The College Dropout
It's from 2004, before you were born.
- Artist
- Kanye West
- Genre
- Hip-hop
- Released
- 2004
- Note
- acclaimed debut
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About
As of 2026, it's 22 years old.
The College Dropout announced Kanye West as a producer-turned-rapper with a fresh vision — soulful, sped-up vocal samples, humor, vulnerability, and songs about faith, materialism, and self-doubt that sounded like nothing else in 2004 hip-hop. 'Jesus Walks' got a gospel-tinged song about religion onto rap radio, which nobody thought possible.
'Through the Wire,' recorded with his jaw literally wired shut after a car accident, showed an artist who'd do anything to be heard.
Soulful, witty, and genre-shifting, The College Dropout is the debut that introduced one of the most influential — and singular — artists of his generation.
