Kanye West‘s debut album The College Dropout may have been a hit because of its consistently brilliant production, but what made it an instant classic and a critical success was Kanye’s believable but contradictory everyman persona. He was the rare rapper who could name-drop designer clothes, welfare, Jesus, and strippers all in the same breath, blending morality, amorality, arrogance, humility, and raw ambition into a mix that was, in the end, more human than anything else. While it was a surprisingly potent mix, it proved hard for him to repeat on the follow-up, Late Registration, which kept the production gorgeous but skewed more towards the arrogant and flashy aspects of his personality, ditching much of his charisma and appeal in the process.
Enter fellow Chicago rapper Rhymefest, co-winner of the songwriting Grammy for Kanye’s “Jesus Walks” (spurring controversy over just how much each wrote), and his national debut LP, Blue Collar. Also, enter renewed controversy over just how much of Kanye’s first album Rhymefest really did write.