Kanye West's Former Manager Explains How 2Pac Inspired 'The College Dropout'

With Kanye West's Jeen-Yuhs documentary now out, some who've known him for a while have been talking about his start.

One of those people is Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua, who chopped it up with Complex about the polorazing rapper. 

During the chat, Joshua — who was an A&R at Roc-A-Fella Records and Ye's former manager —  said that Tupac Shakur had a great influence on Ye, as well as his debut album The College Dropout.

“I know exactly when he found the name of his album, The College Dropout,” Joshua explained. “I was with him. We were watching the Tupac documentary, Resurrection in the movie theater. When we left the movie theater everything clicked for him. That’s when he started to really formulate the Kanye West y’all know right now.”

He continued. "That’s when it clicked for him that you can emotionally touch people just by being honest, by being direct, by being relatable. That’s when he was like, ‘OK, I’m going to be the college dropout. That’s what I am. I don’t go to college, I’m going to chase my dream’ and all of that. Then Graduation and Late Registration, and it was like a whole scheme to it.”

Does Pac inspiring The College Dropout surprise you at all?