The College Dropout

Antisemitic, racist, misogynist…beyond these things holding me back from giving any sort of shit about this guy’s music like I used to…does it really belong on the list? This was the commercial breakthrough for an artist who went on to make better, larger statements; I wouldn’t call it essential in its own.

Back when Kanye was less insane, some great tracks on here, but as a whole a little too long and some of the storytelling bits are grating

This one never grabbed me like the next few Kanye albums. It also makes me sad to listen to these albums because he has slid so deep into what must be mental illness. I mean, these albums are artistically brilliant, funny, real, and are 180 from where I would've imagined he would end up. Okay, maybe marrying a Kardashian, but everything else?! Nope.

I find it hard to review given his controversies but I will say you can definitely hear how a lot of contemporary hip-hop has been influenced by this album and his early work in general. Overall, this album isn't really the type of hip-hop I'd listen to, but nonetheless crucial to the scene.

This album was not completely what I expected it to be. I expected a more complete “rap + hip-hop” than what I actually heard. As a result, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would (but not enough to become a Kanye fan). It started out promising – I enjoyed the fun beat of “We Don’t Care” (trying to ignore the frequent N words) followed by a short track with some brief (non hip-hop) vocals by John Legend for less than a minute. I also liked the rhythm (and background vocals) in All Falls Down. I’ll Fly Away then switched to a bit of a gospel sound for a short track. I got bored with Spaceship pretty quickly and then Jesus Walks and Never Let Me Down were more of what I expected (and thus liked less). This continued with most of the other tracks, which mostly ran together for me and didn’t keep my interest. The New Workout Plan and Family Business were exceptions – both were kind of fun. (I didn’t finish the monologue of the final track – I was just done)

Better than the other one, though not by much. Again the best ones are with other people. The beats and music are pretty good but the filler and the length bring it down. Kanye is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is. There are many better, Kendrick, Jay, Nas especially. Stick to producing.

#122 Mid tier 2000s rap. Not terrible. Probably Kanye's best work. 3/5: aight Song added to playlist: Through The Wire I've created a playlist on Spotify that consists of the best and/or my favorite song from each of the albums in this book. This list can be found here if you are interested: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7MAXDGLWlwLkFLb8veGfkA?si=FqkQQPgZTFWG0jAUJXLFZA&utm_source=copy-link

the album is nice but hits a stride late with Ce Matin and everything after that is pretty good before that its a bit like noodling and rather vague lyrics.

Its Kayne. He is super talented and the album is great. However, I wouldn't have listened to it had I not been doing this project.

Meh

This was great. Several hits that I knew and a lot that I hadn’t heard before including the skits.

Good production and Happy Gilmore references only get you so far. Kanye's personality is so strong for better and for worse.

A very good album but lacks that next-level greatness

Meh. Eminem did it better and he is white 😂

Good Kanye early stuff

Couple of good ones on there, Jesus Walks and All Falls Down stand out for me.

Better than I expected ! Not heavy and quite groovy ! Found my self jigging about to it. Listen again ? Yes.

I was somewhat surprised to see this album was 20 years old now. The skits were pretty annoying and although Kanye hadn't reached late 00s/early 10s levels of nauseating, he himself was a bit annoying in places. Some good beats here and there though.

Not my fav KW set.

Surprisingly good! Quite a few bangers, but too many fillers and skits, and the last track really drags on, doesn’t it? Highlights: Never Let Me Down, Two Words and All Falls Down

Our first one (UNS)

not my thing, but 3 stars since I can appreciate the effort

I didn't know anything about Kanye West before listening to this, apart from the fact that he did the 'gold digger' song, and that he's a flaming bellend in real life. So I had no idea what to expect here. I was definitely expecting it to be way more obnoxious than it is, and I was under the impression that he was quite minimalist, but that's definitely not the case. It's actually pretty impressive how varied and broad this is in scope. There's lots of different, interesting beats and samples, and the content is also more varied than I was expecting. It's incredibly well produced, and I hate to admit that this is good, but it is. 3.5 rounded down

Some good tracks, Jesus Walks and a track that samples some Lauryn Hill lyrics, which always works. There is also some humour in the lyrics. May listen to a few tracks again.

Imaginative and very listenable but I don't dig rap

Interesting. Not my favorite genre

Pretty interesting, some amazing songs, maybe different from what I imagined

Wel prima maar ook niet helemaal mijn muziek

Jesus Walks e Spaceship super boas rimas,bom beat e nota se o cultPessoalmente a minha favorita cai,claramente,na emocional e pessoal,no caso do autor, "Fanily Business"

Picture a young up-and-coming talented producer hanging out with a young Dave Chapelle, and this is what you get. This was a very unique sound for hip hop at the time, and a lot of veterans and newcomers tried to copycat. I have often wondered if this album changed the sound of hip hop today, and morphed into mumble rap; taking Kanye’s slower pace, but not learning from his beat producing or lyrics. This album helped push veterans to do better, and brought us a few good years of T.I., Young Jeezy, Bun B and Pimp C, OutKast, Lil Wayne, Talib Kweli, etc. Not every song on here is a must-listen, but standouts for me are We Don’t Care, Slow Jamz, Two Words, and Through the Wire.

Kanye bad. Music Good.

Great lyrics, great hooks. Don't know if he was still a terrible person back then, or if celebrity ruined him.

Some catchy stuff in there but the rest seemed like self-indulgent tripe.

it’s good!! but there’s too much for me

Some great tunes on there and can see how it was really refreshing at the time of release, the filler tracks get a bit tiring though. Solid album 3.5

Kanye's an asshole but no denying his music's good

Babebibobu baboudoum

Still not really that big a fan of hip hop, but music wise, this wasn't so bad. Also I think the themes present in this album is very interesting and quite relatable to many people across many backgrounds, very refreshing to see a hip hop album where they are not pretending to be gangsters.

I'd expected it to be rubbish and it wasn't. I mean the talky bits were, but in general it was quite acceptable.

C+

What’s with the random skits in between all the songs? Waste of space on the album and waste of the listener’s time. Leave them out and keep the album short. There’s not much to this one anyway. I don’t care for the lyrics or execution much but can at least recognize his skills at producing. I’m very surprised with The New Workout Plan. This one I legitimately enjoyed. It actually reminded me early Eminem. I see a bunch of non-reviews on this one. Learn to separate the art from the artist. Notable tracks: Spaceship, Get ‘Em High, The New Workout Plan

Some are cool, some are to church for me

3.5 Stars - bit too long. Fav: All Falls Down

What do we do this album? Some many genre-defining tracks on here. Some filler tracks. So much baggage.

