The College Dropout

Untitled

The College Dropout is the debut album by rapper and producer Kanye West, released February 10, 2004. It was nominated for Grammy Award for Album of the Year and won Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song for "Jesus Walks" in 2005. It was voted as the best album of the year by Rolling Stone magazine and in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll, was ranked #1 in Spin magazine's "40 Best Albums of the Year", and received a near-perfect 4.5 mic rating from The Source. The album has received great acclaim from critics and mainstream fans alike, for its balance of mainstream commercial appeal and its innovative subject matter. Comedian Chris Rock has attested to listening to The College Dropout while writing his material. In 2005, Pitchfork Media named it #50 in their best albums of 2000–2004. In 2006, the album was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time. The album went triple platinum in the United States.

Track listing

CD

All tracks produced by Kanye West. "Last Call" also produced by Porse.

No.	Title	Music	Sample(s)	Length
1.	"Intro" (Deray)			0:19
2.	"We Don't Care" (West/Miri Ben-Ari/Vannelli)	* Additional vocals: John Legend, Riccarda Watkins, Keyshia Cole, Terence Hardy, Diamond Alabi-Isama, James "JT" Knight Violin: Miri Ben-Ari	* Contains samples "I Just Wanna Stop" performed by Gino Vannelli	3:59
3.	"Graduation Day" (Intro by DeRay Davis and performed by John Legend) (West/Stephens/Ben-Ari)	* Piano: John Legend Violin: Miri Ben-Ari		1:22
4.	"All Falls Down" (feat. Syleena Johnson) (West/Hill)	* Guitar: Eric "E-Bass" Johnson Acoustic Guitar: Ken Lewis	* Contains an interpolation of "Mystery of Iniquity" performed by Lauryn Hill	3:43
5.	"I'll Fly Away" (Brumley)	* Additional vocals: Tony Williams Piano: Ervin "EP" Pope		1:09
6.	"Spaceship" (feat. GLC, Consequence) (West/Williams/Harris/Mills/Gaye/Gordy/Greene)	* Additional vocals: Tony Williams, John Legend	* Contains a sample of "Distant Lover" performed by Marvin Gaye	5:24
7.	"Jesus Walks" (West/Smith/Ben-Ari/Lundy)	* Additional vocals: John Legend	* Contains a sample of "Walk With Me" performed by The Arc Choir Contains a vocal sample of "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go" performed by Curtis Mayfield	3:13
8.	"Never Let Me Down" (feat. Jay-Z, J. Ivy) (West/Carter/Richardson/Bolton/Kulick)	* Background vocals: John Legend, Tracie Spencer Keyboards: Ervin "EP" Pope Guitar: Glenn Jefferey	* Contains a sample of "Maybe It's the Power of Love", written by Michael Bolton and Bruce Kulick Sample also recreated and performed by Ken Lewis	5:24
9.	"Get 'Em High" (feat. Talib Kweli, Common) (West/Greene/Lynn)	* Additional vocals: Sumeke Rainey		4:49
10.	"Workout Plan" (Performed by Candis Brown, Brandi Kuykenvall, Tiera Singleton)			0:46
11.	"The New Workout Plan" (West/Stephens/Kante/Rainey/Ben-Ari)	* Additional vocals: John Legend, Sumeke Rainey Talkbox: Bosko Guitar: Eric "E-Bass" Johnson Piano: Ervin "EP" Pope Violin: Miri Ben-Ari		5:22
12.	"Slow Jamz" (feat. Twista, Jamie Foxx) (West/Mitchell/Bacharach/David)	* Additional vocals: Aisha Tyler Keyboards: Ervin "EP" Pope Guitar: Glen Jefferey	* Contains a sample of "A House is Not a Home" performed by Luther Vandross	5:16
13.	"Breathe In, Breathe Out" (feat. Ludacris) (West/Miller)	* Violins: Miri Ben-Ari		4:06
14.	"School Spirit Skit 1" (West)			1:18
15.	"School Spirit" (West/Franklin)	* Additional vocals: Tony Williams	* Contains a sample of "Spirit in the Dark" performed by Aretha Franklin	3:02
16.	"School Spirit Skit 2" (West)			0:43
17.	"Lil Jimmy Skit" (West)	* Additional vocals by Tony Williams Piano: Ervin "EP" Pope		0:53
18.	"Two Words" (feat. Mos Def, Freeway, The Harlem Boys Choir) (West/Smith/Pridgen/Wilson/Wilson/Wilson)	* Keyboards: Keith Slattery Violins: Miri Ben-Ari	* Contains a sample of "Peace And Love (Amani Na Mapenzi) - Movement IV (Encounter)" performed by Mandrill Also contains an unknown drum sample also used in Jay-Z's "A Dream"	4:26
19.	"Through the Wire" (Foster/Keane/Weil)		* Contains a sample of "Through the Fire" performed by Chaka Khan	3:41
20.	"Family Business" (West)	* Additional vocals: Thomasina Atkins, Linda Petty, Beverly McCargo, Lavel Mena, Thai Jones, Kevin Shannon, Tarey Torae Piano: Josh Zandman	* Contains a sample from The Dells - Fonky Thang (Vocal sample) Additional instrumentation: Ken Lewis	4:38
21.	"Last Call" (West/Perretta/Williams/Lewis)	* Additional vocals: John Legend, Tony Williams, Ken Lewis, Jay-Z Piano: Ervin "EP" Pope Guitar: Ken Lewis, Glenn Jefferey Keyboard: Ken Lewis Percussion: Ken Lewis	* Contains a sample from "Mr. Rockefeller" by Bette Midler	12:40

