There’s no shortage of classic debuts in hip-hop: Hard Core, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, Illmatic, Supa Dupa Fly, Doggystyle, Too Hard to Swallow.... you’ll run out of fingers to count them on, then eventually toes, until you finally run out of digits altogether. But The College Dropout, Kanye West’s 2004 debut, feels a bit more unique. It’s a singular work that not only marks the beginning of West’s journey from underdog to icon but also continues to inspire a generation of artists. It’s hard to imagine contemporary pop culture without it.
The music in The College Dropout is great on its own, but the conceptual album artwork is fantastic too. Sticking with the school theme, West used yearbook photos and senior superlatives to honor the album’s major players. Here, we take a look at what those contributors have been up to in the years since the album’s release.
“Token White Girl”
Miri Ben-Ari was one of The College Dropout’s most clandestine weapons. The violinist lent her talents to six tracks on the album, including a gripping solo on “Two Words.” It’s hard to imagine the album without those cinematic strings, which add a je ne sais quoi to an already phenomenal record. Before working with West, Ben-Ari was already making waves in the music industry — she played the violin on Alicia Keys’ Grammy Award-winning, No. 1 Billboard single “Fallin’.” But after The College Dropout was released, her career took a major leap forward. In 2005, Ben-Ari released a solo record called The Hip-Hop Violinist that featured the likes of Styles P, Pitbull, Akon, Scarface, West and many more. To add to the list of her post-Dropout achievements, she performed for President Barack Obama and became the first violinist to win a Grammy in the hip-hop category. Currently, she’s in a group with Young D called Afrostringz that fuses Afrobeats with Ben-Ari’s stylings on the violin.
“Class Clown”
Jamie Foxx is the consummate entertainer, a charming, well-what-can’t-he-do type of person seemingly plucked from a bygone era. Prior to laying down the hook for “Slow Jamz,” Foxx was already a bona fide star. He landed multiple stand-up specials, his own television show and was tapped to star as Ray Charles in the biopic Ray. The College Dropout and Foxx’s Academy Award-winning performance in Ray allowed him to do something he couldn’t quite achieve yet — some time in the limelight as a musician. In 2005 Foxx released his second album, Unpredictable (his first in 11 years), which went No. 1 on the Billboard charts and sold over 2 million copies. Double Platinum Foxx just kept on the same energy these years. His third album, Intuition, had the hit single “Blame It,” with T-Pain. On the big screen, he’s starred in films like Django Unchained, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Baby Driver, Soul and Just Mercy. Foxx doesn’t look like he’s slowing down anytime either. Later this year, he’ll be in the sci-fi comedy Netflix film They Cloned Tyrone alongside John Boyega and Teyonah Parris.
“Mr. Loudmouth”
Brash. Crass. Southern. Energetic. That’s the flavor Ludacris gave us in the aughts. The rapper only made a brief appearance on the album, when he supplied the hook for “Breathe In Breathe Out.” Seeing as he was one of the biggest stars in rap at the time with an uncanny knack for humor, it would have been a perfect song for a full verse. However, as the jeen-yuhs documentary makes clear, Kanye didn’t have much time — 10 minutes! — with Luda, so it makes sense. In the years after The College Dropout, Ludacris chopped off his signature braids, won a best rap album Grammy with Release Therapy and has made a mark in Hollywood as one of the principal cast members in the endless Fast & Furious franchise. Thankfully, he brought back his iconic braids last year.
“Most Gangbanging”
As a teenager, Malik Yusef joined Chicago street gang the Blackstone Rangers, so West giving him the superlative “most gangbanging” makes sense. However, Malik Yusef discovered poetry in his youth, too, and would become a renowned poet and occasional rapper in Chicago. The College Dropout’s official liner notes don’t mention Yusef, but his name and sharp pen are plastered all over albums later in West’s career — for instance, he co-wrote 15 songs on The Life of Pablo, eight on Yeezus and 26 out of the 27 tracks on Donda. Yusef has made a little bit of a splash as a recording artist in his own right, releasing two albums, one of which under West’s G.O.O.D. Music label in 2009, but his bread and butter has always been as a writer. Outside of his work with West, he’s also written for the likes of Beyoncé, Vic Mensa and Ty Dolla $ign.