Great production, but way too long.

4/5

Not my thing, but it was enjoyable background music.

Not a big Kanye fan, but this has one of his best songs on it.

One of a couple of the decent Knaye records.Production is timeless but the older it gets the more deficient as a rapper he sounds, imo

This album is mostly "pleasant" and fine (except some of the skits, but a lot of Outkast's skits are bad, too). The style, though, is what I don't like. The P. Diddy, Jay-Z glitzy/flashy rap stuff However, it was fine to listen to. Honestly, not even one song really grabbed me in a way where I care to return to it. However, it was nowhere near the pain I was in listening to Eminem I tried really hard to not think about how much of an idiot he is and picture him more "hungry."

Ye boi it's kanye The man is weird but really knows how to make music

This album is not the best Kanye output to me. Don't get why it is lauded so much

Lots of classics on this. Kanye's a fuckin Nazi tho

Let me get this out of the way: Kanye is a POS that put out good albums in the early aughts. I feel conflicted enjoying these albums these days. 3* for me, rounded up..I dig what I can only dub as "melodic hip hop." Tracks I enjoyed/remembered: All Falls Down, Jesus Walks, Through The Wire

I didn't had any expectations but the album is good. Despicable guy but the music is enjoyable.

It was ok, last track should have been omitted.

The beats and overall flow of this album are pretty good. There is a lot of creativity in the rhyming and cadence to the rapping. The lyrics are the main drawback here. Not as crass as some, but there's just such a weird juxtaposition to rapping about Jesus and issues with the school system, then immediately switching to the hoes and gangsta stuff. Fav tracks: Jesus Walks, I'll Fly Away

I liked this much more than I expected that I would

- Jesus Walks - The skits 3.5/5

Good, but not as good as Kanye thinks it is.

half was good half was so so good beats but it got repetitive at the midpoint of the album felt like i was hearing the same guess the letters are the good thing,but im not from us so i dont get it too much

Kanye refining his “everyone but me sucks” shtick over some good beats

Not a big hip-hop fan, although decent album

Enjoyed the classic Kanye style.

Not really my style

Mas o menos. I don’t think people will be listening to this in a hundred years.

I initially declined to listen to this album because I received it at the same time that Kanye was coming out to the world as a nazi. However, a few years later I've decided that I owe it a listen and found that I really appreciate the unique and diverse sounds and themes of this album. Kanye is exploring heretofore unknown styles of sampling, editing, and writing that makes his music stand out and illustrates the application of his talent and skill as an experienced producer towards the creation of his own music. While I don't appreciate what the man has made of himself, I can't deny that this album is impressive, and I don't even like rap.

Not a big fan of autotune/modern rap. Enjoyed the songs with Jay-z. Enough on there for me to return to 2-3 songs.

Okay

this album was great when it came out. Can’t support Kanye these days, but the memories are a solid 3/5.

Standout tracks: We Don’t Care, Spaceship

It's Kanye, so you know what you're getting. Great production and sampling. Lame lyrics. Ugly ego. This album evokes memories of a time when Kanye was almost endearing, as opposed to the insufferable turd he is now. Some good tunes here, even if some are beginning to show signs of age. An impressive debut album that is unfortunately tied to a narcissistic personality.

Not me

Can’t stand Kanye and that Yeezys record was not good. This album has some likable tracks though. It’s hard to deny he has a talent for what he does.

I must have listened to this when it came out because i knew a lot of the songs. It's interesting to hear what he sounded like before becoming a walking trash bag.

Kanye is a terrible human being and I wish he wasn't talented so I wouldn't have to hear about him. But he is, and it's evident on this album. By far my favorite of the Kanye we listened to. That's not to say I enjoyed it, I didn't really. But I can see how much talent is here. Give me this 100 times over that terrible Yeezus album

No me apetece nada. Ninguna de estas canciones está entre las 10 más oídas en Spotify. Vamos a pasar una horita con esto. Coritos de niños y rap. Y veo influencias de Lauryn Hill que me parecen bien. Me guardo "All falls down" y "Jesus Walks" pero tengo que darle otro repaso, creo que también a su disco con más hits, "Graduation".

59/100

I don't know much about hip-hop but from the records that were on my list from this genre, it was one of the most enjoyable ones so far. Musically there are some quite good songs here. What I dislike about the album the most is the length - with so much lyrics it is really overwhelming to listen to it in one sitting for someone like me who is a non native speaker.

Highly grudging - as much as i don’t like Kanye I did enjoy some of this album and especially the flow over the whole thing, and the more soul influences. I think it’s probably good for a rap / hh album that’s just not what I really enjoy listening to. I enjoyed the themes of the songwriting - education, money, power.

I was expecting to hate it but i didn't. Enjoyed the rhythms some of the lyrics washed over me which was probably a good thing. Couple of songs seemed a bit egotistical. If I'd concentrated on lyrics I might have scored lower

Ignoring recent event. Not really my taste in music, so I went in with some trepidation. However, I was mostly quite surprised. There were some deeper lyrics and obvious passion to the album. Would I listen again? Probably not, but if something like this came on again, I may not instantly pass it by. Beats we're good for running to - nicely timed and album builds though the songs well. Running rating: 6/10

Mitä räppiin tulee niin mä en oo kaikkein perehtynein, mutta mielestäni varsin kelpo levy. Ymmärrän miksi tää oli iso juttu. 3/5

When Kanye is good, he’s amazing. I wish it were a greater percentage of his stuff.

Enjoyed more than i thought i would but a little too much swearing for me!!!

Not really my style, but not terrible. All the interludes were mostly awkward feeling and not funny.

This is actually better than his later works. The songs are more fleshed out and there's more energy in this compared to his rapping on the later albums which is almost lazy and the songs feel somewhat incomplete. I still don't like Kanye as I think there's better rappers out there and the fact that he's a crazy racist.

Good

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this album. I can see why it was so culturally important when it came out. Every song still feels fresh and it's an album I could see myself listening to frequently. It makes me kinda sad to think how talented Kanye was compared to who he is now.

