Track Listing

1. Intro
2. We Don't Care
3. Graduation Day
4. All Falls Down
5. I'll Fly Away
6. Spaceship
7. Jesus Walks
8. Never Let Me Down
9. Get Em High
10. Workout Plan
11. The New Workout Plan
12. Slow Jamz
13. Breathe in Breathe Out
14. School Spirit Skit 1
15. School Spirit Skit 2
16. Lil Jimmy Skit
17. Two Words
18. Through the Wire
19. Family Business
20. Last Call

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2729 in Music
• Released on: 2004-02-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

classic
i listened to this everyday when it first came out. it's a fun cd to listen to. his lyrics are crazy, but his beats are on point.

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.

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