The College Dropout

The College Dropout
Studio album by Kanye West
Publication (s)	February 10, 2004
Label (s)	Def Jam ( Roc-a-Fella Records )
Format (s)	CD
Genre (s)	Alternative hip-hop , chipmunk soul
Title (number)	21st
running time	76:31
production	Kanye West
chronology - The College Dropout Late Registration (2005)

The College Dropout is the debut album by the American rapper and producer Kanye West . It was released on February 10, 2004 and brought West tremendous media attention in the US. The album has been called a classic by critics and West himself since its release .

About the album

Most of the tracks on The College Dropout are built around pitched and looped samples of old soul songs by Marvin Gaye , Luther Vandross and Aretha Franklin , for example . In addition, many instruments were recorded live.

John Legend sings the backing vocals on several songs, and the violinist Miri Ben-Ari can also be heard frequently.

West's (bad) experiences, which he gained during his year at Chicago State University , conceptually run through the artwork and the lyrics of the album . The booklet contains the class photos of the participants in The College Dropout , as well as their high school superlatives, in the form of a yearbook . West is dubbed “Best Dressed”, but also “Most Unlikely to Succeed”.

Singles

Four songs were extracted from the album. The first of these was Through the Wire . The title is a play on the title of the sample used for the song ( Through the Fire by Chaka Khan ) and the fact that West had to rap with a wired jaw as a result of a car accident when recording in 2002 . He financed the accompanying music video himself. Through the Wire reached number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 61 on the German single charts and was nominated at the 2005 Grammy Awards in the category Best Rap Solo Performance .

Slow Jamz was also released in 2003 . The song is actually Twista's single, but a longer version is also available on The College Dropout . With the song West, Twista and Jamie Foxx were able to place themselves at number 1 on the Billboard charts for the first time . In Germany it came in 58th.

All Falls Down is the second single and reached number 7 on the Billboard charts and number 72 on the Media Control charts. The title uses a sample of Lauryn Hill 's Mistery of Iniquity, which Syleena Johnson has recently sung . The video for All Falls Down was shot from West first person view .

The third single Jesus Walks wrote West together with the Chicago rapper Rhymefest . It ranked 11th on the Billboard charts and won a Grammy for Best Rap Song in 2005 . A total of three videos were shot for Jesus Walks , all of which approach the religious content of the song in different ways.

The New Workout Plan was released as the last single . This could not place itself in the charts. In the accompanying video you can see Anna Nicole Smith , Tracee Ellis Ross and Vida Guerra .

Track list

All songs produced by Kanye West. Breathe In Breathe Out co-produced by Brian "All Day" Miller, Last Call co-produced by Evidence ( Dilated Peoples ).

1. I'll be there
2. We don't care
3. Graduation Day
4. All Falls Down feat. Syleena Johnson
5. I'll fly away
6. Spaceship feat. GLC and Consequence
7. Jesus walks
8. Never Let Me Down feat. Jay-Z and J. Ivy
9. Get Em High feat. Talib Kweli and Common
10. Work It
11. The New Workout Plan
12. Slow Jamz - Twista , Kanye West and Jamie Foxx
13. Breathe In Breathe Out feat. Ludacris
14. Spirit
15. Sky high
16. School's Out
17. Lights
18. Two Words feat. Mos Def , Freeway and The Harlem Boys Choir
19. Through the wire
20. Family business
21. Last call

reception

successes

Kanye West made his commercial breakthrough with his first solo album. The College Dropout went straight to number 2 on the Billboard Charts and went triple platinum . It has sold over 4 million times worldwide. In Germany, however, the album only reached number 77. At the Grammy Awards 2005 it was nominated as Album of the Year and Best Rap Album and received the award in the latter category .

Reviews

International

The College Dropout has received critical acclaim. It can be found in countless end-of-year lists of the best albums of 2004, for example in the list of the "Top 50 Records of 2004" compiled by Rolling Stone . Spin magazine chose the album as number 1 of the "40 Best Albums of the Year". In the list of the best albums 2004 by Pitchfork Media it can be found at number 18. For Time , The College Dropout is one of the 100 best albums of all time. The Entertainment Weekly chose it to number 4 of the 100 best albums of the last 25 years, and No. 1 on the ten best albums of the decade . Its metascore is 88 points, making it 11th of the best-reviewed albums in 2004.

The hip-hop magazine The Source gave The College Dropout almost the highest rating with 4.5 out of 5 points. The Village Voice gave it an "A" (equivalent to a 1). The All Music Guide rated it 4.5 out of 5 and only complained about the many skits on the album .

“(…) The College Dropout , an album that's nearly as phenomenal as the boastful West has led everyone to believe (…) Prior to this album, we were more than aware that West's stature as a producer was undeniable; now we know that he's also a remarkably versatile lyricist and a valuable MC . "

National

The e-zine laut.de gave the album the highest rating with 5 points.

"Goldhandchen West presents itself as the long-awaited link between the backpack - and the jiggy rapper [...] Cleanly as if produced under quarantine , every song becomes the eighth wonder of the world ."

The pop culture magazine Spex describes The College Dropout as the best "rap album since time immemorial" and West as the best "producer on the mic". In a guest post for Spiegel Online , the rapper Samy Deluxe stated that The College Dropout was " definitely the best long player in the last two years ". Kanye West manages to “be cool in this gangster-infested rap era without having a criminal past. "

swell

1. ^ The New York Times , "The College Dropout Who Made Good," December 26, 2004
2. ↑ taz : "The End of Ego-Rap" , August 3, 2004
3. ↑ laut.de : "I rap about God and sex" , June 4, 2004
4. ↑ Time : "Why You Can't Ignore Kanye," August 21, 2005
5. ↑ ^{a b} The New York Times: "Kanye West's Argument With Himself," July 24, 2005
6. ^ The Sydney Morning Herald , "Mr Confidence puts it all on the line," Aug. 1, 2005
7. ↑ ^{a b} Info about The College Dropout ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ^ "Pitchfork 50 Best Albums of 2004"
9. ↑ TIME: "The All TIME 100 Albums" , November 13, 2006
10. ↑ Entertainment Weekly : "100 New Music Classics: The Top 25"
11. ↑ Entertainment Weekly: “10 Best Albums of the Decade,” December 17, 2009
12. ↑ Metacritic : "Best of 2004"
13. ↑ All Music Guide : Review of The College Dropout
14. ↑ laut.de: Review of The College Dropout
15. ↑ Spex : Review of The College Dropout ( memento of the original from November 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 2004 
16. ↑ Spiegel.de: Nicked deluxe - fat beats, rich message. Retrieved June 30, 2020 .