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The College Dropout (0778797090)
Description
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| This debut from the most sought-after hip-hop producer not named Pharrell delivers the unthinkable: West magically sledgehammers home his opinions on taboo topics over beats that are equally daring. The envelope-ripping beats shouldn't come as a surprise given that he's supplied the soundscapes to monster singles by everyone from Alicia Keys ("You Don't Know My Name") to Talib Kweli ("Get By"). What is freakish is that in West's world, rhymes about strippers, God, college life, and guns can co-exist tidily and not undermine each other. On "Breathe In Breathe Out" he raps "I gotta apologize to Mos and Kweli/is it cool to rap about gold if I told the world I copped it from Ghana and Mali"--tongue firmly planted in cheek. On the catchy "Through the Wire," fuelled by a Chaka Khan hook, he spits some impeccable rhymes despite his jaw being wired shut after a near-fatal car accident. Maybe it was this brush with mortality that kicked his lyrics into high gear on "All Falls Down." The skits on here are just as potent, one poking fun at the overeducated underclass that makes a small fraction of the loot he does. With jaw-dropping cameos from Jay-Z, Common, Mos Def, and the Harlem Boys Choir plus the feel-good club tune of the year, "Slow Jamz" featuring Twista, College Dropout is as explosive, contradictory, and complex as rap music gets. --Dalton Higgins Editorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
Reviews
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Author: Guest
Love this album, probably should write a genuine review of it, but just a note here: one of his lyrics here (I think it's in this album) is about saving the best tracks he's produced for himself to rap over and it's actually true. Listen to songs he's produced for people like The Game or "Lucifer" on Jay-Z's Black Album.... they usually consist of one kinda-interesting loop played over and over dozens of times. The tracks on Kanye's albums tend to be more spacious and have lots of flourishes and development to them. Kind of a jerk-thing to do, but it makes his albums highly memorable.
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Author: Guest
This album has everything done properly, even the skits made me laugh. Kanye shows a lot of talent on this album, and his lyrics are quite solid. Not to mention, he has quite a number of featured artists on this album, however, the spotlight usually stays on Kanye. Combined with some major talent such as Mos Def, Jay-Z and Talib Kweli.
Some may not like the last song, "Last Call", since he raps in the beginning, for about 4 minutes, and the other 8 minutes is Kanye telling his own story, from his past to present. Truly a great debut!
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Author: Guest
I'm going to say this to all these people who interject pointless reviews about Kanye that has nothing to do with the album: If you hate his music so much, why did you buy his album? People are making comments about Kanye like this some kind of message board of such.
As for "The College Dropout", I found it to be a very solid debut. Perhaps overrated, in my opinion. What stands out to me is his production. Some of his production is nice. So what if he uses samples in his production. If that is his style, let him run with it. "Get 'Em High" has one of the best beats on here made by Kanye. While I believe some of his production is lackluster, like on "All Falls Down" and "The New Workout Plan".
As for his lyrical skills. Some people do the "either love him or hate him" thing for Kanye. People love Kanye because he rhymes about alternative subjects, such as the obvious "Jesus Walks". As I said on my Lupe Fiasco review, just because you rhyme about something different than everybody else doesn't necessarly make you better than anyone else. I believe Kanye is an excellent rapper, but his mic skills are more limited than everyone in the world thinks. Also I seem to notice that people hate Kanye because they claim that his rhymes are arrogant. I do believe that is true, but everyone has a reason to be arrogant. Kanye just lets a lot of heat off his chest in a direct way, possibly because he was affected by past events in his life. Hey, I'm not mad at his arrogance, because a lot of what he says I can relate to.
As for bad songs, I can name a lot. As mentioned before "Jesus Walks", I found that the be one of the most overrated songs that I heard 2004. It was a good song, but everyone played it into the ground. A few more songs that I had no feel to was "The New Workout Plan", "Breathe In Breathe Out", "All Falls Out" (another song I thought was overrated, thanks to BET). The good songs was "We Don't Care" which I thought was good and entertaining. "Spaceship" with GLC and Consequence, which I could relate to as well. One I really enjoyed was "Family Business" which was very laid back and excellent song put together.
