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17 years ago today, Kanye West released his debut album 'The College Dropout' under Roc-A-Fella Records and DefJam - a thread on why this is one of the greatest albums of all time
after the release of jay-z's masterpiece, 'the blueprint' kanye got the recognition he deserved. he produced songs like 'heart of the city' and 'never change' which led to kanye being one of the most in demand record producers in the whole industry
kanye began crafting beats for his album back in 1999. it took him 4 years to craft, he then searched for support from a big record label but that wouldn't be easy. labels such as capitol records were desperate to sign him as a producer but they didn't care about kanye the rapper
it was self-produced and it would develop kanye's "chipmunk soul" production choice, which made use of sped-up, pitch shifted vocal samples from soul and r&b records in addition to his own drum programming, string accompaniment and gospel choirs
diverging from the then dominant gangster rap persona in hip hop, the lyrics concern themes of family, self-consciousness, materialism, religion, racism and higher education
one of the many highlights from the album was kanye making 'through the wire' while his jaw was literally wired shut. in this song he told us how he would do anything to make it as a rapper and live out his dreams, he then went on to predict the song would be history in making
the college dropout was an instant success, earning kanye his first #1 with 'slow jamz'. the album also received a staggering 10 grammy nominations. kanye suddenly broke into the mainstream and now had opportunities to flourish as an artist
the album has aged perfectly since it's release, tcd will always be kanye's magnum opus in my eyes
