21 People Who Helped Make The College Dropout A Classic
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DeRay Davis
It turns out that if you can’t get Bernie Mac (rest in peace), DeRay does a really good impression.
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Consequence
Much like GLC, Cons also gave listeners raw truth with his verse. That autobiographical line about going from being a quasi-member of A Tribe Called Quest and guesting in a Busta Rhymes video to being relegated to the struggle rap category was 100% true.
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Aisha Tyler
She needed Kanye to do it faster. All jokes aside, Tyler only agreed to appear in the “Slow Jamz” video after insisting she couldn’t be a vixen. She dropped her vocals early in The College Dropout sessions after Kanye had the wires removed from his jaw.
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Rhymefest
“Jesus Walks” was originally a Rhymefest track. In interviews, ‘Fest has been reluctant to take much credit, calling the song “a gift from the creator.” As far as legalities and publishing royalties go, Rhymefest is a co-writer with a GRAMMY for his efforts. (Editor’s Note: The first verse is Rhymefest’s, the second is all Yeezy’s)
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Talib Kweli
Another fun fact: Kanye made the “Get ‘Em High” beat in about 15 minutes. Kweli worked with him during the sessions for The Beautiful Struggle, and Talib could’ve had “Get ‘Em High” for himself, but he was apprehensive about the simplicity of the track and it being perceived as a pro-weed song.
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Common
We all remember Comm taking a lot of heat for rocking knit pants in his post-Electric Circus phase. He channeled that into some bars that forced us all to remember Lonnie Lynn could spit on “Get ‘Em High.”
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Stacey Dash
Before she was angering us on Fox News, Dame Dash’s cousin played West’s love interest in the “All Falls Down” video and reminded everyone that Dionne from Clueless still had it.
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Miri Ben-Ari
Remember how everyone all of a sudden wanted Miri on their songs after she blew up on “We Don’t Care,” “Graduation Day,” “Jesus Walks,” “The New Workout Plan,” and “Breathe In Breathe Out.”
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John Legend
It turns out Legend played a ton of bit parts on The College Dropout, including writing the “eat your salad” lyrics on “The New Workout Plan” and singing through Auto-tune on “Jesus Walks.”
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Damon Dash
Dame was the co-executive producer, and really the first person to really rock with Kanye West as a rapper. And from all the behind the scenes stories we’ve all heard, Dame creatively pushed West to take things to the next level. It didn’t hurt that Dash’s cousin was Stacey Dash either.
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Anna Nicole Smith
Thankfully, for our ears’ sake, Anna Nicole didn’t make a musical appearance on The College Dropout, but would “Workout Plan” have been the same without her in the video? Nah, we think not.
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Vida Guerra
You can’t talk about the “Workout Plan” video without mentioning Vida Guerra. There was no Instagram back then, but if there was, the thirst buckets would have been in effect. Trust
