Kanye West

College Dropout

An English major at Chicago State University, where his mother, Donda, chairs the department, West quits school to pursue his music career full-time. "He said, 'Mom, I can do this, and I don't need to go to college, because I've had a professor in the house with me my whole life,'" Donda West tells Time. "I'm thinking, this boy is at it again. He always could twirl a word." (West's parents divorced when he was young.)

October 23

Near Death Experience

On his way home from a marathon recording session in L.A., West crashes his Lexus after falling asleep at the wheel. While recovering in the hospital, West pens "Through the Wire," a song about the crash where he jokes about drinking "a Boost for breakfast, a Ensure for dizzert/Somebody ordered pancakes, I just sip the sizzurp." He'll record the song three weeks later with his jaw still wired shut. The finished track convinces Roc-A-Fella Records to let him move in front of the mic and push through approval for his first solo album. "Death," West tells Time, "is the best thing that can ever happen to a rapper. Almost dying isn't bad either."

November 29

Play on, Playa

"Women go crazy over him," his pal Emmanuelle Cuny-Panicker tells PEOPLE when West makes it into the 2004 Sexiest Man Alive issue. "We went out two weeks ago and the girls were almost knocking me over to get to him."

February 27

And You Say Chi-City

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's office presents West with the key to the city during the proclamation of "Kanye West Day." In addition to a tribute concert by local artists, West listens as former high school teachers and his mother give speeches in his honor at the local House of Blues. "Martin Luther King has a day," says Diddy in a prerecorded video played at the celebration. "The presidents have a day. Jesus has a day. Now Kanye West has a day."

August 29

Cover Artist

With the headline "Hip-Hop's Class Act," West becomes one of the rare entertainers to appear on the cover of Time. The lengthy article details the contradictions of The College Dropout and of West himself, who admits that when starting out in hip-hop, "It was a strike against me that I didn't wear baggy jeans and jerseys and that I never hustled, never sold drugs." In April, Time had tapped West as one of the year's 100 most influential people.