LP

Side one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"We Don't Care"
2.	"Graduation Day"
3.	"All Falls Down"
4.	"Spaceship"
5.	"Jesus Walks"

Side two

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Never Let Me Down"
2.	"Get Em High"
3.	"The New Workout Plan"
4.	"Through the Wire"

Side three

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Slow Jamz"
2.	"Breathe in Breathe Out"
3.	"School Spirit"
4.	"Two Words"

Side four

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Family Business"
2.	"Last Call"

Chart positions

Album

Year	Chart	Position
2004	Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	1
2004	Billboard 200	2
2004	UK Albums Chart	12
2004	German Albums Chart	77
2004	French Albums Chart	98
2004	Swedish Albums Chart	39

Singles

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
2004	"All Falls Down"	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks	4
2004	"All Falls Down"	Hot Rap Tracks	2
2004	"All Falls Down"	Rhythmic Top 40	7
2004	"All Falls Down"	The Billboard Hot 100	7
2004	"All Falls Down"	Top 40 Mainstream	22
2004	"All Falls Down"	Top 40 Tracks	12
2004	"Jesus Walks"	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks	2
2004	"Jesus Walks"	Hot Rap Tracks	3
2004	"Jesus Walks"	Rhythmic Top 40	16
2004	"Jesus Walks"	The Billboard Hot 100	11
2004	"Through the Wire"	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks	8
2004	"Through the Wire"	Hot Rap Tracks	4
2004	"Through the Wire"	Rhythmic Top 40	10
2004	"Through the Wire"	The Billboard Hot 100	15
2004	"Through the Wire"	Top 40 Mainstream	32
2004	"Through the Wire"	Top 40 Tracks	25
2004	"The New Workout Plan"	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks	59

Credits

• Executive Producers: Shawn Carter, Damon Dash, Kareem "Biggs" Burke, Michael B Siegel
• Co-Executive Producers: G. Roberson, Kyambo "Hip Hop" Joshua, Kanye West
• A&R Direction: Hip Hop Since 1978, Patrick "Plain Pat" Reynolds
• A&R Coordinator: Shalik Berry, Ramses Francois, Darrin Asemota
• Direction of Joint Ventures: Darcell Lawrence
• Recording Administration: Tony Vanias
• Mastering: Eddy Schreyer
• Marketing for Hip Hop Since 1978: Al Branch
• Marketing for Roc-a-Fella Records: Girard Hunt, Osayamen Asemota
• Marketing for Def Jam: Shante Bacon
• Management: John Monopoly, Don C., Benny MEdina, Andrei McQuillan
• Art Direction & Design: Eric Duvauchelle, Mike Godshall, Jim Morris, Stephanie Reynolds, Lauri Rowe
• Dropout Bear Logo Design: Bobby Naugle, Sam Hansen
• Costumes: O Share Stylez, Kanye West
• Legal Counsel: Alison K. Finley
• Business Affairs: Randy McMillan, Antoinette Trotman, Ian Allen
• Sample Clearance Agent: Eric Weissman

Miscellaneous

• Kanye West was unable to get permission from Lauryn Hill to use a vocal sample from her track "Mystery of Iniquity" on her MTV Unplugged album. Instead, Syleena Johnson re-sang the lyric, for the song "All Falls Down". The song later appeared with the original sample on the compilation CD Freshmen Adjustment, which also contained the song "Wow" which Kanye mentioned in the song "Last Call"
• Aretha Franklin would not allow Kanye to sample her song "Spirit in the Dark" if it contained curse words, so this is why "School Spirit" is the only censored track on both clean and explicit versions of the album.
• The track "The Good, the Bad, the Ugly" featuring Consequence which was released to promote the album was discarded by Kanye and has since appeared as a track on Consequence's album Don't Quit Your Day Job!
• Evidence of Dilated Peoples co-produced "Last Call" and claims that he co-produced "a lot of [other] songs" on The College Dropout, although is credited for no others.
• "Jesus Walks" was a song written and recorded as a solo track for Rhymefest, another Chicago rapper, but since he did not have a record deal at the time, he and Kanye re-wrote the song and it appears on Kanye's debut. This is why an all Rhymefest bootleg version of this track can be found on the net, it is the original.
• The track "Get 'Em High" was also scheduled to appear on Talib Kweli's album The Beautiful Struggle, but due to the album being heavily leaked, Talib Kweli revised the tracklist and "Get 'Em High" was removed and thus only appears on this album.
• The track "Never Let Me Down" was originally a Jay-Z solo track which was cut from The Blueprint. Kanye decided that since Jay-Z didn't use the song, he would put his own verse on as well as a spoken word verse from J. Ivy and keep the two original Jay-Z verses. This is why Jay-Z has two verses on the track and Kanye only has one.