The College Dropout: An Undisputed Classic—Part I

By: Mike Wallz

You’re in for a Weekend Special! My dear friend since 6th grade, the one & only Mike Wallz, had SO MUCH to say about The College Dropout that he wrote about the whole album! Tonight, we present to you Part I, which takes you through Tracks 1-9. Looking for Part II?

It’s 2004 and I am a 12-year-old middle school kid from the suburbs of Montgomery County, Maryland. Every morning on my walk to the bus stop, I’m listening to any combination of 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Trying, The Eminem Show, Ludacris’ Chicken & Beer, and any of the most explicit music I can rip off Limewire, upload to my iTunes, and sync to my iPod. Of course I know every lyric to every song and would never hesitate at a moment to recite any one of these anthems for an audience. At this point in my life, I am a full out Pop Warner—AAU baller, mixing AND1 skullys with FUBU jerseys, underneath a fluffy Southpole winter coat, baggy Ecko jeans, and my first pair of Nike shocks I bought with the snow shoveling money I racked up over winter break. Hip-hop music and sports culture were symbiotic and although I was a Black kid from the ‘burbs, I embodied the hustlers’ spirit of the music, and loved the bravado, energy, and confidence it gave me. Yet, there were still aspects of the culture that I couldn’t connect with directly.

On February 10, 2004, something changed in hip-hop forever. Kanye West gave us The College Dropout–a musical magnum opus that chronicles the journey of a youthful visionary who boldly forgoes traditional academic roadmaps to success. This narrative is paralleled by the personal come-up saga of Kanye West, who, in the face of a life-threatening car crash, emerges resilient, undeterred and resolute in his relentless pursuit of ascending to the zenith of hip-hop stardom.

After the first spin, Kanye almost instantly became my favorite artist, and This album was cemented in my heart as the best hip-hop album of all time. Twenty years later, the question I ask myself today is: How and why did 12-year-old Mikey fall in love with this album so profoundly at such a young age and how was this project able to stand the test of time 20 years later? In other words, what makes The College Dropout an undisputed classic? 

Track 1: Intro + Track 2: “We Don’t Care”

The album starts with a humorous Bernie Mack-esque narrator asking Kanye to sing a special song for the kids, to which Kanye, accompanied by a children’s choir, responds:

“Drug dealing just to get by, stackin money till it gets sky high / we wasn’t spose to make it past 25, jokes on you we still alive / throw your hands up in the sky and say, we don’t care what people say…”

In the first two minutes, 12-year-old Mikey is immediately engaged by the humor, musical enchantment, and what felt like a direct call to action to join this audacious sing-along during what would be revealed as a high school graduation ceremony. At that time, there was nothing more relatable than pulling a class prank during a school assembly - I was locked in. 

Track 3: “Graduation Day”

“What’n the f**ck was that, Kanye?!” 

A shockingly hilarious retort to Kanye’s ghetto sesame street-like anthem results in his expulsion from graduation and marks the beginning of his epic hero's journey. This scene is scored by a soulful pomp-and-circumstance music bed that subtly transitions into a somberly hopeful ballad. A young John Legend croons Kanye’s inner thoughts through song, foreshadowing the windy, lonely road ahead.

“I’m no longer confused (don’t tell anybody).. I’m about to break the rules… I’ve got something better than school… My mamma would kill me… She wan’t me to get a good ass job… but she aint walk in my shoes… I’m just not everybody…”

This sets the tone for what The College Dropout is all about: Taking a risk, following your heart, and doing the thing that society, your parents or peers wouldn’t expect of you, going completely left when the world is going right.

Track 4: “All Falls Down”

The concept of “romanticizing your struggles” is perfectly exemplified in “All Falls Down,” the first of five immaculate chart topping singles. In the context of the album, Kanye has just made an incredibly tough decision where things will perceivably get worse before they get better.

Probably the most honest hip-hop hit of all time, this triumphantly vulnerable anthem gave us permission to wear our insecurities on our sleeves and allowed us to see ourselves outside of the normalized, bullshit masquerade that persists at every level of society. Back when three verse records were the industry standard, Kanye skillfully delivered stories about a self-conscious college girl, a self-aware Kanye, and a self-serving  society so contagiously that a 7th grader could take pride in reciting every lyric, while truly empathizing with the protagonists in the story.

This is not to suggest in any way that Kanye’s digestibility lacked depth. This song tactfully examines the impact of the historic socio-economic oppression of Black people that produces a flawed American dream fueled by a toxic culture that Kanye himself is non-exempt.

“We a buy a lotta clothes but we don’t really need’em. Things we buy to cover up what’s inside.”

“They made us hate ourself but love their wealth…”

“Drug dealer buy a gun, crackhead buy crack, and the white man get paid off all a that!”

There is also no lack of potent honesty & personal truth in this record.

“I wanna act ballerific like its all terrific, I gotta couple past due bills, I won’t get specific…”

I gotta problem with spending before I get it, we all self-conscious, I’m just the first to admit it…”

Admitting to his own insecurities, inconsistencies and personal paradoxes—no matter what grade, major, job, or position in life you were in —spoke to something deep inside us all, allowing us to see ourselves in the mirror Kanye casted onto the culture.

