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List Price: $13.98 | | Label: Roc-a-Fella
Salesrank: 118325
Released: February 10, 2004 |
| Our Price: $8.81 |
| Used Price: $2.55 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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The College Dropout Track Listing:
1. Intro
2. We Don't Dare
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
16. Lil Jimmy Skit
17. Two Words
18. Through the Wire
19. Family Business
20. Last Call
The College Dropout Reviews:
Loved this once, but now it's not as hot... 
2007-12-15 - And points are docked for trying to interfere with this Man's artistic expression. Clean CDs suck, bad.
I hate them.
But if that's all I can get at the time, I may just settle. Most likely I won't though.
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 - .2 for editing Kanye's sometimes witty lyrics.
3.6 stars.
Overall: C
Game-changing (4.5/5) 
2007-07-12 - After years as a celebrated producer behind the boards at Roc-A-Fella Records, Chicago native Kanye West finally delivered his own solo debut, "The College Dropout," in 2004. "The College Dropout" really is a wonder of a project to behold, an overblown and at times ridiculous showcase of a man and his life. While the production is the kind of excellent music you'd expect, I think Kanye really made this album special because of his work on the microphone. He's not the kind of street rapper and vocabularist like most of his labelmates, rather, I think he found so much mainstream appeal because he comes across as very human. His verses sound very conversational, a lot of people can relate to his everyday subject matter, and he makes himself look like an underdog in a world full of gangsta rappers. What also makes him endearing is that although he really is a great rapper, he does his best not to flaunt it. Sometimes, he'll rhyme a word with the same word in the next line, or end a verse by flowing off the beat just to show he's human. The journey he speaks of from college dropout to depressed wage worker to lucky hip hop producer is fairly inspiring and part of what makes him so likable. Before the media started portraying him as someone with an oversized character, "The College Dropout" made many believe otherwise. The songs throughout the album are emotional, thought-provoking, and fun. The production ended up having a wide influence throughout hip hop. Kanye's sample-heavy beats are nostalgic for an earlier era, using squeaky, sped-up vocal samples. His sound is very unique and is almost as friendly as his microphone presence. There are a few very minor missteps over the course of the debut, but "The College Dropout" is a winner, an unlikely champion and a widely influential album.
After the intro, the album begins with the anthemic "We Don't Care," an anthem for kids from the wrong side of the tracks about overcoming struggles. The song is funny and very catchy. On the single "All Falls Down," Kanye recounts the ways of an image-troubled woman, and his lyrics here might be the best on the album, full of irony and funny one-liners. The beat is also quite clever. Another one of my favorites is "Spaceship," a song where a depressed Kanye provides insight into the life of a poor man with few options, another excellent production with an anthemic quality. The hit "Jesus Walks" was a landmark for hip hop. Despite being a lyrically and musically piece of creative genius, this song really brought Christian influence to urban radio, and Kanye should be respected for that. Jay-Z and J. Ivy guest on the inspired "Never Let You Down," a highlight, and Talib Kweli and Common are featured on the light, loopy club track "Get 'Em High." "The New Workout Plan" is meant to be a humorous song, it's a low point on the disc though, it doesn't fit in too well and doesn't come off very well. The classic "Slow Jamz" follows, the hit collaboration with Jamie Foxx and Twista. The version on "The College Dropout" is a slightly remixed version from the one you might be familiar with, but it maintains its creative genius and hilarious hook and gorgeous music. "Breathe In Breathe Out" is another club song along the lines of "Get 'Em High," this one featuring Ludacris. It's not my favorite, but a perfectly fine addition to the tracklist. "School Spirit" is a very ironic look at American culture. Kanye maintains that the structure of high schools and poor people's feelings that they must pay for college is unnecessary, it's a very interesting take to hear. Mos Def and Freeway guest on the rough "Two Words," followed by Kanye's classic first single, "Through the Wire." I absolutely love this song, a dramatic and epic count of his near-fatal car accident, over a perfect beat anchored with a Chaka Khan sample. This song was infamously recorded with his jaw wired shut, and it was a perfect single. The album closes with the sad "Family Business" and the 13-minute "Last Call," an interesting track where he recalls his entire musical career.
Overall, "The College Dropout" is an inspired, entertaining, and fulfilling debut from a truly multitalented artist. It's received a fair amount of hate for all the success it had, but I think this was undeserved. From a lyrical and musical perspective, this album is excellent from all sides, and I highly recommend it to all hip hop fans.
Great Album "The Man's A Genius"
2006-07-31 - If you can get your head around some of the lyrics.
Credit where credit is due. Quite simply one of the best albums i have listened too. The man is a genius.
Get over ya self kanye 
2005-09-15 -
This is one awesome CD if you love high pitched vocal samples. He introduces, popularized, and simultaneously wears the ever loving fool out of that little bit of studio wizardry all on this one release. What's left for the next album? He could do a sweet chipmunks hip hop album. I would trade this one for that anyday
But what is up with the SKITS and attempted COMEDY tracks?? Okay who is going to listen to those more than once? SO now you got to press skip 12 times anytime the CDs in. TO me there is nothing more annoying that that stuff and having to search past it.