“Prettiest Voice”
When West couldn’t get the Lauryn Hill sample cleared for “All Falls Down,” he turned to Syleena Johnson, daughter of legendary blues and soul singer Syl Johnson, who recently passed away. Syleena had been recording music for some time, having released two solo records and a collaboration with her father, but the collaboration with West was by far the biggest she had at the time. Since being catapulted to the main stage as a featured guest on The College Dropout’s third single, she’s worked with Kanye again, most recently on his latest album, Donda. Johnson has also released six more albums, become an author, self-help guru and cast member of R&B Divas: Atlanta.
“Mr. Natural”
Common was already a Chicago rap legend by the time he started working with West, but after his unfairly maligned album Electric Circus was released in 2002, his career needed a bit of a resurgence. Common’s guest verse on “Get Em High” was the start of a fruitful collaborative period between him and West. Common signed a deal with G.O.O.D. Music and released one of his most concise and beloved albums, Be, in 2005. Common’s career as a musician is going strong. He’s released 14 albums and made the jump to Hollywood, starring in movies like Wanted, John Wick: Chapter 2, and The Hate U Give. He’s released a memoir called Let Love Have The Last Word, was invited to perform at The White House by Michelle Obama, and is heavily involved in activist efforts concerning racial justice.
“Most Studious”
Freeway was one of the most dependable soldiers in the Roc-A Fella army. His 2003 debut has a couple of bangers, but “What We Do,” in particular, is a perilous look at life in the streets where he holds his own with Jay-Z. On The College Dropout, Freeway lends his talents to “Two Words,” a similarly gritty track that distills the institutional issues that affect Black people in the inner city. Since The College Dropout, Freeway has steadily kept up with recording music, his latest full-length album, Think Free, was released in 2018. He is currently the founder of the Freedom Thinkers Academy, an organization that seeks to provide awareness in music, health and education through discussions, events and mentorships.
“Poetry Contest Winner”
Peabody, Clio and NAACP Image Award winning poet J. Ivy is responsible for the powerful spoken word performance in “Never Let Me Down.” He’s lent his voice to numerous projects, including documentaries about Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali (directed by the same duo responsible for jeen-yuhs, Coodie & Chike) and for a promo for Beyoncé’s Black Is King. J. Ivy has become a seasoned multidisciplinary artist, releasing albums that blend music and poetry and a number of books including Dear Father: Breaking the Cycle of Pain, a memoir about adversity, healing and empowerment.
“Mos Flirtatious”
He’s one half of Black Star with Talib Kweli. The man formerly known as Mos Def is a legend in the rap game and an occasional actor, garnering roles in films like Be Kind Rewind and Cadillac Records. He has since changed his name to Yasiin Bey and become an expatriate, calling Paris, Cape Town, Dubai, Barcelona and London home at various points in the last decade. Like many politically astute Black artists before him, he found the United States untenable, the brunt of its institutional racism too much to bear. Artistically, Yasiin Bey’s output has been sparse but at times fantastic. In 2009, Bey released The Ecstatic, an album pulling different sounds and influences from around the globe, foreshadowing his own emigrant song.
“Most Popular”
If you’re here, reading this, you should know who Jay Z is, but allow me to reintroduce him. His name is Hov! H to the OV, used to move snowflakes by the o… — alright enough of that. Jay-Z has an astounding 14 No. 1 albums on the Billboard charts. He’s the founder and chairman of the entertainment company Roc Nation. He’s the first rapper inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, too. Jay-Z and West joined forces and released their ode to excess and excellence, Watch the Throne, in 2011, marking one of the best collab albums in rap history. As West and Jay-Z have a bit of a little brother, big brother relationship, they’ve fallen out and made up a handful of times. They seem to be on somewhat decent terms these days: Their most recent song is “Jail,” from 2021’s Donda. Jay-Z has a big ol’ list of accomplishments, but the biggest one is probably the fact that he married Beyoncé, especially after his entanglement with Becky with the good hair.
“Best Dancer”
Talib Kweli, the other half of Blackstar has stayed busy solidifying himself as one of the sharpest wordsmiths in hip hop. He and Kanye have worked together a couple of times in the years since The College Dropout, most notably on “In the Mood,” from Kweli’s 2007 album Eardrum and “Chain Heavy,” from West’s Good Fridays series in 2010. Also in 2010, Kweli founded his own independent record label, Javotti Media. Just like in his music, Kweli’s been a vocal political activist; he visited and performed at the Occupy Wall Street movement and stood hand in hand with the activists in Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of Michael Brown’s death at the hands of former police officer Darren Wilson. Outside of music, Kweli has written a memoir called Vibrate Higher: A Rap Story and launched two podcasts — one called the Midnight Miracle, with Dave Chappelle and Yasiin Bey, and another, with Jasmin Leigh, called The People's Party.
