For Promotional Use Only: DJ LRM Presents Kanye West - College Dropout: The Mixtape (2003)

I realize that this isn't Kanye West's first mixtape (at this point in 2003, several had already seen release, focusing on either the man's extensive production work or his recovery from a near-fatal car accident), but I decided to write about College Dropout: The Mixtape for two reasons:

1. College Dropout: The Mixtape was the first promotional disc Kanye ever used to specifically pimp his then-upcoming debut album, The College Dropout. (You'll never guess how he came up with the name for the mixtape.) It featured many songs that would later end up on the retail album in a more mixed and complete fashion, in addition to freestyles and tracks which were intended for The College Dropout but never made the cut. Some of these verses would also find their way into Kanye's later work, further proving my theory that 'Ye wrote all of his rhymes (or, at least the ones that Rhymefest didn't have a hand in) back in the early years of the new millennium, and has been reciting this old shit throughout his entire career. College Dropout: The Mixtape has the feel of an alternate version of the debut album, kind of a "what-if?" of sorts regarding how the album could have sounded.

2. I could just launch into my "I can write about whatever the fuck I want" argument here, but instead I'll defer to the fact that Kanye West has become the biggest rap star in the world (right now, anyway), which means that even if most of my two readers hate the man's guts, everybody else in the world seems to like the guy, including myself. Hell, I even sort of liked 808's & Heartbreak, although some of that shit was completely misguided.

Anyway.

1. INTRO
Having a sound bite of Mos Def referring to Kanye as "the future of hip hop" is a nice touch. The weird thing is, depending on your perspective, Mighty Mos was actually right. I know, kids: I'm scared, too.

2. KEEP THE RECEIPT (FEAT DIRT MCGIRT)
Thank your fucking lucky stars that this song failed to make the final cut for The College Dropout. Not only would it have not fit, it may have actually ended Kanye's rapping career before it ever began. Not that he's that horrible on here, but this song is a mess. And, for whatever reason, this song is censored on the mixtape itself. Which pisses me off, because I'm against censorship, even for songs that suck.

3. THROUGH THE WIRE
Kanye pretty much lets this track play out in its entirety, which makes sense, as it was already making the rounds on the Interweb at this point in time anyway. For some reason, even though it's the same song that appeared on the album, this version feels more authentic, as if Kanye was still (slightly) humbled and appreciative of his second chance at life. Key word there is "slightly".

4. NEVER LET YOU DOWN (FEAT JAY-Z & SAUL WILLIAMS)
Kanye floated this song out to the general public, and then managed to convince his boss, Shawn Carter, to contribute another verse for the album version. This sounds good in a historical artifact-sort of way. Those of you familiar with the album track will miss Jay's second verse, though.

5. MY WAY
One of those Kanye tracks that never appeared on any actual album. To me, this sounds like paint-by-numbers 2003 Kanye West: soul sample combined with 'Ye's antagonistic rhymes (recorded before he hit it big: you see, the man's always been full of himself). Skippable.

6. COMING HOME
Those of you that came into the Kanye West side story with Graduation will recall "Homecoming", with Chris Martin from Coldplay. Well, here's the song in its original incarnation. I actually prefer the remake.

7. 2 WORDS (FEAT MOS DEF, FREEWAY, & THE HARLEM BOYS CHOIR)
Kanye re-did his vocals for the album version, but otherwise, this sounds like the exact same song.

8. HEAVY HITTERS FREESTYLE
I seem to remember the Heavy Hitters being some sort of rap collective that Kanye was a part of for precisely one moment, but I'm probably wrong. Kanye's first freestyle on the mixtape is not bad, but he's clearly outshined by his buddy GLC, who, in the past six years, has yet to release a solo album. Yes, that's right: fucking Soulja Boy has released more solo albums than GLC. What is this world coming to?