I like that old Kanye

Not too bad, not at all my kind of music. I found it easy to listen to but not special

I expected more of a rap album and was surprised that this had a lot more R&B feel. Liked it more than I thought I would. Too bad he lost his mind.

He's a better producer than lyricist. Feel like I'm talking about a different guy to current Kanye

I wanted to hate this...but it was actually quite good and I can see why it is on the list. Kanye came across as an amusing guy and the tunes were interesting but there is the artist vs art argument agian which is tricky ( my very next album was MJ's Thriller so some interesting morale quandaries this week ...

I hate Kanye and this album isn’t that good either

This was pretty fun but I think I liked some others of his better.

It’s a 3-4

Always a great producer. He's also a dickhead. Debut album is full of decent tunes even if not a favourite genre of mine. I will always hate skits. Its. It's too long too.

dnl

Family Business escuchable. Me ha parecido un rollo. Igual si tradujera las letras ....

Not a fan of this music.

Classic... Way better Rap Opera than the streets album. Oh how far we've fallen from grace, hearing Kanye through gritted teeth is inspiring, hearing Kanye act like a crazy fool, annoying. The art is still good though, 3 stars for chipmunk rap.

My first Kanye album and all I can really say is that it was okay. It's crazy to think that 20 years ago Kanye was a real human being with actual coherent thoughts. The lyrics are good and the concept is good. It feels genuine. I feel like the album drops off after the halfway point. The last song especially didn't really do anything for me in it's 13 minutes. Also didn't care for the skits, I never do. They do add to the entire album as an experience but I wouldn't listen to them again. All in all I thought it was alright. Maybe the next one will be better. Score: 60 Art: 60

It's a good debut. I miss the "George Bush doesn't care about black people" Kanye.

I really wish Kanye wasn't so controversial. He does have talent

good album but hard to digest as the artist has gone off the rails.

Listened to this before and it feels really long for some reason. Jokes on you, I made it past 25 by now. Quite a journey. Like the intermissions. Interesting concept album. + All Falls Down + Two Words

Ja varför inte. Förstår varför folk tycker om ye för hans musik, men har som person är ju lite kontroversiell.

Jag tänkte ge den en fyra men fan ta honom.

Good fun!

gg

It's some early Kanye. He writes some good instrumentals but its hard to separate that from his cringey lyrics and personal life

I'm really not into hip hop. And I can't say I'm in love with this album. But as much as I want to rate this 0 stars for Kanye being a complete ass-clown, I really don't hate it either.

Catchy I suppose.

Overall I agree that this is an important cultural album, it launched Kanye into stardom and redefined hip-hop at the time of its release. Looking back, it has its faults: the album is overlong and includes annoying skits that balloon the run time. Absolute classic tracks though, and definitely deserves to be included on this list. It's hard to not let current news impact your listening to an album, Kanye's recent Nazi shit is unforgivable. But I still try to separate the art from the artist, and keep the time frame in mind when listening to these albums.

This is a really good album that is brought down by some crappy skits and a stupid Kenny Powers-esque autobiography at the end. It's fairly simple production but also catchy and does a great job of getting that foot tappin. Lyrics are decent but Kayne was never a poet. Highlights include Jesus Walks, Never Let Me Down, All Falls Down, and Workout Plan.

I don't think you're likely to hear Jesus Walks from your local church choir. Fuck Kanye West as a person but he can make music. This is nowhere near my style and I won't be revisiting this one in the future, but there's plenty to enjoy in here for a listen or two. I'm not really a lyrics guy so my problem with a number of these tracks is that the music is extremely repetitive within one song. Just the nature of the genre I suppose. I will say that Kanye's beats are at least pretty good on a number of the tracks, and there are definitely some tracks that mix up the sound more than just changing who is rapping. There's a lot of filler tracks in here that probably make more sense if you're paying attention to the lyrics, but really just serve as a distraction for me. I think my favourite is Never Let Me Down, and the lowlight is certainly Last Call which is a garbage self-aggrandizing jerk off that lasts for seemingly 3 or 4 hours. Boy does Kanye seem to have contempt for higher education. As an alternate universe Patrick Roy might say "I can't really hear what Kanye says because I got my two degrees plugging my ears."

Really good album, had heard most songs before, but listening to them again was even better. Production and lyrics on point as usual from Kanye, I just hoped the features were a little bit better for me, but overall a good project.

HL: "Two Words", "Jesus Walks", "Through the Wire", "Never Let Me Down", "Slow Jamz" 3.5 Pretty strong debut despite the filler, lyrics weren't as obnoxious as I feared from other Kanye releases, and the big features (Jay-Z, Ludacris, Mos Def) don't overshadow his own contributions. May I also say that, uh, fuck this guy & what he's become March 6, 2023 Note to self: revisit Enter the Wu-Tang & Illmatic, two past 3-stars I might rank more highly now.

Reviewing this is so complicated. This album changed rap when it needed to be changed. The music is phenomenal and a lot of the rapping is really, truly amazing. But a lot of the content has aged very poorly with a lot of sexism throughout. Reviewing this record in a vacuum is really difficult as Kanye has now allowed his mental illness to ruin his career. This was an achievement in the genre. And it's been sullied. One other thing to note. The final track on the album, "Last Call" is a complete waste of time and there is no excuse for it to be almost 13 minutes long.

My first time listening to Kanye. Was shocked at how many songs were unique and different. Enjoyed this more than expected.

Ok 3/5

Sample legend. Think higher of the album after watching Yeezus. His nuts mentality been around since the beginning. Sot All Falls Down Jesus Walks Through The Wire 3.5/5

Clearly a huge record and tremendous breakout for a hugely important artist... in a genre I really don't understand well haha Kanye is obviously one of the elite hip-hop producers/writers ever. He's also someone who has, in the intervening time since this record was released, developed some serious mental health issues that make it hard for some to consume/understand his music now. All Falls Down continues to resonate despite the passage of time and oddities of the author.

always heard this album was a classic but it was kinda meh, his other stuff is way better School Spirit was sick and I've always liked Last Call

It’s a shame Alvin, Simon, and Theodore did not get any credits on this album. -2 stars.