The College Dropout to me was solid. People love it or hate it, but I find this in the middle. Kanye has skill to carry an entire album, lyrically and production wise, as it was shown on his debut. I personally like "The Late Registration" better than this, and is looking foward to his third album "The Freshman Adjustment". This CD had an effect on me in so many ways. I recommend that you don't play this CD right after you graduate high school (like I did, lol). Some of the skits "School Sprit Skit" are somewhat kind of wasteful (hey I've been in College going on three years). So I don't think anyone should take them seriously. Another dissapointmet was that a week befor the CD came out, The Music Choice Channel played a song with him and ODB called "Keep The Receipt" that didn't make the final cut (I liked that song). I have no bias against Kanye, and I enjoyed this album.
In response to one reviewer: When you mention the track that follows "Jesus Walks" as "a track about getting falacio" I'm guessing you are talking about "The New Workout Plan" which does not follow "Jesus Walks".
Lyrics: B
Production: B+
Guest Appearances: B+
Musical Vibes: B
Overall: B
Favorite Tracks: We Don't Care, Spaceship, Never Let Me Down, Get Em' High, Slow Jamz (New Version), Two Words, Family Business
Honorable Mention Tracks: Through The Wire, Last Call
Peace Everyone!!!
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Author: Guest
This album is full of contradictions. He talks about hoes, money and head on the one hand and Jesus and social issues on the other. The album is however very entertaining and I can play it through for the most part, without too much skipping except when I got to tracks 13 to 17 - too many skits.
My favorite tracks are:
4. All Falls Down - hot single; good message about people who are lost in school etc. Syleena Johnson is featured and she sounds great.
6. Spaceship - I love this song - it's about working someplace you hate. Consequence & GLC are featured and their rhymes are tight.
7. Jesus Walks - hot single with some good messages.
8. Never let me down - love it - the beat is sick - the singing is beautiful - JayZ's flow is outstanding on this.
9. Get em high featuring Common and Talib Kweli - good beat. Common and Talib Kweli's raps are both on point.
18. Two Words - nice beat; good raps by Mos Def and Freeway. The Harlem Boys Choir sounds good.
19. Through the Wire - hot single.
21. Last Call - long outro but it has a nice beat and tells the story of how he became a rapper.
Kanye has an annoying personality and so it shows on the worse tracks. The worse tracks are:
3. Graduation Day - silly, pointless interlude;
11. The new workout plan - this is a joke - it's about giving head as a workout;
13. Breathe in breathe out - another head giving song;
14. School Spirit Skit 1 - annoying interlude;
15. School Spirit - song about nothing;
16. School Spirit Skit 2 - annoying anti-education interlude;
17. Lil Jimmy Skit - another annoying anti-education interlude;
His anti-degree interludes are supremely annoying. Doesn't he realize that not everyone can end up in the arts, whether it's being a professional dancer, singer, producer, actor or artist? If you have no artistic ability, then a college education in a marketable major is a good choice. Besides most people who aspire to be rappers/singers/producers never get discovered and never become famous. Hopefully kids listening to this CD won't take his rants seriously.
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Author: Guest
Kanye West is a good lyricist but to say that he is bringing hip hop back(especially when cornball groups like D4L and Dem Franchize Noize can make crappy albums and go gold)is a bit much. Kanye's production especially on this album is solid and innovative and not simplistic sounding like the beats you get from these overrated producers(think Nitti and Swizz Beatz). Standout tracks: ALL FALLS DOWN, SPACESHIP, JESUS WALKS, NEVER LET ME DOWN, GET EM HIGH(Kanye and Talib's verses were hot but Common steals the show), THE NEW WORKOUT PLAN, SCHOOL SPIRIT, TWO WORDS, THROUGH THE WIRE(crazy first single) and FAMILY BUSINESS. Filler: Breathe in Breathe out(corny snoozer alert), Slow Jamz(I never liked this track but to put and extended version is going overboard) and all those skits(while truthful) were not funny. Bottom line: Kanye West shows and proves on this highlight album of 2004. His flow is impressive, the production is great and the guest appearances shine along with him. A classic debut.
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