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Underground > Radio & Music >

Kanye West: The College Dropout

Regrettable Juvenilia

10:55 / 01.04.04

Let's get the reservations out of the way first: the really good stuff doesn't kick in until track 7, 'Jesus Walks'. There are too many skits which go on for too long and were never that funny in the first place (I know people say this about almost all modern hip hop albums, but Kanye West might be the worst offender yet - 'School Spirit' has one skit before it, and TWO after, and they're all the SAME joke - not good). Also, I do think that if you're going to have Ludacris on your album, you have to make him do a guest verse - rapping the hook is not enough, it's just going to make people feel frustrated and want to listen to 'Yeah' instead.

But forget all that, because the good stuff makes it all worthwhile. The sequence of 'Jesus Walks' > 'Never Let Me Down' > 'Get 'Em High' in particular is just blinding. Seth & Illmatic: you need to hear this. It's amazing how much emotion West manages to evoke just through his production arrangements and the way he structures tracks - when Jay-Z comes back in for a second verse at the end of 'Never Let Me Down', after the guy who sounds a bit like Saul Williams and the gospel breakdown bit, it's just... inspirational. There's such a gospel feel to a lot of this album, Kanye West really wants to take it back to church. And it's very clever the way he gets Jay-Z on the soulful, 'positive' track and then Talib Kweli and Common on 'Get 'Em High', the nasty ass-shaking girl-chasing club track...

Although actually 'School Spirit' might be my favourite track. That "Alpha step, Omega step..." chant is so instantly catchy and nagging, and the trademark sped-up soul sample behind it makes it perfect. Then just when you think things can't get any better you have this whole call and response bit where Kanye says "I feel a 'whoo' comin' on, cuz... Whoo!... There it was."

I'd like to talk about how it's a concept album with all the pros and cons that entails, plus Kanye West's position in relation to the 'underground/chart' split, but for now let's just see if anyone else has heard this...

11:31 / 01.04.04

I've heard good things about this already, and you know what? .... I just got paid. Could be tripping up to Seleckydisc tonight.

11:31 / 01.04.04

Usually Barbelith is where I hear about new music first, but in this occasion there was a wrestler on LJ singing the praises of Kanye West a couple of days ago. Anyone who dresses like a bear gets my vote... Can't add anything as I haven't heard it but I will soon....

18:51 / 01.04.04

So it's a good record? Cos all the words falling out of people's mouths seem to be "he effortlessly straddles bling and backpack!". And yeh, the first time I read stuff like that, that was yr damn filthy mouth the words were come out of, fly.

Since when was it a good thing he had a rich man with backpack sensiblities; do I really wanna know about how bad high school was and what it's like being poor, or that money and fame's just fake? Last time I checked, we had Eminem for that shit. And last time I checked, Eminem was shit.

'Cept for when he drops the beat and does his acapellas.

00:08 / 02.04.04

I don't know I'm not really so much into rap but I like this album, and you didn't think the skits were funny? cause I thought they were hilarious, like that one part "no, I've never had sex before, but you know what? my degree keeps me satisfied. if a lady walks up to me and asks me if I know what's sexy I'll say no, but you know what if you take all the change out of your purse I can count it all, very fast." well, like you'd have to hear it, causes he's all worked up in it.

00:44 / 02.04.04

I like the skits too. And the bit at the end, where he tells the whole story of how he got signed to Roc a Fella, he seems really friendly and endearing and like he'd be fun to talk to. Anyway, I totally endorse all the favorable parts of Flyboy's post and disagree with all the negative ones. There are plenty of good songs before Jesus Walks - 'We don't dare' is really addictive, and Spaceship and All Falls Down are great too. Also, how did you write about this album without mentioning Slow Jamz? SONG OF THE YEAR!

And it isn't about him being 'a rich man with backpack sensibilities', it's about someone with a good flow and production who is actually funny and entertaining to listen to, but who is also self-critical, socially conscious and deals with those contradictions in an interesting way. I mean that makes it sound totally boring, but the point is that if you set it up as a binary like 'fun but politically fucked rap vs boring but politically conscious rap' then Kanye is like the negation of the negation. He effortlessly straddles the divide. People who pretend they don't like rap for political reasons no longer have an excuse.