Highlights: "Through the Wire," "All Falls Down," "Slow Jamz," "Family Business," "Jesus Walks" Enough has been said about this too recently, and most of it's accurate. Here's more anyway. Kanye is our John Lennon, in a bad way. I get that murder rap was out of control and he was right to look for something affirmative, but it only kind of excuses the way he talks out both sides of his mouth about materialism as his alternative expression of masculinity, which he makes more palatable by balancing against racial commentary. It feels like Kanye understood that Jay-Z had a lean-out neo-conservative neo-respectability politics he agreed with, but it had become too dry, too much straight-laced inventorying of assets, and it just needed a raving lunatic like him to evangelize. A weird thing about Kanye's lyrics here is that he's somehow his most sympathetic and insightful when he is angriest. The way he draws lines in the sand and shuts others down can be very cutting. I don't want to do scrying about how we might have read his MAGA meltdown into this stage of his career, but his vision of the world's ugliness at least is much more coherent than his solutions. It's the music that puts him in history. His corrective to hip-hop was rehashing the kind of things people like Fugees, Mos Def, and Kweli were already popularizing. It's the music that gives it weight. The gift to us is his perennially counterintuitive use of distortion on aux percussion and the lean into the incongruity while chopping samples, turning that into a source of impact. And at 80 minutes, there are definitely still dead spots. Ivy's verse on "Never Let Me Down" is abysmal. I can't really find the Conscious Rap message behind the misogyny in stuff like "The New Workout Plan." The super compressed acoustic guitar tracks sound very dated and corny. This album is only really a breakthrough for his personal brand. For pop music, it's more like he'd synthesized all his influences into a strong capstone for the impact he'd already had.

I'm not listening to this.

Some cool beats, multi-layered tracks and interesting guest artists but not an album I'll need to revisit again.

It’s alright, early signs of that troubling Kanye arrogance.

It's very rare that I find rap music bearable to listen to, so this being the rare listenable rap instantly gives it a lot of bonus points in my book. Now, the horrible skits and the agonizing slog of the last track take some points off again. And of course the fact that Ye is a horrendous pile of shit -turned car accident is not factored into this rating at all.

A surprise for sure. Was not expecting to be wowed by this album — especially considering the recent actions of West — but this album really impressed me. It gave me mental whiplash trying to reconcile the themes and quality of the music in this album from ‘04 with how he speaks and acts nowadays. The beats had me bompin while on my walk to listen through this and I was surprised at the themes present in this album which feels wild bc I’d never actually listened to any of his music before and certainly wasn’t planning on it before committing to listening to every album on this list. Still. He sucks ass as human now and that’s a fact. Antisemitic, egotistical nazi man does not have any respect from me and I was able to find a way to listen to this without giving any money or engagement to this fuck. Never really listened to a whole lot of rap before. My knowledge of the genre is sadly pretty limited. Hope i can find more like this, by better people

Prefiero los discos que vienen después, pero Jesus Walks es una tremenda canción

Started off weak got better got bad then got better then got bad again. Some great tracks, rhymes and some horrible ones. The one about the guy getting degrees felt at first like he had a point coming but it turned out to be nothing. This track is one that would sound smart to dumb people. Beats are good, Lyrics are 50/50 good/bad.

What happened to this guy? Rating this album in 2023 is like rating the Cosby Show. Can you critique the art without taking the artist into account? I am afraid I can not. I can say that Kanye may have been the titular artist on this album, but a LOT of others contributed to why this album is as good as it is. I can respect it as a very strong Rap/R&B album with memorable, insightful lyrics, but I don't think Kanye could do this alone now or then. His bravado is misplaced, and today, his mind is sadly not right. Here he sounds like a spokesman for the common man, a voice for the minoritized, but today - he is a misinformed, racist, hating bigot. The album is good, but the experience of listening to it is mediocre now, which is the worst word Kayne ever wants to hear.

Totally not my vibe, but that doesn't mean it's a bad album. It's just an okay album to me at best though. As for 2004 the production doesn't sound dated, so there's that.

Love him or hate him, you gotta admire Kanye’s chutzpah with this album. But the religious songs on the album are a bit of a schlep. 3/5 for the scmuck whose schtick has gotten old. Mazel tof

This one was slightly better than the 2010 album I listened too, but just made me want to listen to the album with the hits (college dropout?) Still can’t disassociate the music from the man.

Was going to roundup to a four, but, well you know…

A reminder that ye was once up and coming and may have earned his "musical genius" self proclaimed title. Its a really good album, but I cant give it anything more than 3 stars in light of who he is. 3/5

With how much Mr West has been in the news recently I approached this with some apprehension. So I’m pleased to report that although there were some very good bits much of the music was average with a tendency to being disjointed and derivative. The lyrics were uncomfortable with a strong flavour of personal victimhood and conspiracy thinking.

Kanye West was better back when he believed in God before proclaiming to be one.

I wasn’t expecting to like this but it was OK.

3/5

It's hard because I love this album but I hate who Kanye has become. I'm just gonna be neutral and say 3/5

I hate him but there were some good tracks tbh. More basic than his other stuff maybe tho?

Early kanye is best

I really need to get this off my chest before I dig into the album. This would have been under an hour an, had it not been for the skits and “Last Call”. Just putting it out there. I was pretty underwhelmed during the first songs, nostalgia telling me, that I should expect more. Then “All Falls Down” happens and my curiosity awakes. Kanye’s strongest card is his productions and beats and while most of the album isn’t as experimental and progressive in its ideas as his later material, there are still tracks that ranks among his best in this. I’m of course talking about the insanely great duo of “Jesus Walks” and “Never Let Me Down” (and the later on “Through the Wire” as well). On the Pablo-track “I Love Kanye” West exclaims: “I miss the old Kanye”. Personally, with the exception of a few tracks, I actually prefer the newer Kanye.

The album is alright. It is long and several of the songs are unnecessary. Jesus Walks carries the entire album. If that song was not on the album it would have gotten a lower ranking.

Mycket välproducerat men ganska slö rap? Gillar i princip men inte min stil tyvärr

uh uh uh, what happened? Kinda stagnant

Pretty solid album, first kanye album, very long with too many skits in between I really enjoyed Jesus Walks, We Don't Care, and Never Let me down it just had too much filler in between

Notable Songs: We Dont Care Great 6/8 on Spaceship Graduation Day I'll Fly Away Jesus Walks

Better than expected

I'm aware of Kaye's significance as a performer / producer before nosediving off of the pier of sanity. However, I don't get the hype. 'The College Dropout' is a decent hip-hop album with some standout tracks (the ones with features from other rappers outshine Ye's solo stuff), but I'm not convinced this is a remarkable album. It does belong on this list, so a 3.5/5 is the best I can do.

