The College Dropout

The College Dropout
Studio album by Kanye West
Released February 10, 2004 (2004-02-10)
Recorded 1999–2003
Studio
Genre Hip hop
Length 76:13
Label
Producer
Kanye West chronology
The College Dropout
(2004)		 Late Registration
(2005)Late Registration2005
Singles from The College Dropout
  1. "Through the Wire"
    Released: September 30, 2003
  2. "Slow Jamz"
    Released: December 2, 2003
  3. "All Falls Down"
    Released: February 24, 2004
  4. "Jesus Walks"
    Released: May 25, 2004
  5. "The New Workout Plan"
    Released: August 31, 2004

The College Dropout is the debut studio album by American rapper Kanye West, released on February 10, 2004 by Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. Prior to the album, West had received praise for his production work for rappers such as Jay-Z and Talib Kweli, but faced difficulty being accepted as an artist in his own right by figures in the music industry. Nonetheless, intent on pursuing a solo career, it was several years before he finally received a record deal from Roc-A-Fella, and the album was recorded over a period of four years, beginning in 1999.

The album's production was primarily handled by West and developed his "chipmunk soul" production style, which made use of sped-up, pitch shifted vocal samples from soul and R&B records, in addition to West's own drum programming, string accompaniments, and gospel choirs; it also features contributions from Jay-Z, Mos Def, Jamie Foxx, Syleena Johnson, and Ludacris, among others. Diverging from the then-dominant gangster persona in hip hop, West's lyrics concern themes of family, self-consciousness, materialism, religion, racism, and higher education.

The album was promoted with singles such as "Through the Wire", "Jesus Walks", "All Falls Down", and "Slow Jamz", the latter two of which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The College Dropout debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, selling 441,000 copies in its first week of sales. It was a massive commercial success and received widespread acclaim from critics, earning West several accolades including a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 47th Grammy Awards. It is West's best-selling album in the United States, with domestic sales of over 3.4 million copies. It has been named by Time, Rolling Stone, and other publications as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Background

Although he had attained success as a producer, Kanye West aspired to be a rapper, but had struggled to attain a record deal.[1] Record companies ignored him because he did not portray the gangsta image prominent in mainstream hip hop at the time.[2] After a series of meetings with Capitol Records, West was ultimately denied an artist deal.[3] According to Capitol Record's A&R, Joe Weinberger, he was approached by West and almost signed a deal with him, but another person in the company convinced Capitol's president not to.[3] Desperate to keep West from defecting to another label, then-label head Damon Dash reluctantly signed West to Roc-A-Fella Records. Jay-Z, West's colleague, later admitted that Roc-A-Fella was initially reluctant to support West as a rapper, claiming that many saw him as a producer first and foremost, and that his background contrasted with that of his labelmates.[2][4]

West's breakthrough came a year later on October 23, 2002, when, while driving home from a California recording studio after working late, he fell asleep at the wheel and was involved in a near-fatal car crash.[5] The crash left him with a shattered jaw, which had to be wired shut in reconstructive surgery. The accident inspired West; two weeks after being admitted to a hospital, he recorded a song at the Record Plant Studios with his jaw still wired shut.[5] The composition, "Through the Wire", expressed West's experience after the accident, and helped lay the foundation for his debut album, as according to West "all the better artists have expressed what they were going through".[6][7] West added that "the album was my medicine", as working on the record distracted him from the pain.[8] "Through the Wire" was first available on West's Get Well Soon... mixtape, released December 2002.[9] At the same time, West announced that he was working on an album called The College Dropout, whose overall theme was to "make your own decisions. Don't let society tell you, 'This is what you have to do.'"[10]

Recording

West (center) refined the album's production and incorporated elements such as gospel choirs and string arrangements.

