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The College Dropout (Music)

 The College Dropout (Music)
type
TVTItem
 The College Dropout (Music)
label
The College Dropout (Music)
 The College Dropout (Music)
page
TheCollegeDropout
 The College Dropout (Music)
comment
The College Dropout is the debut album by American rapper Kanye West, released on February 10, 2004.Though he had achieved success in the early 2000s as an in-house producer for Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records, West aspired to be a rapper, but struggled to get a record deal in part because of his middle-class background not fitting the image of Gangsta Rap, before being signed to Roc-A-Fella as an artist to prevent him from going elsewhere.While he'd been recording songs for the album since 1999, the album (and West's career in general) kickstarted in 2002, when a car accident that left West with a broken jaw inspired his debut single, "Through the Wire", which became a US Top 20 hit.Musically, the album's production consists of the "chipmunk soul" style that was West's trademark at the time, with considerable sampling of old soul music (and other songs) pitched up, with additional violin parts performed by Miri Ben-Ari.
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2024-02-21T22:47:43Z
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2024-02-21T22:47:44Z
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DBTropes
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_2bf54826
type
Longest Song Goes Last
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_2bf54826
comment
Longest Song Goes Last: "Last Call", the final track, is almost 13 minutes long, more than twice the length of several of the rest of the album's tracks.
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_2bf54826
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1.0
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_2bf54826
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The College Dropout (Music) / int_2bf54826
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_316e0b0c
type
Auto-Tune
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_316e0b0c
comment
Autotune: Used nowhere near as often as on future Kanye albums, but still present on John Legend's vocals on "Graduation Day".
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The College Dropout (Music) / int_316e0b0c
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_515eeccc
type
Sampling
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_515eeccc
comment
Sampling: A key part of the album's production style. "We Don't Care" samples "I Just Wanna Stop" by The Jimmy Castor Bunch. "All Falls Down" interpolates "Mystery of Iniquity" by Lauryn Hill (the original version sampled Hill, who refused sample clearance, requiring West to get Syleena Johnson to re-record it) "Spaceship" samples "Distant Lover" by Marvin Gaye. "Jesus Walks" samples "Walk With Me" by The ARC Choir. "Never Let Me Down" interpolates "Maybe It's The Power Of Love" by Blackjack, the largely-now-forgotten metal band fronted by Michael Bolton. In addition, Jay-Z's verse on the song is recycled from the remix of his song "Hovi Baby". "School Spirit" samples "Spirit in the Dark" by Aretha Franklin. "Through the Wire" samples "Through the Fire" by Chaka Khan. "Last Call" samples "Mr. Rockefeller" by Bette Midler.
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 The College Dropout (Music) / int_528ba189
type
Album Intro Track
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_528ba189
comment
Album Intro Track: "Intro", consisting of a skit where comedian DeRay Davis (doing a Bernie Mac impression) plays a school administrator talking to Kanye.
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The College Dropout (Music) / int_528ba189
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_67784113
type
Non-Appearing Title
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_67784113
comment
Non-Appearing Title: "Graduation Day", "Slow Jamz".
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_67784113
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 The College Dropout (Music) / int_6bda9a30
type
Meaningful Name
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_6bda9a30
comment
Meaningful Name: "Through the Wire", which was recorded while Kanye's jaw was wired shut after being broken in a car accident.
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_6bda9a30
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1.0
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_6bda9a30
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The College Dropout (Music) / int_6bda9a30
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_74149c93
type
Epic Rocking
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_74149c93
comment
Epic Rocking: "Last Call" is the longest song on any Kanye album, at 12:40, though much of that is Kanye retelling the story of how the album came to exist.
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_74149c93
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The College Dropout (Music) / int_74149c93
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_8338de89
type
"I Want" Song
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_8338de89
comment
"I Want" Song: "Spaceship" is from the perspective of several men wishing to be free from their struggles and dead-end jobs, with the titular vehicle being a metaphor for success.
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_8338de89
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The College Dropout (Music) / int_8338de89
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_8c00118f
type
Spoken Word in Music
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_8c00118f
comment
Spoken Word in Music: All the skits, plus "Graduation Day", J. Ivy's poem in "Never Let Me Down", and Kanye's own monologue about the making of the album at the end of "Last Call".
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_8c00118f
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 The College Dropout (Music) / int_cff53786
type
Cover Version
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_cff53786
comment
Cover Version: "I'll Fly Away" is a cover of a gospel standard performed by Tony Williams.
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 The College Dropout (Music) / int_d45c0b86
type
Refuge in Audacity
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_d45c0b86
comment
Refuge in Audacity: The album starts with a school administrator (played by DeRay Davis) asking Kanye to play a song that "the kids" (the students at his college) would enjoy. His response? The song "We Don't Care", a sarcastic celebration of growing up in the ghetto that boasts about such lifestyle highlights as dealing drugs out of desperation and not being expected to live past the age of 25. The latter topic is even sung about in the chorus by a children's choir (both ironic in that a bunch of kids are singing about "[making] it past 25", and that it ties into the administrator's infantilization of college students as "kids").
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1.0
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The College Dropout (Music) / int_d45c0b86
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_dbc664dd
type
Album Title Drop
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_dbc664dd
comment
Album Title Drop: On the final track, "Last Call":
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_dbc664dd
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1.0
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_dbc664dd
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 The College Dropout (Music) / int_edd102ba
type
Soul-Sucking Retail Job
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_edd102ba
comment
Soul-Sucking Retail Job: Kanye alludes to his experiences working these throughout the album, with "Spaceship" in particular being about his time working at The Gap.
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_edd102ba
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The College Dropout (Music) / int_edd102ba
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_f3cf057b
type
Fading into the Next Song
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_f3cf057b
comment
Fading into the Next Song: The album's intro, where comedian DeRay Davis plays a school administrator who asks Kanye to play "somethin' for the kids", segues into the first song, "We Don't Care", which even starts with Kanye saying, "Oh, yeah. I got the perfect song for the kids to sing." That song in turn segues into the "Graduation Day" interlude, which starts with the administrator chastising Kanye for the song (since it's about the ugly lifestyle of growing up in the ghetto). The choir of "Jesus Walks" echoes into "Never Let Me Down".
 The College Dropout (Music) / int_f3cf057b
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The College Dropout (Music)

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The College Dropout (Music)
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Alternative Hip Hop / int_8c55481e
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