The College Dropout

Rap week continues here on reTROview! By the end of this, I'm going to have reviewed the same number of rap albums as rock and metal put together, which is not in keeping with my general listening trends. But I'm enjoying it, so whatever!

Second on my list of favorite rap records (not necessarily in any order) is The College Dropout, Kanye West's debut album as a solo performer. Kanye was first introduced to me by my college roommate, although I didn't really know it was Kanye at all. But I did hear great tracks, primarily from College Dropout, including Jesus Walks and Through the Wire many times coming from his computer, and always greatly enjoyed the tracks.

The College Dropout is my favorite Kanye record, despite probably not being the best. That, in all likelihood, goes to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. But College Dropout represents an early, happy, and slightly more humble Kanye who's still trying to find himself as an artist and a person, while his identity tends to solidify more and more as his discography goes on. Peering into the formative periods of this brilliant artist is absolutely fascinating, and as I generally prefer humble personalities to proud ones, I can identify a lot more with early Kanye than, for example, Yeezus Kanye.

I also think that Kanye's rapping is the best on this record, as he tends to lean a lot more on features on subsequent records. He was bringing an entire lifetime's worth of lyrical ideas into this record, and far less history into other records.

The production is probably not quite as good on this record as it is on most records, as his production abilities seem to continually improve over time. But that's a bit like saying that Lebron had a bad year, he only made it to the NBA Finals again, rather than winning it (exemplary, in other words). His novel use of sped up samples on tracks like Through the Wire and Last Call show his genuine love for older music, along with his ability to craft new and fascinating outputs from the work of others.

High points on the record include smash hit singles Through the Wire, Jesus Walks, Last Call, Family Business, Get Em High, Spaceship, and We Don't Care, and there are probably 3-5 other very good songs on the record as well.

For all of his innovations on the record, Kanye sticks a little too close to dated rap standards by having too many tracks on the album, as well as far too many unfunny skits (the ideal number of skits on a record is 0). But with all of that said, this is a truly superb record, and a look into the young and untroubled mind of a future mad genius. Listen, and love. I'll give it a 9.2/10.

-TRO