Only day one Yeezy fans know how to do the “Jesus Walks” dance.

Kanye’s seventh solo album, The Life of Pablo, will premiere this Thursday at Madison Square Garden, one day after the 12th anniversary of his debut album The College Dropout. The album marked a move away from the themes and sound of gangsta rap and into a space few occupied. Kanye rapped about everyday problems; career, family, money—he positioned himself as someone people could relate to.

Kanye’s newest singles, “Real Friends” and “No More Parties in L.A.” have already drawn comparisons to The College Dropout (even by Kanye). The songs’ visceral lyrics and soulful sound are reminiscent of tracks like “All Falls Down” and “Family Business.”

As Kanye prepares to release one of the greatest albums of all time, Genius dug into the archives to re-discover Kanye’s first classic.

1. The “school administrator” was voiced by comedian DeRay Davis.

While many thought Bernie Mac did skits on both The College Dropout and Late Registration, it was actually DeRay Davis impersonating Bernie’s voice on the “Intro,” “Graduation Day” and “School Spirit” skits. In an interview with Complex Magazine, he said:

People on Twitter still be like, ‘Bernie Mac was great on Kanye’s album.’ And then someone will at me and say, ‘That’s actually Deray Davis.’ People will be like, ‘Oh, I never knew that!'

2. Some The College Dropout raps were originally spoken word

Kanye first recited the second verse on “All Falls Down” during a Def Jam Poetry performance on May 9th, 2003. When Mos Def introduced Kanye to perform, he described the Chicago MC as “the future of hip-hop.”

3. The harmonizing on “Spaceship” wasn't on the original recording

While Kanye raps about escaping the 9-5 grind in Chicago, returning to the windy city is what helped him complete “Spaceship.” The harmonizing heard throughout the song wasn’t on the album originally—a car trip with Kanye’s cousin Tony Williams changed that.

4. There’s an official “Jesus Walks” dance

Kanye appeared on B.E.T to promote the album and was asked to do the “Jesus Walks” dance:

5. Kanye sampled Michael Bolton on “Never Let Me Down”

The hook on “Never Let Me Down” is an interpolation of the beginning of Blackjack’s 1980 song “Maybe It’s the Power of Love” featuring Michael Bolton on lead vocals. Bolton told Genius the song was “beautiful” and he was “totally happy with it.”

6. “Slow Jamz” re-launched Jamie Foxx’s music career

In an interview with Ellen in 2015, Foxx told a story about Kanye coming to one of his “music parties.” Foxx used the parties to rub shoulders with his music buddies and their friends in the hopes of extracting a verse—he had just built a studio downstairs. Immediately after being introduced to Kanye, he was asked to jump on a song. While Foxx wanted to add an R&B twist, West demanded it sound “hip hop.” Foxx complied, but he thought the song would flop. “Slow Jamz” went onto debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Although Foxx claims Kanye “launched” his career, he did release an album in 1994 titled Peep This.

7. The outro of “Breathe In Breathe Out” went onto become more famous than the song itself

The famous scratched vocals: “And you say Chi city” from Graduation’s “Homecoming” originally appeared on the outro of “Breathe In Breathe Out.”

To dig ever deeper—“Homecoming” existed as “Home” on a different beat before The College Dropout was released.

8. Aretha Franklin made sure there were no curse words on “School Spirit”

Aretha Franklin wouldn’t clear her sample of “Spirit in the Dark” unless there were no curse words on the song.

9. Mos Def took “Two Words” quite literally

Although Kanye’s line “So I live by two words: “fuck you, pay me” is actually four, every phrase in Mos Def’s verse on “Two Words” is two words, except on his last bar where he raps: “We won’t stop.”

10. Kanye rapped some of “Through The Wire” hours before his crash

In a video made by DJ Whoo Kid, Kanye rapped a freestyle just hours before crashing his car in Hollywood. Some of the lyrics were included in “Through The Wire,” a song Kanye recorded with his mouth wired shut—a result of the car accident.

11. “Family Business” isn’t about Kanye’s family

The stories of a struggling family on “Family Business” came from collaborator Tarrey Torae:

Kanye was like, ‘I need this to be about real-life family,’“ recalled Tarrey. "I’m the oldest of 48 grandkids on my mom’s side and I’m in the middle of 36 grandkids on my father’s side. So when he said, ‘I need material.’ I was like, ‘I got plenty of material.’” Tarrey went on to tell Kanye about taking baths with her cousins, sleeping six in a bed, and her auntie who was known for her bad cooking. In fact, at the end when Kanye says “Let’s get Stevie out of jail,” he’s actually referring to Tarrey’s godbrother.

12. Prince’s saxophonist performed a solo on “Last Call”

One of the most epic outros of all time wouldn’t be complete without a sax solo. Tony Williams told Genius how Prince’s tour saxophonist ended up on “Last Call.” The sax solo appears at 4:41.

Hit up the College Dropout song pages to add more knowledge!