Kanye West’s debut album The College Dropout (2004) is an artistic masterpiece, generally acclaimed to be a hip-hop classic. It’s one of my favourite albums of all time and was the second record that I ever purchased on vinyl. It introduced revolutionary sonic and thematic ideas that would shape the future of not only hip-hop, but music of all genres. Songs on The College Dropout weave between intimate confessions from Kanye’s personal life and commentary about social issues that remain relevant to this day. Not only is each song catchy and poignant enough to stand on its own, but the tracks combine to create a brilliant cohesive experience.
Nowadays it is nearly impossible to mention Kanye West without starting a debate about the constant controversy that surrounds him. I have to admit that for a long portion of my life, I myself strongly disliked Kanye because of his seemingly arrogant actions. In particular, I vowed that I would never listen to his music after he stole the microphone from Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMAs. But when I finally listened to The College Dropout, my perspective completely changed. This album does such a magnificent job of revealing Kanye’s life and character.
Upon listening to this album, it becomes apparent that Kanye’s controversial statements do not stem from arrogance. He is simply very passionate about what he believes in and is never afraid of speaking his mind. In fact, the central concept of The College Dropout revolves around this. The album is all about breaking societal norms, which explains the choice of title. This album will be dissected in chronological order to highlight the truly masterful development of its central concept.
The first three tracks create a captivating introduction to the album. During the first skit “Intro”, Kanye is tasked by his teacher to write a song for the school’s graduation ceremony. In response to this request he writes “We Don’t Care”, a satirical anthem where students show pride in “drug dealing just to get by”. Hearing children sing about dealing drugs and commiting tax fraud is extremely absurd, but it’s the sheer audacity of the lyrics that makes the listener pay attention and think about the reality of living in poverty. Kanye’s tongue-in-cheek character immediately begins to show, but it’s clear to the listener that the song is not meant to be polarizing. We understand that the motivation behind it is just to shock the listener into paying attention. This is when I first began to appreciate the value of Kanye approaching issues in this comedic manner. The third track is another skit that concludes the episode between Kanye and his teacher. The teacher is appalled upon hearing the song and kicks Kanye out of school. Hearing this intelligent, introspective music builds the listener’s respect for Kanye and makes us look forward to the rest of the album.
On “All Falls Down”, Kanye raps about materialism, which is an issue that to this day is not discussed nearly often enough in music. The song is backed by a catchy acoustic guitar loop, with a brighter tone than most hip-hop instrumentals at the time. It’s almost as if the upbeat production is a trap though, because the song is definitely not uplifting. Kanye relentlessly delivers the ugly truth about the world through hard-hitting lines like “it seem we livin’ the American Dream, but the people highest up got the lowest self-esteem.” I listened to this album for the first time 10 years after it was released, and even then “All Falls Down” was the most impactful song I had ever heard about materialism. This is a testament to how revolutionary this album truly was. It explored subject matter that few artists dared to and by doing so, expanded the reach of hip-hop.
As one would expect, the next two tracks also touch on issues that the general public can relate to. “I’ll Fly Away” leads perfectly into “Spaceship”, on which Kanye yearns to fly away from the horrible experience of working in retail. “Spaceship” is deeply personal and observing Kanye’s determination and work ethic is exceptionally inspirational. He tells the story of how his life wasn’t advancing at all when working at the Gap, which led him to quit that job and pursue music instead. He then explains how he didn’t get any respect from music executives and faced the same issues while working in the music industry. One refreshing quality of “Spaceship”, which again shows the originality of Kanye’s music, is that the song admitted that it was ok to feel hopeless at times. In contrast, other popular motivational songs try to act as though every problem has an obvious solution.
The College Dropout is an album where every song focuses on an underrepresented issue, so it means a lot to say that “Jesus Walks” is the boldest song on the whole album. On this track Kanye directly calls out the music industry and draws attention to the sad reality that music about Christianity was seen as unfit for popular play. This song is another perfect example of Kanye’s tremendous impact on the musical landscape. This daring move paid off immensely for him. “Jesus Walks” was certified double platinum in the USA and won the 2005 Grammy for Best Rap Song. The overwhelming praise that this song received proves that the world was waiting for an album like The College Dropout — an album that tackled topics that nobody was brave enough to talk about, but everyone wanted to hear about.
