Artists are notoriously defensive of their own work. They become combative towards critics who train their minds and writing skills to thoughtfully review a piece of art. This is especially true for someone like Kanye West. His massive, self-admitted ego couldn’t wrap his mind around a negative review of his work, especially when it’s as good as College Dropout.
So when Rolling Stone gave him three and a half stars back in 2004, he told Complex at the time that “obviously they don’t know sh*t about hip-hop.” This even extended to other outlets, too. Even four and a half wasn’t acceptable. Kanye West believed he was worthy of the highest honors. Moreover, he argued that if he never released another record, they would revise their scores years down the line.
“Even The Source: I got four-and-a-half mics. I thought it was a given I’d get five. If I never gave them another album again, all they would do three years from now is start re-rating The College Dropout,” he said. “I definitely feel I am influential. You can’t take anything away from me if I have that ego. It’s part of the whole ambience, so just enjoy the ride.”
Kanye West Lashed Out at the Press Over ‘College Dropout’ Reviews in 2004 Interview
This outlook isn’t entirely informed by a difference in taste either. Instead, he wanted critics to consider the amount of labor it took to create his debut album. “I had to fight to get the Harlem Boys Choir [for ‘Two Words’],” Ye recalled.
“They wanted to give me the Hezekiah Walker Choir, but they came in all half-a**ed so I had to drive all the way [out to] the Hamptons [where they were performing] and pay the Harlem Boys Choir $10,000 to get them on the track. I went through a lot. It wasn’t, ‘Oh book the studio time, I’ll be there.’ I struggled,” Kanye West continued.
Of course, Ye made it a point to highlight the production choices he made to make College Dropout sound so good. “Pop music has a lot of instrumentation and I brought that to hip-hop. I want to make songs that make you feel good,” Kanye West stressed. “Every song is about a f***ed-up situation and how we triumphed over it. I could sing about how much jewelry or how many clothes I wanna buy, or I could talk about the struggle I was going through when I was buying other people’s music and nobody was speaking for me.”
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