I’m not entirely sure why Kanye is rated as a ‘genius’ producer - compared to, say, Dilla or DJ Premier or Pete Rock. Matters not. He is a good entertainer and (judging from the collabs here) a good man manager. Fun album with more than a few pointers to the future. (‘Never Let Me Down’, for instance, with a killer 16 bars from ‘Hova)

Respect the music, but dislike Kanye.

There are other Kanye West albums that I think are completely awesome, but I don't know why, I'm having a hard time liking this one. That said, it's definitely good stuff.

Hmm. Kanye West is a complicated topic, so there was some trepidation to tackle an album of his today. However, since it was his debut album, I decided to listen as though it were 2004. I'm glad I got to do that and find out why he came to fame. I enjoyed this album much more than expected, and appreciated that it brought personal, creative, and humorous themes to hip hop. There are brilliant moments. I didn't love it all, though, and the nine minutes of monologue in "Last Call" were particularly trying and redundant.

Parts of this I thought were great, other parts meh

Here's another polarizing artist. There seems to be an equal number of folks that either love and despise KW. Personally I have never sat down to properly listen to his music because I've been turned off by his obnoxious public persona and all the bullshit that he spews. But I must admit that this is a well written and produced album that's jammed packed with good songs. So since we're rating albums and not the douchebag that produced them I'm separating the two and giving this 3 stars. It still doesn't change my impression of him and I still probably won't listen to his music, but I must acknowledge his talent.

The start of the Kanye era. I thought this album was solid, but didn't captivate me throughout the 1hr+ playtime. The production is really tight, especially considering this is the first studio album release from Ye. Not exactly up my alley, but it's a respectable album. I found the first half to be much stronger than the latter. Fave tracks: We Don't Care, Slow Jamz

I quite liked this, in the main. It's accessible and listenable, even if the 'chipmunk soul' thing does go full Alvin at times. Rating: 3.5/5 Playlist track: All Falls Down Date listened: 07/07/22

Vond Dark Twisted Fantasy beter, maar dit kon ik ook wel waarderen.

3/5

Meh

Some pretty catchy songs but just way too long and too many skits

Not bad

*Not* one of the best Ye albums (for that early "college trilogy", *Late Registration* is certainly the strongest effort of the three), but this is how Kanye West came to be known for the wider world, and it's easy to understand why hip hop fans all over the world are still holding this album close to their heart. This record is mostly notable for two things: first, it broke the domination of gangster rap in the rap genre, and secondly, it promoted that "chipmunk soul" sound whose ripple effects can still be sensed today in the realm of "urban music". Too bad some of the songs and intentions are not fully formed yet. That being said, there are a few killer tracks on this record that are still holding out very well today, including that wonderful "Jesus Walks", with its unmistakable gospel stomp. It's not Ye-as-an-insane-genius yet. But it's still a worthwhile proposition. Number of albums left to review or just listen to: 910 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 49 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 26 (including this one) Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more important): 19

I get the influence Kanye has. His role in hip-hop history. How he created a new lane, one that wasn't gangsta or conscious/backpacker when that was really all there was. I just don't think it's that great. Kanye was always pretty averagely rated as a vocalist and extremely overrated as a producer. He has some great moments, there are a few great songs on here, but people act like everything he touches turns to gold. There have been a number of producers who have done it better. Being an important historic footnote isn't necessarily and indicator of quality. This album is just average. For every Jesus Walks or Spaceship, there's a mediocre track like Workout Plan or Slow Jamz.

This was much better than I expected. I always had an (apparently incorrect) opinion on Kanye and his music. Most likely due to his “antics”. But, I knew Jesus Walks slapped and it turns out a lot of this album does too! Still not overly keen on the skits but the beats and rhymes were decent. 3.5/5

Eh, it's ok. I listened to this over a few days so it's a bit hard to be totally objective about all the tracks but there's certainly some bop along bits and some awful bits. Spaceship and Jeses Walks are the standouts for me.

Kanye before he lost his damn mind. It's pretty enjoyable but Kanye isn't really the best rapper. There's some fun wordplay, it's not trying to be "hard", and a lot of the beats are great. The skits are even pretty good for the most part. And yet for some reason I'm just not super into it. I give it a 3, I think the follow up was better. It's a very strong 3 though.

Ok, well, this was a lot less grating than "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy". I guess I can see the appeal - even enjoyable in parts! Minus one star for Kanye being a knob, and "The New Workout Plan" being fricking awful. Fave track - "Jesus Walks"

it's some hiphop. by Kanye. Fuck that guy. But other than that, it's listenable

Very creative and proves he's more than just a media clown. Will never listen again though.

This is the good era of Kanye, before we knew he was batshit crazy. Don't like the guy at all, but this is still 3 star worthy.

My first Kanye album. I liked it more than I thought I would, did has some great beats. Not my favorite hip hop album, but definitely a fun listen.

Letkeetä menoa ja parhaat biisit oli oikeesti hyviä ja palasi vuosien takaa mieleen. Kolmonen tuntuu olevan vähän alakanttiin kun vertaa mille kaikelle sitä on tullut jaettua, mutta ei silti millään täytä nelosen vaatimuksia.

Wasn't terrible, but I struggled to get into the album overall, I'd say. I liked a few songs, and I can see the impact and significance this album has had on hip hop / rap since it came out.

Disco debut de 21 canciones, 1 hora y 16 minutos donde se nota el estilo de Kanye: todo en grande, todo Kanye, Kanye, Kanye, Kanye, Kanye, haste el punto del hartazgo. Los tracks de pura conversación, que sí, son característicos del género, se sienten como demasiado. Kanye no me gusta, no es mi estilo y este disco no lo volvería a escuchar completo. 2.5 que iba a bajar a 2 porque no me gusta, pero no es un mal disco, está bien hecho. Se queda en 3.

