First semester Junior Year will always have a special place in my heart. It was when I began to finally feel like a biomedical engineer, it was when I started my first serious relationship, and it was when I really recognized who my life-long friends would be.

But most importantly, Kanye.

For anyone who knows me, Kanye West is one of my favorite musical artists of all time. His contributions to modern hip hop through this samples on “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)”, his filthy verses on “Late Registration”, and his revolutionary “808s and Heartbreak” will cement Kanye as one of the most important musical artists of our generation.

But then this happened.

One of my favorite artists was instantly annihilated, his public persona forever tarnished, and he was forced into hiding from the public image. But holed away in the magical land of Hawaii, he came out with “Power” –

Kanye was back baby!

Over the next few months, Kanye released a new single nearly every Friday, and each one was more magical than the one before. I thought my Fridays that semester would be largely driven by biomedical engineering problem sets and figuring where the next party would be. Instead, my friends and I would wait impatiently each Friday evening for a tweet from @kanyewest to the latest track. The rest of that week would be spent analyzing the lyrics, deconstructing the samples, and waiting giddy like schoolgirls for the next track to drop.

In particular, for a music snob like myself, it sparked the most embarassing memory of that semester. “Runaway Love (Remix)” featuring Justin Bieber and Raekwon (of Wu-Tan Clan fame) came out on August 30, 2010. The sweet beat and IHOP references were quickly overshadowed by Justin’s verse, evoking memories of an early Michael Jackson — powerful and moving. Unfortunately one day on the C-1 to Duke’s East Campus, my buddy saw me jamming out hard on my headphones. Next thing I know,

“Hey Ankit, you loving that song, Runaway Love?” “Yea man, this song is sick” “Yea, Justin Bieber is the main singer, right?”

My 6ft frame suddenly felt miniscule as my peers all stared at me, a grown man admitting to loving a pre-pubescent pop star. But what could I say, that song is dope as hell.

Over the next few months, Kanye released the perfect pregame song “G.O.O.D Friday” and referenced 20 supermodels in his intro for “Christian Dior Denim Flow”. He produced the hilariously over-the-top “Take One for the Team” and “Chain Heavy”. He even left us something for the winter playlist, with “Christmas in Harlem”

GOOD Fridays will probably be remembered by the larger musical community as one of the greatest rebirth campaigns ever and a precursor to one of the best hip hop albums of all time. But for me and my friends, it made the late nights working in the CIEMAS conference rooms on BME171 problem sets not too terrible. It gave us an inside-outside joke that we maintained for days on end. And it was an incredible bonding moment that we all remember to this day.

Thanks Kanye.

Youtube Playlist — http://bit.ly/1NqsJGb

Track Listing — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOOD_Fridays