Let’s pretend for a moment that Kanye West has only ever existed in recorded music. Forget about the bombastic boasting, the otherworldly live shows, the crazy all-caps blog rants and, of course, the Taylor Swift incident. Assume all that stuff never happened and only think about West’s output as a recording artist.
With that in mind, has there ever been a better debut album than The College Dropout? Before it was released on this day back in 2004, West had created plenty of buzz for himself as the producer who had crafted much of The Blueprint, Jay-Z’s watershed 2001 masterpiece. His skills in the studio were unmatched, and as The College Dropout (and early single “Through the Wire”) proved, West was also an adroit MC who had stellar control of metaphor and was quick with a punchline. He was seemingly good at everything, from joke-fueled dance jams (“The New Workout Plan”) and slow burners (“Slow Jamz”) to old-school rhymefests (“Breathe In Breathe Out”) and raw relationship dramas (“All Falls Down”). West had an unorthodox flow but knew how to make it work, and his beats were expertly crafted. There’s not a single dud on The College Dropout (even “Last Call,” which ends with West giving shout outs to what appears to be everyone he has ever met).
Kanye’s subsequent albums — 2005′s Late Registration, 2007′s Graduation and 2008′s 808s & Heartbreak — are all excellent but flawed in some way as West explored the outer reaches of his musical mind. But can you blame him for wanting to broaden his horizons after completely mastering straight hip-hop in his first attempt? Because honestly, once you’ve cut “Jesus Walks” — one of the most intense, savage pop radio hits of this century — you can’t help but dig much, much deeper.
Full Story Via MTV.com
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