But if you listen to his first two albums, "The College Dropout" and "Late Registration", and compare it to what was being released at the time, you find something completely different.

In addition to the new sound (summary: sped up soul samples), he came with emotion as well as acceptance of his being a upper/middle-class guy (his mom was a college professor) while others would try to masquerade as gangsters.

Basically, what he did was bring relevant hip-hop to the mainstream, showing suburban kids, college students and yuppies that you can relate to rap music without having to act like someone else.

Then again, maybe it's the shutter shades.