I cannot really remember the first time I heard Kanye West, but I do recall the time when I needed his album. We were listening to KISS FM in my mom's car, and 'Through The Wire' came on. At age 15, I had heard the song a couple times, but did not know who the artist was yet. I wanted to hear more though, and I heard the radio personality say 'that's new rapper Kanye West.' The College Dropout became a life source for me, and even 10 years later, it is still one of the most important albums in my life. As you know, age 15 does not mean you can head into a Best Buy and purchase a CD with 'PARENTAL ADVISORY: Explicit content.' Meaning I had to bring my mom with me to Best Buy because I could not drive yet and she needed to purchase the CD for me. My mom had given me the green light on Parental Advisory CD's around age 12 or 13. I somehow convinced her it was just a couple f-bombs here and there and nothing else. For those curious, my first Parental Advisory album was 'Hood Rich' by the Big Tymers. Anyways, I had the Kanye album and I could not wait to listen to it.
At the time, I carried around a red Sony Walkman, and it went everywhere with me. Honestly, the year prior was one of the hardest of my life for a variety reasons, and music became truly important to my life because it helped me escape the demons of real life. Music made things easier, and still to this day when things are rough, music always seems to help me. I started listening to Kanye at every chance I got. I would play it my room, or when I went to cut the lawn (My album purchase did not happen until like May). Many people that summer would talk about Kanye, we would play Kanye and have a great time with his music. But really my go-to time for listening was whenever I worked outside for my parents or neighbors around the area.
There is not a time where one song on the album would relate to me. 10 years ago, it was still cool to create mixtapes, and at least one or two Kanye songs would be on there for the next several months. What Kanye West did for me more than anything is made me smarter about how I listen to hip-hop music, and it expanded my love for hip-hop music at the time. Pretty sure those couple of years were spent listening to Kanye, Jay-Z, Ludacris and others. While Luda does not fit there, his debut album that I stole from a friend, was complete fire and I do not think anyone would disagree at the time.
I helped out a neighbor with some yardwork where I had my Sony Walkman the summer after having College Dropout. For whatever reason, I had two CD's with me at the time. 'College Dropout' and something else. I believe the reason I carried two was due to being there for awhile and knowing I would need a couple things to pass the time. I did not bring the album protection rather I put 'College Dropout' in my cargo pocket (If there is a every reason not to wear cargo shorts, this is it). As I move to my knees to start pulling weeds, I hear a SNAAAAAAP. Like that, my Kanye album broke it two. I was heartbroken. I ended up burning a copy within the weeks, but still, the fact I do not have the original copy is sort of crushing.
Yesterday, I brushed off the dust of my CD collection. Laughing at some of the albums in there... 'Guns & Roses: Greatest hits' and some other good ones yet I was able to find my burned copy of College Dropout. I popped into my car, and jammed out while I drove yesterday. Everything is still the same. Without further ado, my favorite songs off the album.
1. Spaceship
2. Get Em High
3. All Falls Down
4. We Don't Care
5. Jesus Walks
6. Through The Wire.
7. Never Let Me Down
8.New Workout Plan
9. Breathe In, Breathe Out
10. Family Business
11. Last Call
12. Slow Jamz (Honestly, great song, but not Kanye's song).
Charlie.
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