What is his message on some of these tracks? Don't go to college?? Okay...not sound advice.
From "Jesus Walks"
"They say you can rap-about-anything except for Jesus
That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes
But if I talk about God my record won't get played, Huh?"
--no you can put his name in there, as long as its trite, and MTV/radio will be fine with it considering the context of your body of work (they know its just a cultural nod, not a christian message). Actually they will be quite proud of themselves for giving it so much airtime.
I kept listening to some of the tracks for a while, but eventually I just was turned off by this guy, especially after his hateful attacks on Pres. Bush. I wish i had not contributed the $12 or whatever to his cause, but it was an impulse buy and i tried to get some enjoyment out of it.
I will admit there are some nice beats and production on this album, "Family Business" is pretty enjoyable. He may be more intelligent and insightful than Lil Jon, slightly.
Just One Simple Word: Wow!
2005-03-22 - When I first saw the name Kanye West it was when I realized that he was the one that produced Beanie Sigel's "The Truth", which was a song from Beanie Sigel's solo CD. I would see Kanye West's name once again on Jay Z's "Dynasty: Roc La Familia" CD. Kanye produced a nice collaboration with Jay Z, Scarface and Beanie Sigel called "This Can't Be Life". He used an old Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes song and all three rappers had nice verses on the song. Other well known Kanye produced beats are also "Get By" by Talib Kweli, "Takeover" by Jay Z and "Guess Who's Back" which is another collaboration with Jay Z, Scarface and Beanie Sigel. The first time I heard Kanye West rap was on "Champions" featuring Young Chris, Beanie Sigel, Cam'ron & Twista from the Paid In Full soundtrack. I wasn't sure if Kanye would release a CD but by the sounds of his debut CD, we definitely have a classic on our hands.
His first single, "Through The Wire" sampled the old Chaka Khan slow jam, "Through The Fire". Kanye detailed the near fatal car accident that he was in and he basically did the whole rap, "through the wire". "Slow Jamz" is an interesting collaboration between Kanye, Twista and Jamie Foxx. Twista clearly steals the show but Kanye produces the track and he also has a nice verse on the song as well. His current single, "All Falls Down" samples a song from Lauryn Hill's MTV Unplugged CD. Lauryn wouldn't clear her vocals on the song so Kanye had Syleena Johnson sing the chorus. Kanye has a clever way of rapping. He likes to use metaphors, sometimes humorous, and you can tell that he is intelligent by the words that he says in some of his verses.
"Jesus Walks" is my favorite song on the CD. Kanye talks about God in a way that no other rapper has before and Kanye plays off of the fact that if he wasn't the person that he was that no one would even pay attention to what he is saying. He is sending a message saying that there is nothing wrong with pubicly diplaying your love for Jesus Christ. While the song may not be played in a club or on local radio stations, his message is loud and clear. Jay Z accompanies Kanye West on "Never Let Me Down". Jay has two "fire" verses inbetween Kanye and J Ivy. This song also serves a motivational song as the chorus goes: "When it comes to being true, atleast true to me, one thing I found, one thing I found is that you'll "Never Let Me Down". "Get 'Em High" features Talib Kweli and Common and definitely contains the best lyrics on the CD. We have an Erykah Badu less Common sounding like he did on "I Used To Love Her" and Talib at his best as well after Kanye raps to verses at the beginning of the track. Other stand out tracks include "Spaceship" where Kanye takes you back to almost an oppressive way of how people came up in the world, "We Don't Care" where Kanye has his own version of a kid's national anthem, "Two Words" featuring Mos Def and Freeway where it's nice just to hear Mos Def rapping and not see him in a movie or a play and the hilarious "New Workout Plan" where Kanye claims to have the remedy for all of the ladies' problems.
I also can't exclude "Family Business" and "Last Call". Kanye plays off of habits in alot of families today like the aunt you don't eat food from and many other things. On "Last Call" Kanye finishes "The College Dropout" right as he raps for about 5 minutes and he gives you a summary of how he came up in the producing and rapping game.
Overall, you can't afford to miss what may be the best rap CD of 2004. Kanye West has clearly outdone himself on this CD.
Bobby's Top 5 Tracks
1) Jesus Walks
2) Spaceship Featuring GLC & Consequence/Two Words Featuring Mos Def, Freeway and The Harlem Boys Choir
3) Breathe In, Breathe Out Featuring Ludacris/Get Em High Featuring Talib Kweli & Common
4) Never Let Me Down Featuring Jay-Z & J. Ivy/We Don't Care
5) All Falls Down Featuring Syleena Johnson/Through The Wire
This album is DEFINITELY worth every cent you pay for this album. It's a good buy.
hopefully this review helps you out a bit when you're deciding whether or not to buy this.