The College Dropout was recorded at The Record Plant in Los Angeles, California, but the production featured on the record took place elsewhere over the course of several years.[1] According to John Monopoly, West's friend, manager and business partner, the album "...[didn't have] a particular start date. He's been gathering beats for years. He was always producing with the intention of being a rapper. There's beats on the album he's been literally saving for himself for years." At one point, West hovered between making a portion of the production in the studio and the majority within his own apartment in Newark, New Jersey.[1] Because it was a two-bedroom apartment, West was able to set up a home studio in one of the rooms and his bedroom in the other.[1]

Carrying a Louis Vuitton backpack filled with old disks and demos to the studio and back, West crafted his production in less than fifteen minutes at a time. He recorded the remainder of the album in Los Angeles while recovering from the car accident. Once he had completed the album, it was leaked months before its release date.[1] However, West decided to use the opportunity to review the album, and The College Dropout was significantly remixed, remastered, and revised before being released. As a result, certain tracks originally destined for the album were subsequently retracted, among them "Keep the Receipt" with Ol' Dirty Bastard and "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" with Consequence.[11] West meticulously refined the production, adding string arrangements, gospel choirs, improved drum programming and new verses.[1] West's perfectionism led The College Dropout to have its release postponed three times from the initial date of August 2003. First it was delayed to October, then to January 2004, before finally hitting stores on February 10.[12][13]

Music and lyrics

The College Dropout diverged from the then-dominant gangster persona in hip hop in favor of more diverse, topical subjects for the lyrics.[7] Throughout the album, West touches on a number of different issues drawn from his own experiences and observations, including organized religion, family, sexuality, excessive materialism, self-consciousness, minimum-wage labor, institutional prejudice, and personal struggles.[14][15][16] Music journalist Kelefa Sanneh wrote, "Throughout the album, Mr. West taunts everyone who didn't believe in him: teachers, record executives, police officers, even his former boss at the Gap".[17] West explained, "My persona is that I'm the regular person. Just think about whatever you've been through in the past week, and I have a song about that on my album."[18] The album was musically notable for West's unique development of his "chipmunk soul" production style,[19] in which R&B and soul music samples were sped up and pitch shifted.[20][21]

The album begins with a skit featuring a high school teacher asking West to deliver a graduation speech. The skit is followed by "We Don't Care" featuring West comically celebrating drug life with lines like "We wasn't supposed to make it past 25, joke's on you, we still alive" and then criticizing its influence amongst children.[17] The next track, "Graduation Day", features Miri Ben-Ari on violin,[22] and vocals by John Legend.[23]

On "All Falls Down", West wages an attack on consumerism.[24][25] The song features singer Syleena Johnson and contains an interpolation of Lauryn Hill's "Mystery of Iniquity".[23] West called upon Johnson to re-sing a vocal portion of "Mystery of Iniquity", which ended up in the final mix.[26] Gospel hymn with doo-wop elements "I'll Fly Away" precedes "Spaceship", a track with a relaxed beat containing a soulful Marvin Gaye sample. The lyrics are mostly critical of the working world, where West muses about flying away in a spaceship to leave his boring job, and guest rappers GLC and Consequence add comparisons to modern day retail environment with slavery.[25]

On "Jesus Walks", West professes his belief in Jesus, while also discussing how religion is used by various people and how the media seems to avoid songs that address matters of faith while embracing compositions on violence, sex, and drugs.[25][27] "Jesus Walks" is built around a sample of "Walk With Me" as performed by the ARC Choir.[23] Garry Mulholland of The Observer described it as a "towering inferno of martial beats, fathoms-deep chain gang backing chants, a defiant children's choir, gospel wails, and sizzling orchestral breaks."[28] The first verse of the song is told through the eyes of a drug dealer seeking help from God, and it reportedly took over six months for West to draw inspiration for the second verse.[29]

