Kanye West — The College Dropout

The College Dropout arrived on February 10, 2004, on Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam — Kanye West's debut as an artist rather than a producer. For years he had been an in-house beat-maker, known for sped-up, pitch-shifted soul samples — "chipmunk soul" — and the industry that valued his production flatly resisted him as a rapper.

Then, on October 23, 2002, he fell asleep at the wheel driving home from a late California studio session. The crash was near-fatal; his jaw was shattered and required reconstructive surgery. Two weeks later, jaw still wired shut, he recorded "Through the Wire" — the title a double meaning made literal, rapped through the wiring of his reconstructed jaw over a sped-up Chaka Khan "Through the Fire" sample. It was the thesis statement of his whole career: he would not wait for permission.

The College Dropout debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 with 441,000 first-week copies. "Slow Jamz," with Twista and Jamie Foxx, hit #1 on the Hot 100; "All Falls Down" and "Jesus Walks" both went top-10. The album won the 2005 Grammy for Best Rap Album, earned an Album of the Year nomination, and was eventually certified 6× platinum. More than the numbers, it changed the default: family, faith, self-doubt, materialism, and college-skeptic wit — pink-polo backpack rap in an era when gangsta rap was the presumed setting. The guy nobody would sign as a rapper made a classic anyway.