All I really know about him is that he’s a celebrity-enabled psych case study. It seems to me that before he was so huge he really had some interesting things to say. I didn’t expect to save anything, but Spaceship did it for me. All Falls Down was excellent too. Even so, I guess even in this debut album he ran out of complexity a few tracks in. “Always said if I rapped, I’d say something significant. But now I’m rapping about money, hoes, and rims again.” Ok bud, very self aware but are you going to do anything about it? Jay-Z almost never has anything to say except how spiffy we ought to think he is, and that track seems to start the downturn. Workout, Slow Jamz, Breathe etc. sound nice but amount to nothing interesting. Through the Wire is a classic. Very mixed bag.

Kayne West loves Kayne West. And that really comes through. I hate to admit it’s not a bad album. Overall really easy to listen to.

Too long, but decent as background music.

Estilo hip/hop con rap de un cantante con mucha influencia. Por lo general, diferentes sub-estilos dentro de las propias canciones del disco. Muy para entusiastas del género en sí. Pasable, sin más

All I really know about him is that he’s a celebrity-enabled psych case study. It seems to me that before he was so huge he really had some interesting things to say. I didn’t expect to save anything, but Spaceship did it for me. All Falls Down was excellent too. Even so, I guess even in this debut album he ran out of complexity a few tracks in. “Always said if I rapped, I’d say something significant. But now I’m rapping about money, hoes, and rims again.” Ok bud, very self aware but are you going to do anything about it? Jay-Z almost never has anything to say except how spiffy we ought to think he is, and that track seems to start the downturn. Workout, Slow Jamz, Breathe etc. sound nice but amount to nothing interesting. Through the Wire is a classic. Very mixed bag.

There are some good beats, good background singers. Thank goodness these songs are short. Some of the short "transition" songs are good like "I'll Fly Away". But it's not my cup of tea.

Bouncy and from a moment in time. Cohesive social commentary with enough little nuances in the lyrics to make you go back and listen. Kayne's struggles are wrapped in ego and hidden in plain sight.

Hey, this guy's pretty good! Who knew?!

I wanted to give this a 1 or a 2. I really wanted to. However, I admit that while I don't like Kanye as a person or really like much Hip-Hop/Rap as a genre, this is not bad. Maybe pretty good. Some songs even slap! So, I am begrudgingly giving it a 3. If it had been trimmed up a bit and some of the lesser material (especially at the end) pulled out, it might have made it to a 4.

Meh

Not a fan of the guy, almost didn't listen, but I did like the album.

i mean it's okay but yeezus is better

I haven't listened to much Kanye so glad to have the opportunity to do so. From what I know though, this feels like a rough draft of the "Kanye sound". Lots of filler/skits and a bunch of tracks that don't need to exist, also maybe too many collabs but... when it's your debut using others as a hype-builder just makes sense. Production-wise it's quite good, pretty impressive a lot of this was on his own at parts, you can tell he is a perfectionist and I can appreciate it. I hope the next 2 albums are on here because from what I know they are a bit better.

Minus 1 for the spoken word guff. Minus 1 for the excessive length

Good

Has some redeeming qualities; love the instrumentation for the beats, can't get enough of those strings. It does go on a bit though, with a lot of unique tracks albeit, but still a bit long for my taste, at a staggering hour and twelve minutes!

Great samples and a couple of great songs, but the album is too long and loses its grip halfway through.

Wasn't for me but had good variety

Enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I appreciated the variety in sound throughout the album, for me I’d probably give this a 3.5 if I could. Some songs I wouldn’t listen to again but some I would.

It was fine.

I don't like hip hop but this one was nice. a bit exhausting. Jesus walks is a good song.

Better than modern day Ye. However, the album feels too long. The great tunes are slightly lost amongst the average songs I did enjoy the final track setting out how Kanye became a rapper

decent

Enjoyed the sampling on this album.

Der Typ weiß auch wie man gute Songs schreibt. Und das weiß er auch...aber gibt mir trotzdem nix...

Kanye can be silly, but this is pretty good.

Never got on the Yeezy bandwagon. Thought I might struggle to get through this album, but I was wrong. Noteworthy tracks: Jesus Walks, Slow Jamz - can really hear the influence Kanye had on Lin-Manuel Miranda

Not my favorite of his

I never liked skits on albums. Actual songs are standard early 2000s hip hop.

Meno peggio della mia spocchiosita

Kanye before his out of control ego, and all his BS. Somehow, this is Kanye at his most humble. It's a solid album, but somehow not his best work.

Classic Kanye

I'm just not a fan of chipmunk soul. The lyrics are great but the beats weren't the best. Spaceship is probably the standout track for me.

Some great hits and a few good deep tracks. Monster first album. Reminded me of when Kanye performed Jesus Walks at the Grammys almost 20 years ago- 🤯

Not my style of music

Not my favorite still very good

Not as good as I remember it. He's not a very good rapper at this point, but less of a cock than later on. It's got loads of great beats but far too many skits etc

Alright I’m biased, but at this point it’s difficult to disentangle Kanye’s superstar celebrity ego from his art, especially as someone who has not followed his music. I’m not a huge hip hop fan, but it’s clearly an objectively good sounding hip hop album with good continuity and a counter culture attitude that was obviously very well received at the time. He’s also clearly very talented at composing art from tons of samples. Does this make him a genius? FUCK NO. The guy self-admittedly struggles with mental health problems, yet he has an incessant god complex and compulsion to be a thought leader for people. Dude, you yourself know you can’t even lead your own thoughts. The anti-intellectualism sentiment in this album has also clearly “blossomed” into the shitfuck of a chaotic apocalypse looming world governed by fellow mentally ill celebrities who rely on cults of personality to protect them as they impose their psychotic ideals on the population. This album also came out at a time of hyper-materialism and sensationalism, a world where Kanye lives 24/7. I’m giving it 3 stars because of my attempt at objectivity and the typical low importance I assign to lyricism (which is tricky with hip hop) but he really doesn’t deserve a rating that high. I think a lot of Kanye’s “message” is simply glorifying ignorance, materialism, and ego. You can learn and understand shit and still fight the system, Kanye. Your talent is manipulating stupid people to believe your simplistic views, and to reject authorities who put the work in to actually fucking learn things. Effectively, all you do is polarize and manipulate the population into contrarianism. The same thing Fox News does. You’re a tool being used to help the status quo to continue, congrats dumbass.

