projects: “We wasn’t supposed to make it past 25, jokes on you we still alive.” I love the jazzy sample infused with saxophone and the pitched-up vocals of the Jimmy Castor Bunch. This album has a lot of samples, “We Don’t Care,” samples “I Just Wanna Stop.” I enjoy Kanye’s third verse the most on the track, where he directly connects increased gang violence and criminal activity to governments cutting after-school programs and the arts. This track also has a funny line, “And they DCFS, some of ‘em dyslexic. They favorite 50 Cent song “12 Questions,” Speaking for the misunderstood working class is something that wasn’t rapped about much at the time, so when a college-educated rapper from the south side of Chicago did it, he became the voice for those who were often forgotten by the system. The Miri Ben-Ari violin is a beautiful addition, as she contributes to many of the tracks on the album.
We get a humorous skit from DeRay on “Graduation Day,” before we get the lovely auto-tuned vocals of John Legend telling the true story of how Kanye dropped out of college to pursue a career in music, much to the dismay of his mother. The transition into the next track flows seamlessly. “All Falls Down” features Syleena Johnson on the chorus and interpolates a Lauryn Hill song. Kanye sounds incredibly driven and focused on this track, as in his first verse, he raps about a single woman who’s trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life, and who has a shopping addiction. Hearing him rap his second verse is phenomenal, where he talks about how he’s also self-conscious and makes the connection between many black rappers showing off their wealth as a response to anti-black racism. “We shine because they hate us, floss ‘cause they degrade us,” In the third verse he highlights how many wealthy black people, in his eyes, buy a lot of clothes to “cover up what’s inside,” because, “they made us hate ourself and love they wealth,” meaning the amount of generational wealth that white people have had in the past century in comparison to most black Americans. This song still has an incredibly valuable message today and it’s incredibly sad that Kanye has seemingly abandoned a lot of what he stood for in the past when you hear what he says currently. Another great John Legend and Tony Williams interlude of the classic hymn, “I’ll Fly Away,” transitions into the next track.
“Spaceship,” featuring GLC and Consequence, has an amazing Marvin Gaye sample of the song, “Distant Lover.” Hearing the amazing production on this album, most of which is done by Kanye himself, shows how great of an appreciation he has for music, and demonstrates his ability to flip a sample and fit it into his signature “chipmunk soul” style. The song is a humorous story of the pain of working a 9-5 job, like in Kanye’s instance, when he worked at the Gap, “I’ve been working this grave shift and I ain’t made shit.” A relatable song for everyone who’s worked a fast food/restaurant or retail job at one point in their lives. Hearing the rappers talk about their life experiences over a beautiful soul sample makes it one of my favorite tracks on the album. That guitar and vocal sample is absolutely glowing to the ears.
After that, we get a much darker song, in comparison to the more humorous songs on the album. “Jesus Walks,” which to this day, is still one of Kanye’s best songs. In it he talks about topics such as racism, gang violence, and police brutality, with incredible clarity. The samples on this track are great too, sampling “Walk With Me,” by the ARC Choir, and “If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Going to Go,” by Curtis Mayfield. I love the military like humming in the background with the gospel choir. Kanye is absolutely preaching on this track, “God show me the way, because the devil’s tryna break me down,” The music video for this song is amazing and reinforces the song’s message that the “hustlers, killers, murderers, drug dealers, even the strippers,” are capable of being forgiven and redeemed. Kanye, in this song, preaches that Christianity should be inclusive of everyone, including the neglected and despised. This song is absolutely revolutionary as like the rest of this record, deviated from the gangsta rap lifestyle that was all over the radio at the time. The transition into the next song is amazing.
