The College Dropout went back to school on Monday. Students at Santa Monica High School got a treat on that first day back from the weekend when rapper Kanye West dropped by for a performance and Q&A session.

The school was the winner of a local radio contest organized by KPWR-FM. The contest, announced in November, asked Southern California high school students to cast votes for their school on the contest website. The prize for the school that garnered the most votes was a visit by West. Students at Santa Monica High, a school with a population of 3,500, submitted nearly 1 million votes out of the 5 million cast.

The best-selling rapper has always encouraged getting a good education. “It is true you can be successful without [college], but this is a hard world, a real world, and you want every advantage you can have,” West said backstage in an interview with MTV. “I would suggest to people to do all that you can. When I dropped out of school I had worked in the music industry and had checks cut in my name from record labels and had a record deal on the table, and when I wasn’t successful and Columbia said, ‘We’ll call you,’ I had to go back and work a telemarketing job, go back to the real world, and that’s how life is. Life is hard. Take advantage of your opportunities.”

West, 27, is so passionate about studying hard, he has teamed up with Musicland to help a needy student pay for college tuition. The contest, called the Free U. College Giveaway, will give one winner $150,000 toward college next month. (Students can enter at Musicland stores.)

Santa Monica High student Laura Thatcher, 15, said, “This is the best thing that’s ever happened to us. We have 30-minute classes, and then we’re seeing a concert.”

West performed for an hour, singing six songs from his two multi-platinum records, 2004?s The College Dropout and this year?s Late Registration. In between, he took questions from the crowd, including one about how he used to do in high school. “I didn’t do a lot of homework,” West replied to laughter. “But I got a lot of A’s and Bs.”






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