Knowledge Drop: How Kanye West Switched His Style To Conscious Rap For ‘The College Dropout’

Justin Bieber belted out an emotional ballad at Kanye West’s Sunday service over the weekend.

Justin Bieber belted out an emotional ballad at Kanye West’s Sunday service over the weekend.

Today marks the eighth anniversary of pop rock band ​fun.’s second studio album, Some Nights. The lead single, “We Are Young,” became the group’s career-defining hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and netting fun. a Grammy for Song of the Year. According to producer Jeff Bhasker, however, the beat was “an inch” away from being on JAY-Z and Kanye West’s joint album, 2011’s Watch the Throne.

Kim Kardashian has been sharing photos and video of her and husband Kanye West during their recent trip to Paris together—including a set of photos she captioned "JPG & KFC" in which Kardashian poses in, natch, a John-Paul Gaultier dress, and West orders and then eats KFC. I'm pretty sure that's their relationship in a nutshell, right there.

Kim Kardashian has mentioned before that no one can beat her husband, Kanye West, in planning surprises and he did not disappoint this time either. While the world was busy planning extravagant gifts and surprises on Valentine’s Day, Kim and Kanye decided to cherish their love by going for a peaceful getaway.

If you were on the internet during the last stretches of 2018, you might remember the frenzy surrounding Tumblr’s “adult content” ban. Netizens collectively bemoaned the supposed end of the site, and The Verge later reported that it lost 30 percent of its traffic by early 2019. Naturally, Tumblr regulars had a meme to send off the porn-friendly version of Tumblr: “Fingers in His Ass.”

Earlier this year, Talib Kweli had producer Zaytoven stop by his People’s Party podcast to talk about working with the likes of Gucci Mane and Migos, how cutting hair helped him get into producing, and the influence of the church on his music. One of the interview’s highlights was when Zaytoven recounted the making of his breakout hit, Gucci Mane’s “Icy” featuring Jeezy.

Kanye West’s seminal album, The College Dropout, turned 16 years old last week. The rapper was already well-known in the music industry for his work with rappers like JAY-Z, but the album marked Kanye’s first true artistic statement as a solo artist. The College Dropout went through several iterations before its 2004 release, and back in 2016, his frequent collaborator Consequence shared an early, handwritten version of the tracklist:

While Frank Ocean’s debut mixtape nostalgia, ULTRA, has played a central role in the mythmaking of his career, it turns out the project’s title came to the New Orleans-born singer in five minutes. Back in 2011, he delved into the backstory behind the 14-track work in an interview with Complex.

Kanye West released his seventh studio album, The Life of Pablo, four years ago today. One of the featured artists is Post Malone, a relative newcomer at the time who was best known for his breakout hit, “White Iverson.” In a 2016 verified annotation, the Texas-raised musician shared how he linked up with Kanye on “Fade,” which also features Ty Dolla $ign.

Today is the 11th anniversary of Drake’s career-defining mixtape, So Far Gone. The Toronto rapper’s close collaborator, Noah “40” Shebib, served as the co-executive producer of the project (along with Boi-1da), using Kanye West’s recently released 808s & Heartbreak as one of his blueprints to craft its moody, atmospheric sound. In a 2010 Vibe interview, 40 revealed that Kanye took notice of his influence on SFG.

Kim Kardashian West is an open book when it comes to talking about the surrogacy process she used for her youngest two children. The mother of four welcomed daughter North, 6, and son Saint, 4, naturally, but due to health complications, used surrogates for her 2-year-old daughter, Chicago, and 8-month-old son, Psalm. 

Fall Out Boy swung a heavy-hitter for “Thriller,” the first track off their sophomore album Infinity On High, which turns 13 on February 6. The intro and outro of the song are handled by JAY-Z, and in an interview with MTV News, FOB’s Pete Wentz explained how they got Hov on the track.