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It had the best mix of Kanye being overblown egotrip Kanye, but also the best of his "everso slightly more conscious" side. Great skits too... I reckon people calling out "corny songs" just take it for granted because it's SO well known now.
2. "We Don't Care"
"And they DCFS them some of them dyslexic
They favorite 50 Cent song 12 Questions..."
4. "All Falls Down"
ALL TIME HIPHOP CLASSIC. Should've been the theme tune to the Occupy movement.
"But I ain't gon' act holier than thou, cuz fuck it
I went to Jacob with 25 thou
Before I had a house and I'd do it again
Cuz I wanna be on 106 & Park pushin' a Benz
I wanna act ballerific like it's all terrific
I got a couple past-due bills, I won't get specific
I got a problem with spendin' before I get it
We all self conscious, I'm just he first to admit it"
6. "Spaceship" (featuring GLC & Consequence) Kanye West 5:24
7. "Jesus Walks" Kanye West 3:13
COME ON. Amazing record.
"Now, hear ye, hear ye: want to see Thee more clearly
I know he hear me when my feet get weary
Cause we're the almost nearly extinct
We rappers is role models: we rap, we don't think
I ain't here to argue about his facial features
Or here to convert atheists into believers
I'm just trying to say the way school need teachers
The way Kathie Lee needed Regis that's the way I need Jesus
So here go my single dog radio needs this
They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus
That means guns, sex, lies, videotape
But if I talk about God my record won't get played, HUUHHHH?!"
8. "Never Let Me Down" (featuring Jay-Z & J. Ivy)
That J. Ivy verse!!
"Let it been known that God's penmanship has been signed with a language called love
That's why my breath is felt by the deaf
And why my words are heard and confined to the ears of the blind
I, too, dream in color and in rhyme
So I guess I'm one of a kind in a full house
Cuz whenever I open my heart, my soul, or my mouth
A touch of God rains out"
9. "Get Em High" (featuring Talib Kweli & Common)
Not a classic, but pretty damn solid for a filler tune and I think was the reason I ever came looking around these parts.
"Always got somethin' to say like a Okayplayer hater..."
11. "The New Workout Plan"
Throwaway, but fun as fuck. I hadn't listened to it for years until I put CD back on my phone a couple of months ago.
"But I still mess with a big girl
if you ain't fit girl I'll hit girl
1 and you brought 2 friends
OK 3 more now hop in the Benz
4 door do you know the difference between a
5, 6, 7, 8
All the mocha lattes you gotta do Pilates
You gotta pop this tape in before you start back dating
Hustlers, gangstas, all us, ballas"
12. "Slow Jamz" (featuring Twista & Jamie Foxx)
One of the singles of the year that year. Twista and Kanye both come correct.
"She got a light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson
... got a dark-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson
I play Ready For The World, she was ready for some action
My dog said you ain't no freak, so you 'bout to prove my man wrong..."
13. "Breathe in Breathe Out" (featuring Ludacris) Kanye West, Brian Miller* 4:06
Filler again, but solid as hell. Every album that year needed a Luda guest spot.
15. "School Spirit" Kanye West 3:02
"See, that's how dude became the young Pootie Tang: "tippy tow"
Roc-a-fella chain, yeah that's my rapper style
Rosary piece, yeah that's my Catholic style
Red and white One's, yeah that's my Kappa style
And I ain't even pledge
Crack my head on the steering wheel and I ain't even dead
If I could go through all that and still be breathing
Bitch bend over, I'm here for a reason!"
17. "Lil Jimmy (Skit)" - normally I don't shout out skits, but this one was GOLD. Occasionally I worry that I might be Lil Jimmy's Dad.
18. "Two Words" (featuring Mos Def, Freeway & the Boys Choir of Harlem)
Unnggfffhh. BEAT. SAMPLE. HEAT.
"Most imitated, Grammy nominated
Hotel accommodated, cheerleader, prom dated
Barbershop, playa hated, mom and pop, bootlegged it
Felt like it rained till the roof caved in
Two words, Chi town, raised me, crazy
So I live by two words, "Fuck you, pay me""
19. "Through the Wire" Kanye West
Career defining single - if he hadn't made this, he'd still be a producer and occasional rapper. Excellent video too including the nod to Chaka at the end.
"Good dude, Bad night, Right place, Wrong time
In the blink of an eye his whole life changed
If you could feel how my face felt you would know how Mace felt
Thank God I ain't to cool for the safe belt
I swear to God drive two on the sue
I got lawyer for the case to keep whats in my safe; safe
My dawgs couldn't tell if I
I look Tom Cruise on Vanilla Sky, it was televised
All they heard was that I was in an accident like GEICO
They thought I was burnt up like Pepsi did Michael"
20. "Family Business"
Possibly my favourite Kanye song ever. Has reduced me to tears on several occasions. Not many rap songs have ever done that to me and this one STAYS doing it.
"I can't deny it, I'm a straight rider
But when we get together be electric slidin'
Grandma, get 'em shook up
Aw naw, don't open the photo book up
I got an Aunt Ruth that can't remember your name
But I bet them Polaroids'll send her down memory lane
You know that one auntie, you don't wanna be rude
But every holiday nobody eatin' her food
And you don't wanna stay there cuz them your worst cousins
Got roaches at their crib like them your first cousins
Act like you ain't took a bath with your cousins
Fit three in the bed while six of y'all
I'm talkin' 'bout three by the head and three by the leg
But you ain't have to tell my girl I used to pee in the bed"
21. "Last Call"
A bit long, but befitting his ego and weirdly easy/rewarding to listen to multiple times.
"Killin y'all on that lyrical shit
Mayonaise coloured Benz, I push Miracle Whips."
I've got plenty of love for Late Registration and Fantasy, but if there's a hiphop classic in the pile, it's The College Dropout.
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