26. The College dropout - Kanye West 21 tracks. This isn't for me, but despite that I really liked some tracks. The overall feeling I got was that I was let down by the production on some tracks (which surprised me because I thought that's what he was all about). 3/5

Not really my thing, but odd track I liked

Don't normally like this kind of music. Pleasantly surprised - good, clear delivery. Entertaining and musically diverse. Some of the commentary and skits could be dropped. I actually might choose to listen again!

Two takeaways here - 1) Humble Kanye is weird. 2) Bort Ainsworth still wears Von Dutch.

A little over long, and a few tracks could have been dropped for the sake of conciseness, but overall a great groove with wit and savvy lyrics. Highlight tracks - School Spirit, Two Words

Tells a story well. Easy to hear and listen too

Kanye has a reputation for a reason. This is very listenable.

When Kanye is good, he's great. His lyrics are engaging and music is adventurous. He has a lot of cool/unique concepts that he is fitting into his hip-hop/rap. However, this does get a bit long, the skits get long in the tooth, and i have no idea why Last Call was a good idea to include on this.

trivial

An album that flirts with greatness before losing its way about midway through. Some of the earlier tracks are outstanding (all fall down, spaceship, Jesus Walks) but after this it’s good only in moments and the flow is broken up with those dreadful skits. The last song has no place on any album either, makes wonder how many times the listener would want to hear that same story. Baffling.

Some brilliant tracks but peppered with nonsense and too many skits - better was to come

Mixed feelings about this one. Musically I love it, and I do think it’s one of the best Kanye albums, but the content of the lyrics make it a bit of a tough listen. Not a big fan of the little skits either.

Very good. First listen. I knew a couple of the songs. He has a great style. Interesting. Even with the language I still enjoyed it.

In general I'm not a Kanye fan and I was surprised by how well this captures the time and place of a period in hip hop. Has this album changed my overall feelings about Ye? Not really.

kanye

Solid album overall. Some of the lyrics way too comedic, in an early 2000's kind of way (Slim-Shady-esque) for my liking. I realise this was probably done on purpose, as some sort of commentary, but I just found it irritating to listen to at times. As soon as he dialed it back just a little, his sarcastic humor did a good job on getting his point across. Production quality is probably the best part of the album, along with some hip hop all stars doing features. It was a bit too long IMO.

Nicht ganz so schlimm wie ich gedacht habe. Die Richtung ist nicht meins, aber schlecht ist es durchaus nicht.

Cool songs. Not really what I would listen to in free time. I liked the story bits.

“She got a light skinned friend look like Michael Jackson. Got a dark skinned friend look like Michael Jackson.”

// Favs: Jesus Walks / Never Let Me Down / Two Words / Last Call Score: Decent to Strong 3

3.5 Great moments

I don’t like kanye

Not my thing, but ok

I get it. Since he’s considered one of the greats, you gotta hear where he started.

lotsa cursing! adequate rap album.

This was the third album on my list, but I am rating it while I am currently on album 142. Finally Kanye has been out of the new long enough for me to be willing to listen to it. I do have to admit it is a decent hip-hop album. It does feel very dated to the early 2000s. Still not my thing but better than I expected going in.

Never realized this was KW's highest regarded album (allmusic.com agrees). I would have thought MBDTF would hold that honor. First listen to this one. Good album. More straightforward, less "artsy" than MBDTF.

Yeah, this was quite fun.

Am I over skits? Have I lost patience for skits? I used to love that shit. Nowadays I’m like “get to the music.” By my count there are 6 dope songs on this album, all 5s. There’s also a lot of trash. If you cut out the middle I’d be happy. It’s all dead weight, it also all seems less honest, more vapid, like “look at me” rap. We all know he’s a great beat maker but I like two things about his rap, it’s honest, that bi-polar, no filter reallness he’s famous for truly in touch with his feelings and I like his playfulness and creativity in rhymes, he takes fun chances, does interesting little plays on words or metaphor. In All the good songs this stands out, all the bad songs doesn’t. I even enjoyed his 10 minute vamping over the beat telling a story about his big break. In this album it’s refreshing to feel the Chicago Kanye, not the LA Kanye, a bit more real, a bit more connected to the real world. Lots of great stuff on this album that gives you a good glimpse of the African American experience, you can feel it in the lyrics and in the beats. Not his best album, a lot of fat to cut, but pretty good. B—3

I've always loved this album, tons of nostalgia. Remember when Kanye was just a hip hop artist and not this weird cult personality?

It’s too long. Too much Kanye for one sitting. Nice to be reminded of a time before he was a complete lunatic though.

Too much filler. And high pitched voices. He's done better.

classic kanye. nothing much

Family Business escuchable. Me ha parecido un rollo. Igual si tradujera las letras ....

Rap, hip hop. Muy largo. Tiene cosas interesantes. Mejor que lo previsto.

pretty boring but i liked the line in we dont care about dyslexic 12 questions

Age has not been kind to this album. The mixing is laughable by modern standards. Really muddy mids and an over-reliance on the 808 sound that was so popular at the time. The second half of the album is really where it shines. you start to see the beginnings of Kanye's signature soul-sampled sound Despite all this, the album still has a bunch of standout tracks: Never Let Me Down, Slow Jamz, Two Words, Through the Wire, Last Call

I'd give it a 7, or with this rating system a 3. Maybe his recent antics have influenced me.

Hasn't aged great. Kanye is insane

Yee

Probably a 4/5 for me but gave it the good ol max balance treatment

Liked it more than I thought I would.

I'd listened to the first half of this six or more times before trying to get into it so this was the first time all the way to the end. I respect the brilliance on display but it doesn't speak to me. The transparency and self-awareness, the insecurity and feelings of inadequacy underlying so much of his work is interesting to hear him examine, but his coping mechanism, this Trump with musical talent persona he's adopted, is terribly boring.

The first half is amazing. Through the Wire steals the show on this album.

