Talk:The College Dropout

where is the info on the grammys he won?
how come his grammy nons/win arent here anywhere? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.255.231.9 (talk) 03:35, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

<^>v!!This album is connected!!v<^>

 * All song titles serve as redirects to this album, have their own pages, or have been placed at the appropriate disambiguation pages.--Hraefen Talk 23:20, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Producers on the album
I've just organized the entire track listing of the album however I've just discovered something odd. Next to the Title of the tracks you will see the featuring artists but also a few names beside them. Are these producers? If so then what does "All tracks produced by Kanye West. "Last Call" also produced by Porse" mean? Remember all I did was organize the track listing and kept all information intact. --Xangel (talk) 05:32, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

That's the song writersKearF (talk) 16:27, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

The Washington Post review
Transcription using Google News Advanced News Archive Search. The Washington Post (Warminsky, Joe. C.05. March 3, 2004) review of The College Dropout (2004):

"Hip-hop fans are gobbling up Kanye West's ambitious CD "The College Dropout," largely because of two ubiquitous singles: "Through the Wire," an account of the auto accident that left the producer/rapper's jaw wired shut, and "Slow Jamz," a consciously gooey homage to lite-soul singers. FM stations of all stripes probably won't tire of them until the summer is over.

Like any unrefined resume, the rest of "The College Dropout" probably should've been much shorter, but its ambition pays dividends. West's easygoing personal poetry holds up against the lyrical offerings of guests Jay-Z, Ludacris, Common and Talib Kweli. As a producer, West has made his name by building quirky R&B-based beats for such rappers. As an MC, he also sticks to a basic theme: There is more than one way to effectively navigate young adulthood.

For West, finding his way meant forgoing higher education while also realizing that a job in clothing retail would bring nothing but frustration: "Take me to the back and pat me, askin' me 'bout some khakis /But let some black people walk in, I bet you they show off their token blackie," he raps on "Spaceship. Despite all those thoughtful verbals, West's grooves are the reason to hang around through all the guest appearances and sardonic anti-college skits.

He returns often to his signature production gimmick -- speeding up vocals from vintage songs to the point where they lose most of their familiarity -- but a lot of the soul on "The College Dropout" comes from within. The bass lines are melodic, the choruses are musical, and West shows a balance between patience and imagination. Examples of that approach are everywhere: The groove for "Breathe In Breathe Out" sounds as if West has a Stax/Volt horn section on a toggle switch; the jam-packed "We Don't Care" is equal parts head trip and street beat; and the stomping, piano-based rhythm of "School Spirit" is as good as anything Prince Paul created in his heyday with De La Soul.

West's rapping and producing skill-sets coalesce the best on "Jesus Walks," where he sticks up for his spirituality while backing himself with a dramatic, nearly militant sample from a hymn by the Arc Choir. Lyrics such as "I ain't here to argue about his facial features /Or here to convert atheists into believers" put West in a class by himself. He's no preacher, no professional sinner and no trained intellectual -- he's just a guy who figured out how to comfort himself in a world where it can be tough to make ends meet."

- Joe Warminsky

Dan56 (talk) 06:40, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

Dead Links
- The link for citation 72 is a 404.

Is such an extensive biography on Mr. West necessary for this page?
It's a well-written biography, but I don't think it really is needed in a discussion about the album. Mr. West already has an extensive wikipedia page detailing his upbringing, why is it repeated here? Anyone interested in Mr West's background can click the hyperlink and go to his personal page. I think the background section should be removed or at leas drastically pared down to just what was important to the album. Ella Plantagenet (talk) 23:29, 6 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Agree. But about overlinking, per WP:MOS (linking), terms within the article's body should be linked on first-reference only, and even general terms can be linked as long as they are relevant enough and contribute to making the prose clearer for readers. Dan56 (talk) 00:08, 7 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Okay, so there's still a ton of overlinking in this article that falls under that definition. I'm going to go through one more time and take ONLY the repetitive linking out.  Also, I was going to rework a more concise introductory paragraph and post it here for some thoughts before I changed it outright on the page. Ella Plantagenet (talk) 21:36, 9 September 2011 (UTC)


 * That's fine, but terms should be linked on first-reference not for the entire article's parts, but first-reference in the lead, first-reference in the body, etc. (Manual_of_Style/Linking) So things that are linked in the body may be also in the lead. Dan56 (talk) 02:08, 10 September 2011 (UTC)

Contents
I Have Noticed That Some The Songs In The Contents Section Are Out Of Order. And Some Of The Meanings Of The Songs Are WAY Too Simple. I Request That These Errors Be Fixed. I Also Request That You Go To The Wiki Pages For His 2nd, 3rd and 5th Albums as to how i think this should be done. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 120.144.7.194 (talk) 08:30, 13 November 2011 (UTC)

The introduction seems a little contradictory
"The production of the album was often halted by the lack of confidence that producers had in West's rapping ability" but  "The album's production was handled entirely by West" So West lacked confidence in himself and kept stopping work? Really?83.206.139.99 (talk) 15:29, 2 November 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 08:03, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

Location Source
Is there a source for "At one point, West hovered between making a portion of the production in the studio and the majority within his own apartment in Newark, New Jersey. Because it was a two-bedroom apartment, West was able to set up a home studio in one of the rooms and his bedroom in the other."? The new Netflix Documentary Jeen-Yuhs mentioned Hoboken not Jersey City.

There is no mention of Jersey City in the citation. In the Rolling Stone article below it says Hoboken. This is also confirmed by him mom on page 237 in her book (image link below). Complex also mentions Hoboken and not Jersey City (link below). As does Billboard.


 * https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/kanye-west-head-of-the-class-77187/
 * https://imgur.com/a/ZGl090d
 * https://www.complex.com/music/2014/02/kanye-west-interview-before-college-dropout
 * https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/kanye-wests-the-college-dropout-an-oral-history-5893976/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 100.1.158.25 (talk) 20:30, 21 February 2022 (UTC)