(50) Sundays of Music: #23

#23: Kanye West - College Dropout

Try if you can to suspend your current thoughts on Mr. West. For now, let's go back to 2004.

I've mentioned my story here many times, but as a real quick recap: I was born in California, but moved to Alabama when I was 8 and have stuck it out here ever since. I still have family on the West Coast which grants me frequent visits so I feel like growing up I get the best of two worlds: Sunny California and the Dirty South.

Down here is where there are two major sounds coming from car stereos: Country and/or Southern Rock or Gangsta Rap (Sometimes it's really funny to see the dirtiest, nastiest rap coming out of a truck with deer decals... but I digress). So the first couple years of my high school, my exposure to that genre was The Cash Money Millionaires, consisting of rap heavyweights like Juvenile, Birdman and a very young (and different sounding) Lil Wayne. When the songs I was hearing at the time consisted of "Bling Bling" and "Back That Azz Up" it was easy to see why I didn't really respect rap and/or hip hop.

Then came along Kanye West. Don't get me wrong, people like Jay Z had been around but I didn't really get into them for whatever reason. And I had always been into Eminem, but let's be honest, he is in a genre all his own. But I had no idea West was actually doing some of the beats for some of Jay Z's songs (I think the biggest one he gets credit for is "Encore").

I somehow heard "Through the Wire" and I was like "I don't know why he sounds like that, but this is a really good song." He sounded different because he recorded some of the song after his mouth was sown shut following a car accident. I liked it and became curious.

Then came "Slow Jamz" and I was really hooked. I loved the style, the flow. The integration of Twista and Jamie Foxx. Those two songs made me curious enough to actually go out and buy the cd and I wasn't disappointed.

From "Never Let Me Down" to "Two Words" I was in awe of the music. Finally, some hip hop where somebody was actually saying something, not just bragging about money and cars. I watched the cd grow as I remember three different videos for "Jesus Walks" and laughing, but admiring some of the lyrics like the one in "All Falls Down" that goes" "Couldn't afford a car so she named her daughter Alexus."

My main memory comes from a conversation I had with my friend Shedrick. I was telling him how I thought Kanye was becoming my favorite rapper. He said "someone can't be your favorite after one cd." I felt like though Shedrick didn't see it, he predicted the future. In my opinion, none of Kanye's releases have been as good as his first one. Jeanette even called it one of the top albums of the decade and honestly, that was a great pick.

So right now I am enjoying his latest single "Power" and hope that the cd that comes with it contains the same level of music. Though I bet it won't be anything like The College Dropout.