Feb. 10, 2014 marks the ten-year anniversary of “The College Dropout,” the debut album of Chicago rapper Kanye West.

I always find it really interesting to go through an artist’s discography and see the evolution of the music, but of the person as a whole. “The College Dropout” sounds nothing like his release “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” and even further from his most recent album, “Yeezus,” but that’s the point. West was never going to remake the same album. He evolved into different styles of music the same way his life changed.

Songs like “Jesus Walks” and “Golddigger” shot him to the top of the charts, giving a man who grew up with little, suddenly a whole lot more than he was used to. He endured public scrutiny for his comments on then President George W. Bush on a live T.V. benefit for Hurricane Katrina relief. He saw the death of his mother, Donda, in 2007 after suffering from a combination of heart disease and post-plastic surgery complications.

I’ve enjoyed seeing West go from “just a producer” to “more than a rapper.” I know there’s a lot people hate about him, too. They call him arrogant, smug, or just an all-around asshole, and certainly some of that criticism he does bring on himself. I mean, thinking back to his BBC Radio 1 interview, it’s almost hard not to make fun of someone for getting so upset about something like leather jogging pants, but there’s still something deep down that I really like about West.

West does have a quality that a lot of people could learn from, it’s just something they’re afraid of. West is one of very few people who actually believes he is the person inside his head when he looks in the mirror before he walks out the door. He looks at himself and he believes he is whatever he wants to be, whether it be a great entertainer, a businessman, fashion designer, or whatever else he wants to venture into. Whether he’s right or not, does it really matter? Does it really matter what other people say or think of you as long as you’re happy with what you’re doing?

The first song on “The College Dropout” echoes this perfectly: “We don’t care what people say.”

A lot has changed about West since 2004, but the sentiment remains the same in a lot of his music, no matter what it sounds like: it doesn’t really matter what people say as long as you know in your mind that you’re happy with who you are and what you’re doing.

I try and live my life a little bit like West, minus the leather jogging pants, but even if I did wear something different or unconventional, does anyone else’s opinion really matter other than mine?

Dominic Renzetti is a senior family and consumer sciences major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.