Next, we get “Never Let Me Down,” featuring Jay Z, and a spoken word verse from J. Ivy. The Blackjack sample is beautiful with that distorted guitar, and pitched-up vocal sample of singer Michael Bolton. Jay Z’s verses are solid on this track, but Kanye is truly the star of the show on this track. In his verse, he talks about his family history of civil rights activism, and how even though racism is portrayed as a relic of the past, “Racism’s still alive they just be concealing it.” I also like his line, “And I know they won’t let me in the damn club, they even made me show ID to get inside a Sam’s Club.” Kanye sounds hungry in his verse, and compares his near-fatal car accident to the deaths of other notable musicians, realizing, “I know I got angels watching me from the other side.” Then J. Ivy’s spoken word comes in, and hearing that over the angelic singing of the gospel choir and John Legend will make your soul ascend. Ivy’s verse gives me goosebumps every time I hear it, and Kanye’s verse on this track is one of the most underrated verses of his entire career.
After that, we get a song that’s one of the most underappreciated tracks on the record, “Get Em High,” featuring rappers Talib Kweli and Common. Super catchy chorus and each rapper flexes their rapping skills. “I can’t call it, I got the swerve like alcoholics,” is a funny line from Ye. My favorite verse on the track comes from Common, though. My favorite line is, “So when the industry crashes, I survive like Kanye.” The marimba loop beat is pretty minimalist but I love the groovy bass line. We’re followed with a more humorous track, “The New Workout Plan,” which makes fun of workout mixtapes and subtly criticizes the pressure put on women by men to be fit and attractive. One of the weaker songs on the album, but I love the upbeat vibe of the track as well as the wonderful Miri Ben-Ari’s violin-infused beat. Fun fact, Anna Nicole Smith is featured in the music video! Unfortunately, it's one of my least favorite tracks on the album, but it’s by no means a bad track, as it’s incredibly catchy and fun to listen to on the treadmill. It’s just overly long, and not as strong in comparison to other tracks on the record.
“Slow Jamz,” featuring Twista and Jamie Foxx, is a beautiful cut that’s built on a Luther Vandross sample of “A House is Not A Home.” I love Jamie Foxx’s R&B-influenced hook on the chorus and the rapid-fire rhymes of Twista in the second verse. The glistening synth keys and chipmunk soul sample of Luther make for an amazing track to slow dance to. Kanye’s verse is probably the weakest on the track, but he’s got a few humorous lines, such as “She’s got a light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson, she’s got a dark-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson.” Twista completely steals the track, and I especially enjoy the part where he harmonizes with the Vandross sample. I will say that the song goes on a bit too long though at five minutes and sixteen seconds.
We follow that cut with the track, “Breathe In Breathe Out,” featuring Ludacris. I love the guitar and horn section on the beat, as well as the violin refrain and Luda’s chorus provides an aggressive complement to Kanye’s laidback, humorous raps about superficiality, or as he says, “more of that bullshit ice-rap.” Another underrated track off the record, and another one of my favorites on the album, I love Kanye’s concise flow. This song doesn’t go on too long and provides a more braggadocious side of Kanye. After a skit that criticizes how college drains people of their money, we get the heavily censored track, “School Spirit,” which is another favorite track of mine. You can find uncensored versions on the internet, but the reason the released version is censored was because Aretha Franklin, whose song, “Spirit in the Dark,” was sampled, told Kanye the only way she’d clear the sample, would be if he censored the swear words on the track. I love how catchy the hook is, and the piano chords on the beat. Plus that gospel choir humming layered in the track is mesmerizing to listen to. Kanye flows over the beat effortlessly, and his ear for a good sample pays off on this track, and ties into the themes of how college doesn’t always lead to a fulfilling life, reinforcing what the skits have touched on. Speaking of the skits, they definitely haven’t aged as well as the rest of the album, as skits on rap albums are incredibly rare to find nowadays, so I like to think of them as a relic of their time. They aren’t bad, but they don’t add a whole lot to the album, in my opinion.