Tapping Into Negro Spirituals—Track 5: “I’ll Fly Away” & Track 6: “Spaceship”

“… I's can't keep workin' like this, this grave shift is like a slave ship!”

The section that follows feels like a collection of hip-hop Negro Spirituals—- traveling along an uncharted path, feeling the lows while keeping faith through the darkness. From “I’ll Fly Away” to “Never Let Ne Down,” we join Kanye in the most tumultuous phase in his journey while learning the necessity and reliability of faith when navigating uncertainty.

Introduced by a choir singing the familiar church hymn “I’ll Fly Away,” I picture our hero in a Black church sitting between pews, soaking in every word of this song to harness the spiritual fortitude needed to embark on the journey that lies ahead.

In 2004, you could lay in bed with nothing but your headphones, “Spaceship,” and the time and space to zone out. This song got me through many groundings, detentions, and part time jobs throughout the years. As one of the most relatable songs on the record, Kanye takes us behind the counter of a dead-end retail job where his commitment to succeed is overshadowed by his current circumstances. 

“Y'all don't know my struggle / Y'all can't match my hustle

You can't catch my hustle / You can't fathom my love dude

Lock yourself in a room doin' five beats a day for three summers

That's a different world like three summers / I deserve to do these numbers” 

As a young kid with ambition, struggling to do the right thing, make my parents proud, all while discovering who I’m becoming - I felt like me and Kanye were on the same journey, and through this song, I knew I wasn’t alone.

Track 7: “Jesus Walks”

As our hero trudges through the challenging trials of his life, we are gifted with the second smash hit of the album, “Jesus Walks.” When this record dropped, everything was different in hip-hop from that moment on. “Jesus Walks” is both the most hip-hop and the most Christian record ever made—I stand on that. As a kid, I was too young to understand how controversial this record was for hip-hop heads and churchgoers alike, but I was old enough to understand that this faith-based hip-hop classic would profoundly impact the lives and the minds of a generation.

“We at war, we at war with terrorism, racism, but most of all…we at war with ourselves.”

The chain-gang-like chants, coupled with the haunting voices of a choir depict an image of modern-day slavery and the current state of the Black American experience. Examining this record with a more critical lens, Kanye was revolutionary in the way that he spoke directly to the struggles of the Black community, acknowledging that sometimes we sin to get through our circumstances and when that is the case, whether you’re hustler, killer, murderer, drug dealer, even a stripper, Jesus walks with you. 

Kanye references the inherent risk of using his debut album to praise God, while using jarring punches like “NIGGAS!” in the same sentence. The success of this song is the ultimate irony.

“God—show me the way because the devil try to break me down; the only thing that I pray is that my feet don’t fail me now…”

If nothing else, this song is a prayer, where Kanye prays for us all and himself, as we face the many challenges fulfilling our personal destiny.

Track 8: “Never Let Me Down”

One of my favorite b-sides on the album, “Never Let Me Down" seamlessly transitions from “Jesus Walks," serving as an answered prayer of sorts, a soulful rainbow after a downpour. 

“Get up, I get down, get up I get down…”

The first verse welcomes an ostentatiously spiritual Jay Z, a long-awaited feature from both fans and Kanye himself. From years of being the celebrated behind the scenes producer of hits like “Izzo,” “Heart of The City,” and“This Can’t be Life,” Kanye is finally joined by big brother HOV, not once, but twice on this hopeful, awe-inspiring track. In between lies a beautiful spoken word piece and a powerful verse from Kanye who spits a tender vignette of his mom and grandmother getting arrested in the sit-ins during the civil rights movement, giving us a glimpse into where his passion for activism comes from.

“At the tender age of 6 she was arrested for the sit-ins and with that in my blood I was born to be different…”

Structurally, it’s important to note, there are—count ‘em!—four verses in this song—nearly double the amount that we see today in hip-hop or any song, for that matter. I feel compelled to applaud the long-forgotten craftsmanship of songs with multiple verses, bridges, instrumental breakdowns, and other rich elements. 

“Never Let Me Down” serves as the rising action in the movement of the album, transitioning us into a batch of playful, high energy hits.

Track 9: “Get ‘Em High”

In the context of the story, our hero has made it to the other side with his faith intact—now it’s time to have a little fun. From “Get ‘Em High” to “Breathe In, Breath Out,” Kanye is feeling himself again—and shows us who he is as an entertainer.

“My flow, is in the pocket like Wallace, I got the bounce like hydraulics, they can’t call it, I got the swerve like alcoholics…

“My freshman year I was goin through hella problems, till I bit up the nerve to drop my ass up out of college…”

It’s easily one of the most head-banging, crowd-engaging deep cuts of the project. The fact my last name is explicitly referenced coupled with the intricate acapella flow, made these lyrics my go-to rap battle party trick. If I had to put my money on it, I’m willing to bet I was not alone.

Throughout the album, Kanye focuses on the lyrical storytelling of whatever song he’s crafting while at the same time tastefully intertwining references to the album’s major themes, allowing the listener to be fully engaged with each song while perpetually plugged into the storyline of the project.

Part II is live! You can catch Mike Wallz on IG at @mikewallz & check out his latest singles, “Lifestyle” & “Kin” ft. Cardigan.