Kanye West - The College Dropout
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CD Details
Artist: Kanye WestBrand: West
Edition: Music CD
Format: Explicit Lyrics
CD Release Date: 2004-02-10
Music Label: Roc-a-Fella
Soundtracks:
- Intro
- We Don't Care
- Graduation Day
- All Falls Down
- I'll Fly Away
- Spaceship
- Jesus Walks
- Never Let Me Down
- Get Em High
- Workout Plan
- The New Workout Plan
- Slow Jamz
- Breathe in Breathe Out
- School Spirit Skit 1
- School Spirit Skit 2
- Lil Jimmy Skit
- Two Words
- Through the Wire
- Family Business
- Last Call
Music reviews of The College Dropout
Music Review: "I turned around and replied, why yes but I prefer the term African American Express"
Rating: 4 Stars
Why are so many rap albums so long? I mean, Kanye got his big break as a producer when he did a few songs on The Blueprint. How did he look at that album, which has thirteen tracks consisting of fifteen three to five minute songs, and decide that the formula could be improved with several tracks of generally weak comedy and undeveloped half-songs and a coda where he rambles about his early career for eight minutes? He mostly makes up for it with the music, but the filler drags it down from a potentially great album to merely a very good one. What Kanye lacks in pure technical prowess he makes up for with some amazing production, genuinely catchy hooks, the occasional stroke-of-genius line, and an ability to get a lot of good talent working together on a song. Not every guest appearance works out, but enough do to make it a pretty fun and diverse ride throughout.
There are a few clunkers here and there, but most of the songs have at least a few good things going for them, and the album as a whole is just plain entertaining, not quite as much on the pure musical level of more dedicated emcees, but as an auditory experience. Even a track like "The New Workout Plan" which has almost nothing going for it on paper manages to be mostly listenable thanks to the bells and whistles. A bit gimmicky maybe, but there are a lot of different ways to enjoy music. The other singles are all consistently fun, with "Jesus Walks" being one of the few songs by any artist to consistently give me chills and "Through the Wire" being at the least an interesting experiment, and a successful one at that. Most of the songs that aren't singles could pass for such, and while it's my standard practice to enjoy music by listening to whole albums through, The College Dropout is definitely one of the most iPodable I've heard. The anti-education stance a lot of the lyrics take is frankly bewildering, but for the most part I'm sold on an artist I've been quietly admiring from afar for a few years now.
Description of The College Dropout
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 HigginsGeneral CDs
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