"Never Let Me Down" is influenced by West's near-death car crash. The song features Jay-Z who rhymes about maintaining status and power given his chart success, with West commenting about racism and poverty.[25][30] The song features verses by spoken word performer J. Ivy who offers comments of upliftment. "Never Let Me Down" reuses a Jay-Z verse first heard in the remix of his song "Hovi Baby".[25][31] "Get Em High" is a collaboration by West with two socially conscious rappers, Talib Kweli and Common.[32] "The New Workout Plan" is a call to fitness to improve one's love life.[25] "Slow Jamz" features Twista and Jamie Foxx and serves as a tribute to classic smooth soul artists and slow jam songs.[24] The song also appeared on Twista's album Kamikaze.[24] On the song "School Spirit", West relates the experience of dropping out of school and contains references to well-known fraternities, sororities, singer Norah Jones, and record label Roc-A-Fella Records. "Two Words" features commentary on social issues and features Mos Def, Freeway, and the Harlem Boys Choir.[33]

"Through the Wire" features a high-pitched vocal sample of Chaka Khan and relates West's real life experience with being in a car accident.[5] The song provides a mostly comedic account of his difficult recovery, and features West rapping with his jaw still wired shut from the accident.[5][23] The chorus and instrumentals sample a pitched up version of Chaka Khan's 1985 single "Through the Fire".[24] "Family Business" is a soulful tribute to the godbrother of Tarrey Torae, one of the many collaborators in the album.[34] The song "Last Call" is about West's transition from being a producer to a rapper, and the album ends with a nearly nine-minute autobiographical monologue that follows the song "Last Call", however, is not a separate track.[35]

Packaging

Eric Duvauchelle, who was then part of Roc-A-Fella's in-house brand design team, was assigned for the artwork of The College Dropout. West had already taken pictures dressed as the Dropout Bear - which would reappear in his later work - and Duvauchelle picked the image of him sitting on a set of bleachers, as he got attracted to the loneliness of what was supposed to be "the most popular representation of a school". The image is framed inside gold ornaments, which Duvauchelle found in a book of illustrations from the 16th-century and West wanted to use to "bring a sense of elegance and style to what was typically a gangster-led image of rap artists". The inside cover follows a college yearbook, with photos of the featured artists of the albums from their youth.[36]

Singles

The album's second single, "Slow Jamz", features vocalist Jamie Foxx (left).

West's debut single, "Through the Wire", entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number ninety-four and peaked at number fifteen on February 3, 2004, for five weeks. It remained on the chart for twenty-one weeks.[37] It performed better on the urban contemporary charts, reaching number eight on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and number four on the Hot Rap Tracks.[38] In the United Kingdom, it debuted at number nine on the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked for two weeks, and exited the chart after nine weeks.[37] The track charted lower in other European countries, reaching the top thirty in Ireland, Sweden, and the Netherlands; the top fifty in Belgium and Switzerland; and number sixty-one in Germany. Its maximum peak time in those countries lasted one week.[37] The single entered the New Zealand Singles Chart at number twenty-four and peaked at number sixteen.[37]

The second single, "Slow Jamz", peaked at number one in the United States, becoming Twista's, West's, and Foxx's first number one hit.[37] "All Falls Down" was released as the third single, and it entered the UK Singles Chart at number ten and peaked at number seven on the U.S. Hot 100.[1] The fourth single, "Jesus Walks", earned widespread commercial success, peaking at number eleven in the United States and becoming West's fourth top twenty hit, while peaking at number sixteen in the UK.[27][39]

The fifth and final single, "The New Workout Plan", peaked at number fifty-nine on the U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. The song's official remix was produced by Lil Jon and features guest appearances from Twista, Luke, and Fonzworth Bentley. The remix was later included on The College Dropout Video Anthology.[40]

