The problem that stood in his way was the social stigma of the time. In the early 90s, rap was dominated by the "gansta" rap scene. People like Tupac, Biggie and Dr. Dre were ruling the industry at that time and there was no room for Kanye and his pink polo shirt. Kanye was seen primarily as a producer, because that's what he was so good at and that's all he had done up until that point. It wasn't until 2000 that Kanye was brought on to the Roc-A-Fella label with Jay-Z and his production really started to shine. Helping to produce Jay-Z's 2001 album, The Blueprint, the album was a huge success and led to the revitalization of Jay-Z's career. Kanye didn't get the chance to make his own record until the following year (even though he'd been working on it for almost 3 years now) when Roc-A-Fella finally gave him the green light. Kanye has started his production of The College Dropout. It was also around this time that Kayne began a relationship with a girl named Alexis Phifer. Their relationship would be on-and-off over the next few years.