Kanye West

Who is Kanye West?

Kanye Omari West was raised in the middle-class background of the Chicago city by his highly educated mother Donda West. He had a knack for creativity and poetry from a very young age. He started rapping from the age of 7 and soon confessed to his mother that he wanted to take recording music more formally. When he was 20, he decided to drop out of college and pursue music professionally. His mother supported him in his endeavors. He started as a small time producer until he met Jay-Z and produced his ‘The Blueprint’ for him. Since that time West started getting recognition and he worked with talented people like Ludacris, Janet Jackson, Alicia Keys, etc. But West’s main aspiration was to become a rapper and it was not until the year 2002 that he was given his first opportunity to record his solo album. From then onwards there was no looking back fort West and he gave to the entertainment industry best hip-hop music in the form of ‘The College Dropout, ‘Late Registration’, ‘Graduation’, ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’, etc. His music has always been appreciated by music critics for its innovation and the risk that West takes with its creativity. He has always been in the news, whether it is for the numerous awards he has won or for the controversies that he has caused over the years.

Career

From mid 90’s until the early 2000, West was involved in small time music production projects. He made music for the local artists and was also a ghost producer for Deric ‘D-Dot’ Angelettie. West got the much awaited opportunity in 2000 when he became the producer for artists on Roc-A-Fella Records. He produced hit singles for famous singers like: Common, Ludacris, Cam’Ron, etc. it was in 2001, world renowned rapper and entertainment business tycoon Jay-Z asked West to produce many tracks of his hit album ‘The Blueprint’.

Around this time he continued to produce tracks for singers and rappers like: Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, etc. Subsequently he became a successful producer but his heart’s true desire was to become a rapper. It became a very challenging situation for him to get acceptance as a rapper and crack a record deal. In 2002, Kanye got the breakthrough in his music career. He met with an accident while coming back from a long recording session in L.A., as he fell asleep at the wheel. While he was in the hospital, he wrote down the song ‘Through the Wire’, which was 3 weeks later recorded by Roc-A-Fella Records and became a part of his debut album ‘Death’.

In 2004, West came up with his second album ‘The College Dropout’, which became an instant hit with music lovers. It sold 441,000 copies in its first week. It secured the number two on the Billboard 200. It has a number called ‘Slow Jamz’ that featured Twista and Jamie Foxx alongside West. It was voted as the top album of the year by two big music publications. Another track from the album called ‘Jesus Walks’ showcased West’s emotions about faith and Christianity.

In 2005, West collaborated with American film score composer Jon Brion, who co-executively produced many tracks on the album, to work on West’s new album ‘Late Registration’. He hired a string orchestra for the album and afforded the cost with all the money he made out of ‘The College Dropout’. It sold 2.3 million copies in United States. In the same year, west announced that he will release his Pastelle Clothing line in 2006 but it was cancelled in 2009.

In 2007, West released his third studio album ‘Graduation’. He released it at the same time 50 Cent’s ‘Curtis’ came out. But, ‘Graduation’ out sold ‘Curtis’ by a huge margin and secured number one position at the US Billboard 200. It sold about 957,000 copies in its very first week. The track called ‘Stronger’ became West’s biggest hit single.

In 2008, West released his fourth studio album ‘808s & Heartbreak’. The album topped the Billboard charts and sold 450,000 copies during its first few weeks. The inspiration of this album came from the sad demise of West’s mother Donna West and break-up with his fiance, Alexis Phifer. The album is said to have inspired the hip hop music and other rappers to take more creative risks with their productions. In the same year west announced to open 10 Fatburger restaurants in Chicago. The first one was opened in Orland Park in 2008.

In 2009, West teamed up with Nike to release his own shoes. He named them ‘Air Yeezys’ and released another version of it in the year 2012. In the same year, he came out with his new shoe line for Louis Vuitton and released it during the Paris Fashion Week. West also designed shoes for Bape and Giuseppe Zanotti.

In 2010, West’s fifth studio album ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ was released and it topped the Billboard charts in its first few weeks itself. It was considered as a genius work by the music critics. It got rave reviews from all over the world and included hits like ‘All of the Lights’, ‘Power’, ‘Monster’, ‘Runaway’, etc. This album became platinum in the States.

In 2013, West came out with his sixth album ‘Yeezus’ and took a more non commercial approach in making it. He collaborated with talents like: Chicago Drill, Dancehall, Acid House and Industrial Music in the making of this album. The album was released in the month of June and has received rave reviews from the music critics

On February 14, 2016, Kanye West released his seventh album titled 'The Life of Pablo'.

He came up with his eighth album 'Ye' on June 1, 2018. In August 2018, he released he non-album single "XTCY".

In January 2019, Kanye West started his weekly "Sunday Service" orchestration. It included soul variations West's songs and songs by other celebrities.