The Prerequisite

The Prerequisite
Mixtape by Kanye West
Released	2001 (private distribution) April 20, 2013 (2013-04-20) (surfaced online)
Recorded	2000–2001
Genre	Hip-hop
Length	47:40
Label	Roc-A-Fella
Producer	Kanye West Jon Brion
Kanye West chronology
The Prerequisite (2001) Get Well Soon (2002)

The Prerequisite is a collection of demo recordings created by American rapper Kanye West and distributed privately towards labels and industry insiders in 2001. ^{[1] [2]}

Background

Unlike other early Kanye mixtapes, The Prerequisite contains mostly original West songs as Kanye performs in each track of the mixtape. The most notable tracks on the mixtape are "Jesus Walks" and "Dream Come True" (later renamed to "All Falls" down), both of which ended up releasing on West's debut studio album The College Dropout ; "Hey Mama", which ended up releasing on West's second studio album, Late Registration ; and "Home" which ended up getting entirely reworked and released on West's third studio album, Graduation , as well as "Homecoming". The mixtape surfaced online on April 20, 2013. ^{[3] [4]}

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Home (Windy)" (with John Legend)	2:52
2.	"Jesus Walks" (with Rhymefest)	2:19
3.	"Have It Your Way"	3:38
4.	"Out of Your Mind" (with John Legend)	3:25
5.	"Wow"	2:25
6.	"I Need to Know"	3:44
7.	"Gotta Pose (snippet)" (with Solomon Burke)	1:26
8.	"Never Letting Go (The Stalker Song)"	4:01
9.	"Hey Mama"	4:24
10.	"Know the Game"	2:58
11.	"Family Business" (with Larry Wade and Terry Callier)	4:10
12.	"Dream Come True"	3:54
13.	"That Nigga Jigga" (with DJ Boom)	2:20
14.	"I Met Oprah"	2:45
15.	"Heartbeat" (instrumental)	3:19
Total length:		47:40

References

1. "AUDIO: Kanye West – The Prerequisite (2001 Demo)". ItsTheDaily. April 22, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2026.^{[ unreliable source? ]}
2. Coplan, Chris (February 7, 2014). "Listen to a rare Kanye West demo tape from 2001". Consequence . Retrieved February 26, 2026.
3. "Kanye West's 2001 unreleased demo album 'The Prerequisite' leaks | Stagedoor FM". Stagedoor FM. April 22, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2026.
4. "Kanye West - The Prerequisite (2001 Demo Tape)". Hypebeast . Retrieved February 26, 2026.