Introduction
For years Kanye West has been revolutionizing the Hip-Hop industry with each new album release by showcasing not only his complicated upbringings, but his emotional status and how its changed with each new album. This is the College Dropout An Introspect.
Early 2000’s
The professional music career of Kanye West started in 2000 when he produced 2 tracks, “The Truth” for Beanie Sigel and “This Can’t Be Life” for Jay Z, both of whom were highly respected in the Hip-Hop game. West would go on to produce 4 tracks off of Jay Z’s critically acclaimed album The Blueprint, these of which were said to have revitalized the career of Jay Z. The progression and success of the album put all eyes on Kanye West as he received huge recognition in the industry. Jay signed Kanye West to his Roc-A-Fella Records soon after this as their “In House Producer”.
Although Kanye was seeing huge success as Roc-A-Fellas in house producer accumulating over a dozen more tracks in the upcoming years, it wasn’t enough for West. From a young age Kanye had always aspired of being a rapper and although he tried, he was never able to acquire a record contract until he started focusing on his career as a producer. In the next part of College Dropout An Introspect we’ll learn how Kanye never gave up on these dreams, and after working for almost 2 years he took his first steps to Hip-Hop immortality when he dropped his debut album.
The College Dropout (2003-2004)
The time had finally come, he had released his first album every track of which except 2 had been solely produced West himself. This skyrocketed West to fame and stardom, with the album debuting at number one. on the Billboard top 100. This milestone did not come without pain and sacrifice though. After suffering a life threatening car accident in October of 2002 which shattered his jaw, Kanye had to have it wired shut after reconstructive surgery. He would go on to record almost half of the album with his jaw wired shut, showcasing his heart and dedication to his craft.
One of these tracks recorded only 2 weeks after his accident would be “Through the Wire”, which quickly became one of West’s biggest songs, first appearing on his Get Well Soon… mixtape. The track would later appear on The College Dropout which would be leaked months before its release. West wasn’t bothered by this though as he took the opportunity to re-examine his work, resulting in The College Dropout’s release to be postponed 3 time as West remastered and significantly altered the album by adding a collection of improved drum kits, acoustics and gospel choirs. These changes would reflect elements from West’s childhood, having a highly religious mother Kanye spent a lot of time in churches where he would first be exposed to gospel music and the overwhelming vocal power of choirs. The drums and acoustics came from his idealization of the music of his mentor No I.D.
In Conclusion
With every song on The College Dropout we were able to get a glimpse into the life of West. From stories about his childhood struggles of his parents splitting up to his modern day struggles of car accidents and spending all his money on clothes, his love for his mother and his craft, and his realization that he had finally achieved his dream of being not only a producer but a rapper as well.
Soon after the success of The College Dropout, West would go on to accomplish another one of his dreams by starting his own record label under the name G.O.O.D. Music which would house artist affiliations such as John Legend and No I.D.