Anyway, surely the best thing about this album is in the sleeve notes, where they have high school photos of everyone who worked on it. How fucking funny does Ludacris look? And check out Freeway with the exact same expression as on his album cover.

04:12 / 02.04.04

pin: "'Cept for when he drops the beat and does his acapellas." Excellent job, my friend...

It's an excellent album, and Dread's right. There's plenty of good stuff before track seven. That "Wasn't s'posed to make it past twenty five, jokes on you, we're still alive" hook was in my head for weeks when I first heard it! And compared to a lot of albums I've heard, at least these skits are funny (as opposed to every skit on Speakerboxxx). I highly recommend the album. It's really catchy, Slow Jamz is one of the best singles of the year so far (that song's made it on SO many mix tapes already...), and the album as a whole is very above par. Every song is better than good at least, with about half being excellent, and Breathe In Breathe Out is the only annoying song on the whole album.

04:13 / 02.04.04

Oh, and the line "I can't even pronounce nothing, pass that ver-sasey!" is one of the best ever...

07:43 / 02.04.04

Crunchy: 'People who pretend they don't like rap for political reasons no longer have an excuse.'

One album, even if it is on Roc-A-Fella, isn't gonna change what's largely seen as an enormous monolith of guns, drugs and hos. Nestle could build hospitals and add anti-AIDS drugs to it's powdered milk for free, but there'd be years before people didn't hate themselves for eating a Kit Kat.

And there is a case for disliking hip hop for political reasons, or at least disliking political elements without getting all borecore, even if most people are doing it from disappointment. I'd imagine most Guardian readers didn't spend their time arugeing with their friends that balck people were black people too while secretly / not-so-secretly holding up subalterns as having the potential to create new forms of social organisation and containing enough radical to push for change, to get told Jay-Z sells crack like a venture capitalist.

Everyone just needs to stop buying in to spontaneous revolution and being lazy, thinking subalterns will do it all for you.

Soon, I'm gonna buy this album and not use this thread as a springboard for my own ideas...

02:26 / 03.04.04

the whole album is good, I really like that Spaceship song. that's Bernie Mac in it isn't it? I love Bernie Mac.

14:40 / 05.04.04

There' a great review of this record over on Woebot which I think you're gonna like Flyboy.

I brought it, but haven't listened to it much yet. Too excited about various others bits I brought to give ti a proper listen so far. My first impression was that it was damn good, and different - addressing a whole different bunch of concerns than normal hip hop, kinda like Outkast. Tunes for me so far: "Spaceship" and "Get 'em High" which both grabbed me straight away - more when I've had a chance to digest fully.

20:53 / 05.04.04

i can't, *can't* get next to the sped-up samples. it annoys the shit out of me. unfortunately.

19:29 / 06.04.04

ditto

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

13:37 / 09.04.04

I love the sped up samples but I am absolutely crazy for that soulful humming, "Ooooohhhh ooooooooohhhh ooooooohhhOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH" on "School Spirit".

I'm still only halfway through the album because I keep listening to parts over and over again.

One thing I'll say, "Through The Wire" is almost impossible to listen to because his voice just gives me the shakes on that. Gotta be strong and persevere.

He also has some really great rhyme moments, nothing I can sample off the top of my head but they're there.

And those skits are a) funny and b) an integral part of the album, De La Soul Is Dead style. Don't mind em, especially after going through my entire Wu catalogue. Now there's some folks that just talk between songs.

frenchfilmblurred

14:44 / 10.04.04

Got this on the strength of numerous positive reviews. It's pretty good, although closer to chart bound hip hop than I normally go. As one of the reviews says, there are times when I want the drums to hit harder. Not as bothered by the speeded up 'chipmonk soul' as I'd expected. I'm liking We Don't Care, Jesus Walks and Get Em High. It's very funny in places, esp. the Workout Plan. The skits are ok, because they're generally not overlong. They're more like short links from track to track.

02:00 / 11.04.04

Surely the best rhyme (of the year) is 'Sean Paul goatee hair' for 'Jean Paul Gaultier'? That's genius!

Haus of Mystery

22:41 / 22.04.05

+++NEW KANYE WEST ALBUM DROPS JULY 12+++

Entitled Late Registration, first single, 'Diamonds'.

A$$OME.