The planned sixth single was "Spaceship", featuring rappers GLC and Consequence. This was confirmed in 2009 when GLC reported that a music video had been made for the song, but never released; the label decided to move on from the album to begin promoting West's second album, Late Registration.[41] On June 3, 2009, West uploaded the video on his official blog.[42] At one time, "Two Words" (featuring Mos Def and Freeway) was also intended to be released as a single, and a video for the song was filmed, and later uploaded by West online in May 2009.[32]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic87/100[43]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[24]
Blender[44]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[45]
Los Angeles Times[46]
Mojo[47]
Pitchfork8.2/10[48]
Rolling Stone[49]
SpinB+[50]
USA Today[51]
The Village VoiceA[52]

The College Dropout received widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 87, based on 25 reviews.[43] Kelefa Sanneh from The New York Times dubbed it "2004's first great hip-hop album".[17] The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin praised its "substance, social commentary, righteous anger, ornery humanism, dark humor, and even Christianity", calling it "one of those wonderful crossover albums that appeal to a huge audience without sacrificing a shred of integrity".[53] Dave Heaton of PopMatters called the album "musically engaging", writing that "every single one of these songs comes off like a genuine extension of Kanye's personality and experiences".[25] URB wrote that the album "manages to be both visceral and emotive, sprinkling the dancefloors with tears and sweat."[54] Mojo dubbed the album "manna for hip hop fans starved of basic but ballistic beats-and-breaks fare in an increasingly litigious age."[47]

Josh Love of Stylus Magazine wrote that West "subverts cliches from both sides of the hip-hop divide" and praised him for "trying to reflect the entire spectrum of hip-hop and black experience, looking for solace and salvation in the traditional safehouses of church and family".[14] Ethan Brown of New York commended West's "emotional brand of hip-hop" and stated "he makes autobiography universal in a way that hasn't really been heard in hip-hop since the mid-nineties".[55] Hua Hsu of The Village Voice felt that his sped-up samples "carry a humble, human air. You can still hear tiny traces of actual people inside".[56] The newspaper's Robert Christgau wrote that "not only does [West] create a unique role model, that role model is dangerous—his arguments against education are as market-targeted as other rappers' arguments for thug life".[52] Entertainment Weekly's Michael Endelman elaborated on West's avoidance of the then-dominant "gangsta" persona of hip hop:

West delivers the goods with a disarming mix of confessional honesty and sarcastic humor, earnest idealism and big-pimping materialism. In a scene still dominated by authenticity battles and gangsta posturing, he's a middle-class, politically conscious, post-thug, bourgeois rapper – and that's nothing to be ashamed of.[45]

Although he commended West's vulnerability and signature sound, Rolling Stone's Jon Caramanica felt that "West isn't quite MC enough to hold down the entire disc".[49] Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani observed "too many guest artists, too many interludes, and just too many songs period", but stated, "As chest-beatingly self-congratulatory as it may be, The College Dropout is at once laugh-out-loud funny ('The New Workout Plan'), genuinely touching ('Family Business'), and brutally honest ('All Falls Down')".[15] Pitchfork critic Rob Mitchum called it a "flawed, overlong, hypocritical, egotistical, and altogether terrific album".[48] AllMusic editor Andy Kellman felt that it shows West as a "remarkably versatile lyricist and a valuable MC".[24] Renee Graham of The Boston Globe asserted that "West has certainly raised the bar on what mainstream hip-hop can and should be".[57] In a retrospective review, Rolling Stone called it "a demonstration that hip-hop—real, banging, commercial hip-hop—could be a vehicle for nuanced self-examination and musical subtlety."[58]

Accolades

West received 10 Grammy nominations at the 2005 Grammy Awards.[59] The College Dropout was nominated for Album of the Year, and won Best Rap Album. "Jesus Walks" won Best Rap Song, and was nominated for both Song of the Year and Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.[59]

The College Dropout was voted as the best album of the year by Rolling Stone and in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics.[60][61] Spin ranked it number one on its list of 40 Best Albums of the Year.[62] Comedian Chris Rock has attested to listening to The College Dropout while writing his material.[63] In 2005, Pitchfork named it No. 50 in their best albums of 2000–2004.[64] In 2006, the album was named by Time as one of the 100 best albums of all time.[65] In its retrospective 2007 issue, XXL awarded it a perfect "XXL" rating, which had previously been given to only sixteen other albums.[66] In its July 4, 2008 issue, Entertainment Weekly listed College Dropout as the fourth best album of the past 25 years.[67] The magazine later listed it as the best album of the decade.[68]

