Kanye West's first ever album, The College Dropout, is 10 years old today. Released back in February 10, 2004, it was a record that was four years in the making. It was started in 1999 and went on to be named by Time and Rolling Stone as one of the greatest albums of all time.
The present-day superstar started out as a ghost music producer, and eventually found his way into Roc-A-Fella Records, where he worked as staff producer. He helped produce hits for Jay-Z and Alicia Keys while working on his music behind the scenes.
West had a hard time getting record labels to support him as an artist, and he eventually decided to release his music on his own. A near-fatal car crash in October 2002 led him to write a song called "Through The Wire," which articulated his feelings about the accident. It paved the way for his first album, as he used it to distract himself from the pain of the experience. With his own money and perseverance, he was able to get the album out in stores in 2004, and the rest was history.
The College Dropout debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 Chart, with 441,000 copies sold in its first week. It even won West a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 47th Grammy Awards, which made him a full-fledged artist, and it proceeded to be an influence to hiphop albums ever since.
The rapper's fiancée, Kim Kardashian of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, expressed her excitement about the milestone on her Instagram. The reality star, whom West proposed to last year and has a baby named North with, posted a picture of the album with the words "10 YEARS" on it. It was accompanied by a message that said, "10 years ago today Kanye released his 1st album The College Dropout! This was a game changer! Could only imagine what you were thinking and feeling today 10 years ago! Happy anniversary to the best producer/artist over the past decade!!! Can't wait for the next 10 years! Gonna be listening to this album all day. #TheCollegeDropout #ChangedHipHop."