Day 1: A classic that I have never listened the full way through. For context, I have been listening to Kanye2049 a lot this past week, and it's wonderful, so it is nice to listen to some originals I've never heard. as for songs i havent heard: - spaceship is good - new workout plan is the goofiest shit - slow jamz is fun - SCHOOL SPIRIT! wow, I didn't know 'Good life' takes a line from this song. -lil jimmy skit is... an absurd critique of school and degrees but funny songs i have heard: - jesus walks bridge is amazing - all falls down is a longtime favorite - through the wire is amazing - family buisness is so sweet. - last call is good this is an album that, like in the pitchfork review of Ye, shows a Kanye that kanye isn't anymore, so far from who he became at his height and his descent into today. It's hard to explain. It's like the beatles, if you make an album that changes the trajectory of music, listening to it with the context of today makes it sound just very good average, when it defined the direction everyone else copied / attempted. (and like the beatles, maybe a biiit overrated...) and maybe 8-10 more songs than necessary lol

Bon premier album un peu timide dans l'exécution au niveau des prestations Production très riche

A few good songs, a few odd ones.... the narration parts were a bit hit or miss! Not my usual style, but enjoyable.

second half of the album is to me better musically thematically i dont really care i guess kanye isnt the best source of information

2.5

It is music…

Obligatory fuck Kanye. Don't like the man and did not really care for the music either. There was some alright stuff in here, but nothing that really stood out to me. I'm not the biggest Hip Hop fan in general and when an album is over an hour I get fatigued. ⭐️⭐️

Not for me

IRL he’s not quite right but makes a mean album.

Knyeee

If you're into that sort of thing, then this is probably good. I can't really appreciate it.

En kyllä ymmärrä alkuunkaan miksi tämä on listalla. Ehkä aikanaan ollut merkittäväkin Hip hop -albumi? Nimekäs artisti ja isoja staroja vierailemassa mutta silti täysin tasapaksua huttua, joka ei kerta kaikkiaan iske. Rasismista ainakin albumin alkupuolella kovasti lauletaan, samoin rakkaudesta, muuten levyn mahdollinen teema jää ainakin minulle pimentoon. 2/5

I try to only review the music and not the man. But in this case they’re both shit. Only one good song here (Jesus Walks) and maybe, maybeee Through the Wire but that one is kinda vanilla too. Last 10 minutes is just him talking about how he got signed like anyone cares. Honestly Kanye should’ve died in that car wreck and the world would be better off.

[This is my review not taking into account how he is as a person] Don't like the high over-autotuned voices but it's just not my thing

das album war gar nicht meins kanye west hatte viel einfluss auf seine sachen er ist zwar talentiert aber es ist nicht für mich ,,Rap/hiphop'' con den 90er

Kanye's debut, made over a long period of time, covering more rap topics than the then fashionable gangster style of the previous decade. There are some melodic samples and a sense that Kanye is willing to sing on occasion. Some impressive guests appear, including Jay-Z, and some big hit singles. I still find it difficult to enjoy 70 plus minutes of music that does the things I hear throughout this album and when one considers what 'Ye' has become I can seriously survive without it.

i really liked "yeezus" when it was first released and i think it still holds up (read: holds up musically, not lyrically... kanye is a chud) after re-listening when it popped up on my list. i like it more than most people on here seem to. i know "my beautiful twisted dark twisted family" has got to be coming... i haven't listened to that in years, but i remember thinking half the songs were amazing and the other half, less so. we'll see upon revisit. beyond that, i have never explored kanye. this preamble brings me to my rating: this album is kind of boring. obviously it is his debut and he would grow (not mature), but no songs really jumped out at me. and i hate the skits - which is not exclusive to this album or kanye. i find there is a trajectory with artists with huge egos. they start small, boring. as the ego grows so does the capability to produce something truly unique and special. unfortunately the ego hits a tipping point and well, we all know kanye today.

2 points deducted for his future white supremacist heel-turn. I mean, I like the album, I think the "genius" label is overrated and even in the "George Bush doesn't care about black people" phase, Kanye put a Jesus track in the middle of this album. It's like the signs were already there.

gwn oke

Not a fan of Mr West's output, and this was no exception. Nothing personal, just not for me.

Recognizing that Kanye West is a piece of shit I do think its important to separate the art from the artist, or else this list is going to dwindle very quickly and we will have far less to listen to. I remember when this album came out, and how popular it was and the fan fare that it got, but I just did not get it. It has some catchy songs, and it is likely that I am not educated enough on what makes him an impressive rapper, but I still did not like it that much. And I really do not like the un-necessary skits, and extra long songs that just seem to be him stroking his ego.

It's tough to get past the person behind the music. The music isn't too bad, but it's still not my favourite.

Good music with horrible lyrics and a horrible artist.

He's a pig of a human, but I can't deny the Through The Wire. Just a shame he eventually had to have his jaw unwired.

Not bad. Not great. Started off shite, got slightly better then tailed off again in my opinion. Not my era or genre.

I don't get the hype ... the beats are cookie-cuttter, and the raps are nothing to write home about.

No tan bueno como el rojo, pero cool

EWWWWWWW

Despite all the help it's only a mediocre debut album perhaps he grows with his future releases.

Never got the hype for Kanye, as a producer he's good as a rapper he's not

The fact that this album is well produced does not opaque that it really becomes tedious to listen to and that is too pretentious. Yes, there are some nice songs, some really interesting melodies and musical decisions. But it is too long for what it really has to offer and, as it goes on, it becomes less and less inspired until repetitiveness kills completely the flow of the album. And... well, I guess Kanye's ego can afford an album like that, but my ears hurt and my head is dizzy. The so many elements going on with that style of rapping all over the record become tiring and even stressful to listen to. It even becomes disgusting at some point. Maybe I do not understand the appeal of this music, of this album (and I am not going to talk about Kanye himself...), but, a more than a 12-minute song is too much for a guy just talking and talking over a repetitive instrumental. It is just as monumental as his ego, and as stupid as himself.

I hate that i actually enjoyed the first part of this album, but fuck kanye man

kb zu hören

Just not a fan of Kanye’s style of music. Like I know Jesus Walks is supposed to be a banger but I just couldn’t get in the groove.

He’s got a bit of a messiah complex and gone a bit rogue. Likes the N word , a lot. Ok in places

Probably should have stayed at college and learnt something!

Bicho queimadão, vários reviews jogando a nota lá em baixo. Foda, o artista cagar com carreira, ainda mais ele com um negócio tão absurdo que não dá pra acreditar. Tentando separar a arte do artista, parece que ele tem um talento foda. Pelo que vi é o primeiro álbum dele, ele era produtor, tipo o Raul. Tentou fazer a própria arte, e parecia manjar o que o mercado curtia. Não é meu estilo de música, não ouvirei de novo, mas vou dar 2* pela qualidade.