“Most Conceited”
Years before The College Dropout hit shelves, GLC and West were in a group called the Go Getters with another rapper named Really Doe. The two were once really close, and GLC released one album under G.O.O.D. Music called Love, Life & Loyalty in 2010, but the relationship drifted apart as West’s star grew, and GLC even publicly remarked that the West we saw wasn’t the same guy he knew all those years. GLC and Ye seem to be on better terms, as he was one of the writers West tapped for help during the Donda sessions.
“Most Afrocentric”
If you survey people about their favorite West productions, it’s a safe bet that “Down and Out” by Cam’Ron, featuring West, will come up a lot, which is a shame because even though he’s credited for the beat in the liner notes, Brian Miller is the man who actually made it but never got credit for thanks to a misunderstanding with Def Jam recordings. It’s the story of Brian “All Day” Miller’s inconspicuous output. He’s flown under the radar, likely in part due to his own design, helping write and produce songs for West over the years, including “24,” “Breathe in Breathe Out” and “Closed on Sundays.” And that’s just the stuff the suits were awake enough to give him credit for.
“Class Pest”
Before Consequence landed his remarkable guest spot on “Spaceship,” he was mostly known in the rap world as Q-Tip’s cousin, who appeared on a heap of tracks on A Tribe Called Quest’s fourth album, Beats, Rhymes and Life, released in 1996. The stage afforded on that song allowed him to branch out and give his rap career a second wind. Under the G.O.O.D. Music label Consequence released only one album in 2007 called Don’t Quit Your Day Job! In 2011, Consequence left the label on bad terms, frustrated with how that second wind wasn’t panning out under West’s tutelage. Despite the fact that Consequence was left so sour by his working relationship with West that he made a diss track, the two buried the hatchet, and Consequence is one of the many writers he calls on when working on a new album.
“Best Hair”
One of the great things about The College Dropout is that it pays a great deal of respect to a handful of Chicago legends, one of which is Twista. Among his claims to fame is when he was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s fastest rapper in 1992. But Twista is assuredly not just some sort of gimmick rapper, and besides, records for rapping fast don’t really pay the bills. Since his 1992 debut, Runnin' Off at da Mouth, debut in 1992, Twista has released ten solo albums. He’s been deployed as a feature artist by everyone from Lady Gaga to Jeremih to Chance The Rapper. Today, he releases music independently through his Get Money Gang Entertainment label.
“Most Talented”
John Legend only provided background vocals for a few songs on The College Dropout, but his velvety, soulful voice couldn’t be confined to just that. Legend was one of the first signees to West’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint and went on to release a smattering of hits like “Ordinary People,” “Green Light” and “Save Room.” “All of Me” is basically a wedding slideshow staple at this point. Outside of his music career, Legend starred in Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, played a key part in La La Land, is an outspoken philanthropist and is married to supermodel Chrissy Teigen. You could say he’s doing quite well.
“Class Clown”
Class Clown rings true for Aisha Tyler. The comedian who makes a brief appearance on The College Dropout during “Slow Jamz” is a widely celebrated and decorated comedian and actor. If you’ve seen Archer, you may recognize her as the voice behind Lana Kane. Seen Criminal Minds? Aisha Tyler played Dr. Tara Lewis. When Whose Line Is It Anyway? ended its initial run after Drew Carey left to host The Price Is Right, Tyler took over hosting duties in a revival of the improv comedy show. Next up for Tyler is an animated The Boys spinoff called Diabolical.
“Best Dressed” “Most Unlikely To Succeed”
Well, most unlikely to succeed is certainly a tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating lie. West has become one of the most critically acclaimed artists in the history of recorded music. He founded Donda, a fashion line named after his late mother, Donda West; pushed boundaries in both music and fashion; pissed a lot of people off a lot of times; recorded music with everyone from Beyoncé to Michael Jackson to Madonna. West has won Grammys and Video Music Awards and dreamed up some of the most compelling live shows around. Kanye’s done and seen it all. That’s one hell of a life.
