Screenshots of messages from Apple customer services posted on a Reddit thread explain that the album was removed at the request of West's label. The Independent has contacted The Island Def Jam Music Group for comment.

The College Dropout was released in 2004 via Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records. It was West's debut studio album, recorded over a period of four years from 1999 and includes hip hop classics such as "Jesus Walks" and "All Falls Down".

Upon its release, the album sold over 400,000 copies in its first week and scored West a Grammy for Best Rap Album in 2005, along with nine other nominations. It is consistently ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time.

'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes Show all 10 1 /10 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes "I was the best new artist this year" Kanye asserted this after losing the New Artist of the Year award at the 2004 American Music Awards Getty Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes “I am the number one human being in music. That means any person that's living or breathing is number two.” Kanye made this claim while appearing on the Wendy Williams show in 2007. He had recently released the album 'Graduation' to critical acclaim Getty Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes “Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'mma let you finish, but Beyoncé has one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!” In arguably the most famous incident of his career, Kanye bravely stole the microphone from then 19 year old Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech for the Female Music Video of the Year at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards REUTERS 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes "I walk through the hotel and I walk down the street and people look at me... like I'm Hitler" Kanye said this during a mid-set rant while on stage at the Big Chill festival in 2011. Despite releasing the acclaimed 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' in 2010, he was still widely disliked following the Taylor Swift incident PA Archive/PA Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes "I am Picasso. I am Michelangelo. I am Basquiat. I am Walt Disney. I am Steve Jobs" Kanye compared himself to these visionaries in a mid-set rant on stage in Paris, 2013 AFP/Getty Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes “My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.” In 2013, Kanye opened up to reveal more Kanye. His pain is understandable, considering such performances as his at the BRITs in 2015, where he came on stage with an entourage of flamethrower wielding grime artists (pictured) Getty Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes “I have to dress Kim everyday so she doesn’t embarrass me.” Kanye tweeted this in 2014, around the time that he was designing the first Yeezy range AFP/Getty Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes “By 50 percent [I am more influential than] Stanley Kubrick, Apostle Paul, Picasso… f***ing Picasso and Escobar. By 50 per cent more influential than any other human being.” Kanye made this claim backstage after appearing on Saturday Night Live in 2016, he did not show his working out Getty Images for Yeezy Season 3 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes "My wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone. I don't agree with everything Trump does. I don't agree 100% with anyone but myself." This quote followed Kanye's recent expression of love for Donald Trump on Twitter, in which he claimed that he and Trump were "dragon energy" Getty Images 'Imma let you finish' - Kanye West's most controversial quotes "When you hear about slavery for 400 years... for 400 years? That sounds like a choice." Kanye made this comment in a May 2018 interview with TMZ. He later clarified that, in saying slavery was a choice, he meant "we can make our own reality" PA Wire/PA Images

One fan suggested West may have asked the album to be removed because he was unhappy with it, writing: "Does Kanye even like his older music? He strikes me as someone who probably loathes it in a way. Like, I could imagine him going back to listen to it and hearing all of these “flaws” or things he'd do differently."

West has made something of a habit of editing already-released works. After releasing The Life of Pablo in 2016 he caused a stir by making subtle revisions to different tracks on the album, plus two major ones which saw him put Sia and Vic Mensa back on "Wolves" and also add "Saint Pablo" as the album's outro.

“In the months to come, Kanye will release new updates, new versions, and new iterations of the album. An innovative, continuous process, the album will be a living, evolving art project," Def Jam records said at the time.

Last month saw a spate of Kanye and Kanye-produced releases, including his eighth studio album Ye, Teyana Taylor's KTSE [Keep That Same Energy], Pusha T's Daytona and Kids See Ghosts with Kid Cudi.

The College Dropout is currently still available on streaming services including Spotify and Tidal.