Newsweek placed The College Dropout among its Best Albums of the Decade list at number 3.[69] Rhapsody named it the seventh best album of the decade and the fourth best hip hop album of the decade.[70][71] Rolling Stone ranked it number 10 on its list of the 100 Best Albums of the Decade and stated, "Kanye expanded the musical and emotional language of hip-hop ... he challenged all the rules, dancing across boundaries others were too afraid to even acknowledge".[72] Consequence of Sound named it as the 16th best album of the decade.[73] Phoenix New Times named it the second best rap album of the decade.[74] Fact Magazine listed it as the 20th best album of the 2000s.[75] In 2012 Complex named the album one of the classic albums of the last decade,[76] and the 20th best hip hop debut album ever.[77] The same year Rolling Stone ranked The College Dropout number 298 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[78] and 19th on their list of debut records.[79] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[80]

Commercial performance

The College Dropout debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, behind Norah Jones' Feels Like Home, selling 441,000 copies in its first week.[81] It remained on the second spot under Feels Like Home for two more weeks, with 196,000 units sold in the second week and 132,000 in the third week.[82][83] By April 2004, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for having shipped in excess of one million copies in the United States.[84] On June 30, 2004, the album was certified double platinum in sales, following sales of two million copies.[84] As of June 2014, The College Dropout is West's best-selling album in the United States, with domestic sales of 3,358,000 copies.[85][86] It has also sold over 4 million copies worldwide.[87]

Track listing

Original release

All tracks produced by Kanye West, except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Intro (Skit)"Kanye West0:19
2."We Don't Care"
3:59
3."Graduation Day"
1:22
4."All Falls Down" (featuring Syleena Johnson)
3:43
5."I'll Fly Away"Albert E. Brumley1:09
6."Spaceship" (featuring GLC and Consequence)
5:24
7."Jesus Walks"
3:13
8."Never Let Me Down" (featuring Jay-Z and J. Ivy)
5:24
9."Get Em High" (featuring Talib Kweli and Common)
4:49
10."Workout Plan (Skit)"West0:46
11."The New Workout Plan"
  • West
  • Stephens
  • Bosco Kante
  • Sumeke Rainey
  • Ben-Ari
5:22
12."Slow Jamz" (Twista featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx)
5:16
13."Breathe in Breathe Out" (featuring Ludacris; co-produced by Brian "All Day" Miller)
  • West
  • Brian Miller
4:06
14."School Spirit (Skit 1)"West1:18
15."School Spirit"
3:02
16."School Spirit (Skit 2)"West0:43
17."Lil Jimmy (Skit)"West0:53
18."Two Words" (featuring Mos Def, Freeway and The Boys Choir of Harlem)
4:26
19."Through the Wire"
3:41
20."Family Business"West4:38
21."Last Call" (co-produced by Evidence; additional production by Porse)
12:40
Total length:76:13

2005 Japanese Special Edition

Sample credits:[23]

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.[23][89]

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/Sales
Canada (CRIA)[98] Platinum 80,000
New Zealand (RIANZ)[99] Gold 7,500
United Kingdom (BPI)[100] 2× Platinum 600,000
United States (RIAA)[101] 3× Platinum 3,358,000[102]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

In other media

References

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Bibliography

  • Brown, Jake (2006). Kanye West in the Studio: Beats Down! Money Up! (2000–2006). Colossus Books. ISBN 0-9767735-6-2.
  • Hess, Mickey (2007). Icons of Hip Hop: an Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-33904-X.
  • West, Donda; Hunter, Karen (2007). Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 1-4165-4470-4.
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