“Never Let Me Down” is another brilliantly written, heavily inspirational song. It’s just so genuine that you can’t help but smile when listening to it. I honestly once nearly cried because of how powerful this song is. It features verses from Kanye West, Jay Z and J. Ivy who each deliver emotionally charged reflections on what gives them hope. All of their verses are deeply retable and tug on the listener’s heartstrings. As I have stated, the album’s smart format forces the listener to develop an intimate connection with Kanye. This song capitalizes on this fact and we receive a tremendous blow of empathy when hearing Kanye rap about the tragic car accident that he miraculously survived.
The next four songs are fun, lively hip-hop tracks. They again break boundaries through Kanye’s unique production and are centered around quirky subject matter. “Get Em High” and “Breathe In Breathe Out” are reminiscent of more traditional rap songs. They are intended to hype the listener up and do a great job of it, with their bouncy production and very clever, memorable lyrics.
“The New Workout Plan” is a satirical anthem, just like “We Don’t Care”. The song makes fun of workout tapes and highlights the ridiculous pressure that society puts on women to be attractive. Again, Kanye draws the listener in with his shocking lyrics, forcing them to consider the reality of the situation.
“Slow Jamz” is complementary to “The New Workout Plan”. The song begins with Jamie Foxx explaining to Kanye how women often feel underappreciated. Specifically, Foxx recalls when a girl confessed to him that nobody ever cared about her feelings whenever she went to the club. This prompts Kanye to create this smooth, soulful love song. It makes reference to classic soul singers like Luther Vandross and Marvin Gaye, reminding us of how passionate love songs used to be.
The album closes in a with four of the greatest hip-hop songs ever written. The first is “Two Words”, featuring legendary rapper Mos Def. The writing and lyricism on this track are simply genius. As the title suggests, each beat has two stressed syllables over it. The songwriting prowess can’t be denied; the two rappers seem to be molding the English language to fit their needs. Even with this big rhythmic restriction, the two still deliver poignant social commentary with lines like “two words, United States, no love, no breaks, low brow, high stakes.” I was completely awestruck when I first heard this song and still can’t believe how well it’s written.
“Through The Wire” is considered by a large portion of the fanbase — myself included — to be the greatest Kanye West song of all time. The production is astonishing. At the center lies a beautiful pitched up sample of Chaka Khan’s “Through The Fire”. The track gives us more detail about how Kanye’s tragic car accident impacted his life. Kanye actually wrote and recorded this song while in the hospital with his jaw wired shut, hence the title. He begins by rapping about the horrifying state of his life — about how he had to drink meal replacements for breakfast. He then goes on to proclaim that nothing can stop him from creating music. There is so much passion behind this song, it is undeniable proof of Kanye’s superhuman work ethic. One of the most powerful parts is that you’re able to hear that his speech is obstructed because of the wire in his mouth. Just like on “Never Let Me Down”, the connection that we’ve gradually built with Kanye allows this song to effectively evoke so many strong emotions in the listener.
“Family Business” is a heartwarming, relatable song about issues that can arise in a family. It delivers the popular sentiment that even though your family might harm you sometimes, you only have one so you have to cherish them. Although the song unveils the negative aspects of family, it also talks about the inspirational parts. Kanye reminisces and raps about supporting his family in order to overcome any struggles that they face. One touching example is when he raps about cooking food and bringing it to his cousin in prison, while asserting that “you tell me you ain’t did it then you ain’t did it”. Placed at the end of the album, this song is a striking reminder of the immense variety of musical and thematic topics covered by this album.
Finally, the album closes with “Last Call”. A celebration of Kanye’s success and a long, rich recount of how he clawed his way through the music industry and went from being a producer to a rapper. Again, it’s the song’s raw, intimate nature that allows it to resonate with the listener and create such an uplifting experience. The song features legendary Kanye West lines like: “I’m Kan, the Louis Vuitton Don; bought my mom a purse, now she Louis Vuitton Mom. I ain’t play the hand I was dealt, I changed my cards” and “killin y’all n***as on that lyrical shit; mayonnaise-colored Benz, I push Miracle Whips”. Although “Last Call” is long, I make sure to listen to it in its entirety whenever it comes up because of how inspirational it truly is.
The College Dropout is an incredible project and it’s unbelievable that this was Kanye’s first full-length album. Each song is beautifully written and Kanye’s unique style shines through on all of them. He flawlessly leverages the album’s central concept by delivering bombshell after bombshell. He continuously tears down the norms of society and points out its largest flaws. This album is the perfect introduction to Kanye West as a musician, and as a human being. The College Dropout is a timeless masterpiece, and it is definitely an essential hip-hop album.
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