Happy 10th Birthday to one of the greatest rap debuts of all time and till this day KanYe's best album. Why is that? Well every album after may have been KanYe's vision but there were a lot of hands in the kitchen. Sure there's nothing wrong with collobration but I fell KanYe has used a lot of extra producers and writings on his future albums. CD was mostly all him. He only had help on a few rhymes but he wrote a majority of the lyrics and produced every beat accept 1 which had a co-producer. This album had a huge impact on me as I was at kinda the same crossroads as Ye with deciding to finish college and get my business degree or follow my true dreams as a creative person. I packed my bags and moved to NYC and the rest is history as they say. What I love about this album is KanYe's honesty.
I do think it's overstated that he killed Gangsta Rap. I think the album did change the game and is probably the last Real Classic in Hip Hop. Every KanYe album after is basically an extention of this record. Every Ye album had the "College Dropout" sound somewhere. Even "Yeezus" most popular singles amongst fans are the CD-esque tracks, "Bound 2 and Blood on the Leeves". Also though some might think the the title sent a bad message especially in the black community I feel it was the right message as he's talking mostly about the struggle of being a creative person and having to deal with everyone saying you won't make money making music, movies, writing etc, etc what almost every creative person has gone through. I loved the features as Ye mostly had consious emcees on the album. "New Workout Plan" is really the only weak track and even that was kinda dope in it's own way. The skits didn't hurt the album as they helped to tell a story. Yes Ye skills on the mic were basic but they worked for him. Overall I'm proud to be a life long KanYe fan and though I'm one of his true Day 1 fans that became a fan from his beats in the late 90's, this album made me understand him as an artist. I don't always agree with Ye's arrogance but I understand his frustrations cause of this album and everything he had to do to put it over. Overall a True Classic and I'm very happy that 10 years later it stands as his magnum opus. Here's my Mic Breakdown:
1."Intro" Kanye West0:19
2."We Don't Care" (4 MICS)Kanye West3:59
3."Graduation Day" Kanye West1:22
4."All Falls Down" (featuring Syleena Johnson) (5 MICS)Kanye West3:43
5."I'll Fly Away" Kanye West1:09
6."Spaceship" (featuring GLC & Consequence) (5 MICS)Kanye West5:24
7."Jesus Walks" (5 MICS)Kanye West3:13
8."Never Let Me Down" (featuring Jay-Z & J. Ivy) (5 MICS)Kanye West5:24
9."Get Em High" (featuring Talib Kweli & Common) (4 MICS)Kanye West4:49
10."Workout Plan" Kanye West0:46
11."The New Workout Plan" (3 MICS)Kanye West5:22
12."Slow Jamz" (featuring Twista & Jamie Foxx) (5 MICS)Kanye West5:16
13."Breathe In Breathe Out" (featuring Ludacris) (3.5 MICS)Kanye West, Brian Miller*4:06
14."School Spirit (Skit 1)" 1:18
15."School Spirit" (4.5 MICS)Kanye West3:02
16."School Spirit (Skit 2)" 0:43
17."Lil Jimmy (Skit)" 0:53
18."Two Words" (featuring Mos Def, Freeway & the Boys Choir of Harlem) (5 MICS)Kanye West4:26
19."Through the Wire" (5 MICS)Kanye West3:41
20."Family Business" (4.5 MICS)Kanye West4:38
21."Last Call" (4 MICS)
MIC AVERAGE: 4.46
