Kanye West - 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 Higgins Amazon.com

A mataphor?

The title must be a metaphor for West himself, because only someone as uneducated and stupid as he is would think as much of this garbage and himself as he does. April 30, 2008

Good Stuff

I think Kanye is the best rapper currently out there- fresh rhymes, intelligent, and would sound good even without the beats. February 7, 2008

damn near perfect 4.9 stars

i have never heard a perfect cd before but this ranks among all the 4.9s

this is a cd where i honestly couldn't skip a song. it was in my cd player all of the 07 summer.

just buy it. each song is great. the skits are short and sweet and not retarded [like most skits on hip hop albums]...

buy it.


one click buy it now. January 30, 2008

I Loved it at first, but some of that same Love has faded...

I like some of the skits but 4-5 is too much. Spaceship is an obvious highlight. It's about working at a dead end job not getting paid enough having big dreams and because of all of that walking the hell out of that mother____er!

I like His style in that song. And the production is super-solid. The singer actually singing is great too. 5.5/5 11/10 His lyrics are OK in places, shine on 2-3 tracks and are really lacking on some such as The Workout Plan which isn't a bad song by any means. But to put it plain and nicely You will only like this if You like Your Hip-Hop funny and shallow. It's OK for what it is I suppose. 3.5/5 7/10

Next, is Jesus Walks. It's solid but nothing great. It's religiously-themed which is OK, I suppose. But I'm basically an Atheist, that Believes sometimes. Agnostic Anyone? 3.75/5 We Don't Care is pretty solid. It's a serious subject, made funny and many people would NOT appreciate what Kanye did here. I'm one of the thousands that don't give a flying s*** about Him rapping about Kids selling drugs (*LOL*). Nice lyrics, relate-able even if You don't sell. 4.25/5 8.5/10

All Falls Down is a ballad(?) and it's very great and even more recognizable. The video is crazy good and features the beautiful Stacy Dash. 4.5/5 9/10 Slow Jams is as solid as the fore-mentioned track All Falls Down. It's a slowed-down-sexy-groove-alicious treat for R&B junkies. Features the smooth-vocaled crooner Jamie "nice behind in The Replacements" Foxx and Twista "the "fastest" rapper alive" (which I DON'T Believe for a second! He ain't THAT fast.). 4.5/5 9/10

Never Let Me Down is decent. It featured Common I Believe. I like the Guy at the end Who gives off a powerful speech. I enjoyed that the most. The rest was OK and slightly forgettable. 4.5/5 * 9/10 The New Workout Plan is like the original but so much "funnier". LOL sure! 3.25/5 6.5/10 Get Em High is with Ludacris(?). It's OK and far from solid. 3.825/5 6.5/10 Breathe In Breath Out is strictly about weed and maybe sex. I like the latter, could care so much less about the former. 3/5 6/10

Family Business Through The Wire and Last Words are in the top 6 best songs here. Family Business touches on a barbecue setting where Kanye's family get to show Their personalities when socializing eating and dancing. Sometimes His "Aunt Sheila and Aunt (?) get heated at every house warming..." 10/10. Through The Wire definitely has trouble keeping up with that track. It's very catchy, has a nice Chaka Khan "Through The Fire" sample and has decent lyrics. Kanye's trademark song. 9/10 Lastly, Last Words Features simple and quick-look-it's-JayZ-on-the-track-oh-no-Hes-leaving! vocals on it. It talks about Kanye's troubles before He became a well known Rappin'-Producer.

==> Love his swagger, attitude, big ego sometimes, his decent vocals, decent but over-bloated lyrics and his sign; Gemini, Gemini (The Twins)
==> Love most of the samples, namely Spaceship and Through The Wire
==> The guest appearances were gold
==> In my top 10 favorite rappers
==> The cover rocks; a cute yet sad, lonely, and maybe distraught bear - I kinda felt that way in 2004. It didn't hit me fully, till mid-2005, the worst year of my life E-V-E-R
==> His middle name is Omari, which rocks so much m/

<== Songwriting improves considerably, but not till his next project, LR
<== John Legend lends NO vocals to this project
<== Some songs were kinda wack
<== Kanye's songwriting isn't all that great sometimes
<== Too many skits

Cover Art: A+
Inside Art: A (his school mates are in the book, but no lyrics, docked a point).
Songwriting: C
Vocals: D+
Vocal Emotion: F
Production: A-
Length: C+

3.8 stars.

Overall: C+ December 12, 2007

a masterpiece

Let me start off by saying I am not a fan of rap or hip hop at all. I think 99% of it is total crap and I never liked it. I am 43 years old and a music fanatic. I own about 1,000 CD's and I love all types of music (except most Rap & Country music). With that being said, Kanye West is a musical genious and this CD is phenomenal. His lyrics are witty and the music is very uplifting. It always puts me in a great mood! I own all 3 of his CD's and they are all great. This one or Graduation are his best. Even if you don't like rap music, give this one a try because it is great. HIGHLY recommended. November 13, 2007

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