9. KANYE WEST & MURPHY LEE FREESTYLE (FEAT MURPHY LEE)
I still cannot determine the origins of this freestyle. If Kanye was trying to position himself as the next big thing in hip hop, why wouldn't he have held out for Nelly, instead of rhyming alongside one of his weed carriers? At least 'Ye manages to defeat his competition on here, so that's nice.

10. LAST NIGHT FREESTYLE
The rhymes are alright (although people need to stop making excuses for Jay-Z's The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse: that album mostly sucked, and everybody knows it), but the singing on the hook is useless: if I wanted to hear Madonna's "La Isla Bonita", I'd dig through my CD collection, thanks.

11. JESUS WALKS
It's unfinished, but Kanye's Rhymefest-penned Grammy winner appears for the first time in a form that isn't only thirty seconds long, as had been teased on some of his other mixtapes. It's kind of like watching a Michael Bay flick before post production, before the explosions and sound effects are laid in.

12. SELF CONSCIOUS (FEAT LAURYN HILL)
This would later morph into "All Falls Down" on The College Dropout. This would be the version with the Lauryn Hill vocal sample, as opposed to the re-sung vocals. And this would be the version that I still believe is inferior to the eventual album version. Regardless of what I think, though, the true star of this song is Stacey Dash. You two know what I'm talking about.

13. THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY (FEAT CONSEQUENCE)
I can't be the only person to notice that, today, Kanye sounds like what Consequence sounded like back then, and I'm talking A Tribe Called Quest's Beats, Rhymes, & Life timeframe. There isn't much of a concept here (it's not like 'Ye and guest are rhyming about spaghetti westerns or anything), but it sounds decent, especially on the part of Cons. Off topic: Sergio Leone was the shit.

14. FAMILY BUSINESS
Since this is a mixtape, after all, I'm expecting a fair amount of interruptions from the deejay. However, hearing the phrase "Lots of respect, motherfuckers" on this particular track, a sweet song in which Kanye praises his family (this song also appears on the retail album) is damn near disrespectful. Or funny. Maybe even both.

15. FREESTYLE
On this creatively-titles freestyle, 'Ye creates his own version of Biggie's "Dreams", although his personal twist is that he'll gladly provide a free instrumental to a "half-nice"-looking female rapper in exchange for, well, you know. I don't need to spell it out, do I? Okay, he's talking about pussy. It is kind of funny, but it's longer than it has any right to be.

16. IS THAT YOUR CAR?
Meh.

17. FREESTYLE
This could be seen as a continuation of the other freestyle with the exact same title, both in content and in the fact that you'll get sick of it before it's over. He sounds as if he's copping Hova's flow for more than a few bars, though.

18. KANYE'S WORKOUT
This song sucked on the album, and this original version presented on here proves that Kanye really didn't need to improve on it: he could have "accidentally" erased the masters and the world would have been a better place.

19. SLOW JAMS (FEAT TWISTA & JAMIE FOXX)
At the time of this mixtape's release, this was the hit song of the moment. For Twista. This unpolished version sounds closer to the track that ended up on Twista's album than what appeared on The College Dropout (Kanye's version was much longer). This isn't a bad song at all, but kudos to whomever sequenced this track as the final song on the mixtape, forcing listeners (with broken skip buttons) to run through every other song beforehand.

SHOULD YOU TRACK IT DOWN? I would say yes, but with a qualifier. College Dropout: The Mixtape is an interesting listen for Kanye West fans and hip hop dorks (like myself) who get excited over the concept of alternate takes and demo tracks. However, most of these tracks actually ended up on The College Dropout (or on different albums entirely), so you two may feel no need to give this a spin: you've already heard most of it. It is entertaining, but those of you who only got into Kanye West because you're a fan of his emo Auto-Tune ramblings (and, trust me, there are many listeners out there that only know the man from 808's & Heartbreak, hard as it may be to believe) won't find anything to like on here. Enjoy this at your own risk, non-Kanye fans.

-Max

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