The College Dropout - Composition

Composition

The College Dropout diverged from the then-dominant gangster persona in hip hop in favor of more diverse, topical proponents. Throughout the album, West touches on a number of different life-related issues, including organized religion, family, sexuality, excessive materialism, self-consciousness, minimum-wage labor, institutional prejudice, and personal struggles. Music journalist Kelefa Sanneh wrote, "Throughout the album Mr. West taunts everyone who didn't believe in him: teachers, record executives, police officers, even his former boss at the Gap". West explained, "My persona is that I'm the regular person. Just think about whatever you've been through in the past week, and I have a song about that on my album."

The album begins with a skit featuring a high school teacher asking West to deliver a graduation speech. The skit is proceeded by "We Don't Care" featuring West comically celebrating drug life with lines like "We wasn't supposed to make it past 25, joke's on you, we still alive" and then criticizing its influence amongst children. His lyrics contain various popular culture references such as allusions to rappers Really Doe and Tupac Shakur and song "21 Questions" by 50 Cent and Nate Dogg. The next track, "Graduation Day" features Miri Ben-Ari on violin and John Legend with heavily auto-tuned vocals to the point where he is hard to understand.

On "All Falls Down", West wages an attack on consumerism. The song features singer Syleena Johnson and contains an interpolation of Lauryn Hill's "Mystery of Iniquity". West called upon Johnson to re-sing a vocal portion of "Mystery of Iniquity", which ended up in the final mix. Gospel hymn "I’ll Fly Away" proceeds track "Spaceship", a track with a relaxed beat where West muses about wanting to work in a spaceship. The song features GLC and Consequence, the latter of which makes comparisons to modern day retail working with slavery.

"I’ll Fly Away" contains elements of doo-wop music and is formed around a soulful Marvin Gaye sample. On "Jesus Walks" West declares his belief in Jesus and touches upon his views with contemporary hip-hop. "Jesus Walks" is built around a sample of "Walk With Me" as performed by the ARC Choir. Garry Mulholland of The Observer described it as a "towering inferno of martial beats, fathoms-deep chain gang backing chants, a defiant children's choir, gospel wails, and sizzling orchestral breaks." The first verse of the song is told through the eyes of a drug dealer seeking help from God, and it reportedly took over six months for West to draw inspiration for the second verse.

"Never Let Me Down" is influenced by West's near-death car crash. The song features Jay-Z who rhymes about maintaining status and power, with West commenting about racism. The song also also appears verses by spoken word performer J. Ivy who offers comments of upliftment. "Never Let Me Down" uses a Jay-Z verse first heard in the remix of his song "Hovi Baby". "Get Em High" is a collaboration by West with two socially conscious rappers, Talib Kweli and Common. "The New Workout Plan" is a mostly comical song in nature and is centered around the premise of an aerobics routine. "Slow Jamz" features Twista and Jamie Foxx and serves as a tribute to classic smooth soul artists and slow jam songs. The song also appeared on Twista's album Kamikaze. On the song "School Spirit", West relates the experience of dropping out of school and contains references to well-known fraternities, sororities, singer Norah Jones, record label Roc-A-Fella Records. "Two Words" features commentary on social issues and features Mos Def, Freeway, and the Harlem Boys Choir.

"Through the Wire" features a high-pitched vocal sample of Chaka Khan and relates West's real life experience with nearly dying in a car accident. The song provides a mostly comedic account of his difficult recovery, and features West rapping with his jaw still wired shut from the accident. The chorus and instrumentals sample a "pitched up" version of Chaka Khan's 1985 single "Through the Fire". "Family Business" is a soulful tribute one of West's incarcerated family member. The album ends with a 12-minute autobiographical monologue that follows the song "Last Call".