The College Dropout
Kanye West
In Depth
Review
*Opening
Opinon*-9.75/10
Before I was put on to this album
by my friend Jay(Jimmy), R.I.P.; I had heard very little from Kanye(Like most
everyone else at the time). After hearing the album for the first time I had
concluded that Mr. West wasn’t just a good rapper and a great producer; but he
was going to be in the game for a long time.
This album is just straight up fun
to listen to. It starts with a “college faculty” telling Kanye to make a nice
song for the college kids. Kanye starts his album off with We Don’t Care. It’s a funny song about college and drugs. The beat
is very soulful, and with that colorful chorus you can’t go wrong. Afterwards
the janitor tells Kanye he will not be graduating because of his “choice of
song”. It seems Kanye has been kicked out of College( but in more dramatic form
than it really happened).
All
Falls Down isn’t Kanye’s first hit, but it put him on the map.The beat is
rather simple, but incredibly effective. Kanye’s lyrics are incredibly clever
and introspective. “Couldn’t afford a car, so she named her daughter Alexis”
The chorus by Syleena Johnson is really addictive. This song might be the best
song on the album, but there are others that make me think differently.
Afterwards there’s another skit,
that fits perfectly for the next song: Spaceship.
Kanye is joined by Consequence, who is in my opinionii a C+
kind of rapper. Kanye continues to showcase his sample heavy beats. The next
song, Jesus Walks is a classic anyway
you look at it. The beat is creative, “
bum bum bum”, then there’s also some singing in there. You would almost think
you were listening to a gospel record!
Next up is Never Let Me Down . A song where Kanye
is outshined by Jay-z. The song is really soulful. There’s even a spoken word piece
by J.Ivy. Get Em High is sort of a
straight club song. Common and Talib Kweli join Mr. West here. At this time
they were better rappers than Kanye, but now I’d say that’s not true. Kweli’s
verse is fire, and Common’s verse is alright.
Kanye
begins to show love to the ladies on The
New Work Out Plan and Slow
Jamz(Extended version). The latter is like a treat, as its about 2 mintues
longer than the version that appeared on Twista’s album. Jamie Foxx does a
great job as well. The former is an incredibly high tempo song about girls
working out to improve their bodies and get the man they ….want. The song is
pure excitement.
Breathe in and Out features Ludacris,
who does a great job on the chorus. Kanye spits some dope verses too. This
album really feels like an extraganza, and its not about to let up. Up next are
two School Spirit skits with a song called “School Spirit” in between them. The
skits are funny, but I don’t know who that guy is. As for the song its very
simplistic but it has some soulful samples on it. Kanye raps about him quitting
college. Yes he is/was the greatest backpack rapper. Up next is a funny, yet
sad “Lil Jimmy Skit”.
The next song is Two Words, which features Freeway and Mos Def. This particular song is very well executed, but its not one of the best songs on this stellar album. Family Business is a really nice song about ….well Kanye’s fam. Through the Wire, samples Chaka Khan’s Through the Fire song. This was his first solo single and its just so damn soulful and personal.
The last
song, Last Call, Is really good as
well. After the song is over Kanye tells his story about how he came from the
bottom but continued to work hard until finally being signed by Rocafella
Records. Sure its long, but he’s added beats to the 12 minute track….
2nd Opinion: Kanye’s first album is technically a
classic. The only weakness in the album is its lyrics, which aren’t perfect but
that’s not much to complain about.
10/10