After two more skits, we get the track “Two Words,” featuring Yasiin Bey, Freeway, and The Boys Choir of Harlem. All three of the rappers sound amazing on this track, but Kanye, in my opinion, sounds the most driven and raw. I love the beat which samples “Peace & Love (Amani Na Mapenzi),” by Mandrill. The distorted guitars and aggressive violins provide an engaging backdrop to every MC’s verse. I like how Bey’s verse highlights the struggles of black Americans who are trying to live the American dream but are harmed by a lack of help from the government, food deserts (the lack of healthy food), and the war on drugs. Kanye’s verse highlights his pride in being from Chicago, “Two words: Chi-town raised me, crazy. So I live by two words: ‘Fuck you pay me’,” how hard he’s worked to get where he was, and racial injustice. Freeway’s verse is solid, but Kanye and Yasiin Bey stole the show. I love the choir at the outro, as well as Miri Ben-Ari’s violin solo. All in all, it’s one of my favorites on the album.
The next track, “Through the Wire,” samples Chaka Khan’s “Through the Fire,” and tells the story of Kanye’s life-changing car accident, and his time in the hospital recovering. He rapped the song with his jaw wired shut, which is impressive. It’s also nice to see that he has a sense of humor about the situation. Despite this, this song is one of my least favorites on the album. The song just hasn’t aged as well as the other tracks on the album, and Kanye’s verses are weak in comparison to tracks such as “Two Words,” and “Jesus Walks.”
The second to last track, “Family Business,” has a great sample of “Fonky Thang,” by The Dells, and has a heartwarming message about the importance of family. “This is family business, and this is for the family that can’t be with us.” The piano throughout the track and harmonizing singers in the chorus gives me goosebumps when I hear it. As a kid, this was one of my favorite Kanye songs, because I could really relate to it. I always looked forward to going to family gatherings during the holidays. When people say they miss the old Kanye, they’re talking about this time in his music because he was deeply personal and talked about things other rappers never discussed. He showed a vulnerable side and demonstrated that he was a man who deeply cared about his family, friends, and the messages in his music. I like that he tells us different traits of his family members, because it’s relatable, and it feels like we’re there at a family gathering with him. His stance on gay people was also a departure from the attitude in hip hop at the time, where he said “You can still love your man and be manly, dog.” The sample that says, “All that glitters is not gold,” which in this case means your loved ones, friends, and family alike. Another highlight.
The final track on the album, “Last Call,” tells the story of how Kanye went from a producer to getting a major record label deal with Roc-A-Fella Records as a rapper and producer. It’s a song with a catchy beat, but it’s one of my least favorite tracks on the album because it’s insanely long at 12 minutes and 41 seconds. If this track was three minutes shorter I’d probably tolerate it, but it doesn’t keep me engaged, so I usually just listen to the rapped verses and skip to the end of the track after that. I do like that he speaks about how he believed in himself when nobody else did at the time.
To conclude, The College Dropout, is a masterpiece, with a sound that has aged very well for a 20-year-old album. The themes of racism, religion, self-reflection, materialism, and the highlighting of flaws in our educational system and poverty, have all aged incredibly well. The fact that Kanye was one of the first rappers to rap about these issues, in comparison to the gangsta rap persona that was prevalent at the time, it was revolutionary and changed the genre completely. Whenever I listen to an older Kanye album like this one, Graduation, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I feel sad. Kanye today is a far cry from who he used to be. The combination of mental health issues, losing most of his family, and being surrounded by yes-men has left him isolated, paranoid, and unappreciative of what got him to where he is currently. The current Kanye doesn’t sound happy, he sounds depressed, and he has nobody around him who cares about him or his well-being. Regardless, this album is phenomenal. Some of the tracks are too long at times, and the skits haven’t aged well. Still, this album has inspired an entire generation of musicians, addressed multiple issues plaguing our society, and illustrated the life of a relatable, funny, and self-conscious man who had the ambition and drive to achieve his dreams, when nobody else believed in him. The samples are fantastic, Kanye’s production lights up the tracks, and all of the featured musicians contribute interesting verses and engaging hooks to the album. Kanye’s verses are also fantastic on most of the tracks. This is a classic, and every hip hop fan should listen to this album.
Overall Score: 8/10
Favorite Tracks: “Spaceship,” “Jesus Walks,” “Breathe In Breathe Out,” “Two Words,” “Family Business,”
Least Favorite Tracks: “The New Workout Plan,” “Through the Wire”
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fpkdSfPzio
Genre: Hip Hop