Kanye West, also known as Ye, is one of the most influential and controversial music artists of all time, and not only just an American rapper, song writer and record producer, but also a fashion designer. Kanye has inspired many artists and created a new genre of music while also changing the aesthetics of streetwear and creating new trends and changing the way people saw rappers as Gangsters.

Kanye’s early life

Kanye Omari West was born on June 8th, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia. When Kanye turned three years old his mother Donda West divorced his dad, Ray West, and she took Kanye and left to Chicago. While Kanye was growing up he had a passion for music and at age 5, he was already writing poetry and by third grade he was rapping. During Kanye’s childhood life he would move to Nanjing, China just for a year since his mom had to teach at a local English school. Since Kanye would be the only dark-skin kid he would get looks from others and would later say that “being in China got me ready to be a celeb.” Kanye would also learn Mandarin during his time in China.

During middle school Kanye would also focus on painting and drawing. Later he would go on to Chicago State University where his mom was a professor, though he he would drop out of college to pursue his music career.

Kanye’s early career: 1998-2002

Kanye first started as a producer making beats and selling one of first beats to Gravity for around $8,000. During this time Kanye was already making moves in the industry working with artists like Mase and Harlem. There was a video of Kanye attending one of Jermaine Dupri’s parties which shows a young Kanye flexing his early style and swag.

Kanye would also start producing his debut album “The College Dropout”, which would take well over four-years before its release. West would finally start producing for Roc-A-Fella in 2000. Later in that year Kanye would produce a song on J-Zay’s album called “This Can’t Be Life” and this song would jump start his career.

During a late night studio session during 2002 working on “The College Dropout” he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed his car. The crash shattered his jaw – he was rushed to the hospital and would require reconstructive surgery. This moment caused Kanye to rethink life completely just three weeks after the surgery and would cause Kanye to work on a single called “Through The Wire” for “The College Dropout” and rap about his near death experience of the crash just three weeks after the surgery. Kanye would later release “Through The Wire” on September 30th 2003 and would drop the music video a couple of months after. It showed his pictures of his jaw and his journey to recovery.

2003-2004: “The College Dropout” era

As time went Kanye would release a total of four singles for “The College Dropout” called “Through The Wire,” rapping about his near death experience. Jesus Walks talked about his spiritual struggle and faith.  Slow Jamz featuring Twista Jamie Foxx would be a celebration of old R&B. And the last one, All Falls Down featuring Syleena Johnson,  would not only talk about materialism but self consciouses and revealing how people mask their insecurities and wanting the approval of others.

He delayed “ The College Dropout” two times, first in October of 2003 and next in January of 2004 and finally released it on February 10, 2004. “The College Dropout” would be both loved by critics and people. The album would win Album of the Year from both the Teen Choice Awards and The Source Awards. It would win Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards.  Something Kanye would mention later is “nothing in life is promised except death” and the “best thing that could’ve possibly happened to me” speaking on the accident and making this into a positive message to keep on going for his speech for the 2005 Grammy awards.

2005-2007: “Late Registration” era

His next album would be “Late Registration” and would be a direct sequel to “The College Dropout.” The singles on this album would be “Gold digger” featuring Jamie Foxx, “Touch the Sky’’ and the lead single “Diamonds from Sierra Leone.”

This album would also cost about $2 million dollars to produce. The story would continue his education journey after he dropped out of college. The topics of this album were racism, healthcare and transition to become an upcoming artist. The artists that would be featured in the album would be Adam Levine, Jamie Foxx, Lupe Fiasco, Common, Brandy, Jay-Z, Nas, The Game, Paul Wall, GLC, Really Doe, Consequence, and Cam’ron. One of the songs would be a heartfelt tribute to his mother called “Hey Mama.” The album ended up selling millions and won a Grammy for Best Rap Album of the Year.

2007: “Graduation” era

In 2007 Kanye would announce his next project (which was the last one of the trilogy “Graduation”). Kanye would also make a deal with fellow rapper 50 cent to see whose album would sell more since they were both dropping the same day, September 11th. The bet was whoever had less sales they would have to quit music. Kanye would ultimately win and sell about 957,000 copies the first week while 50 cent’s project would sell about 691,000, making Kanye the winner. The themes the album would touch on were transitioning into success enjoying fame, exploring themes like purpose and self awareness.

The album was Kanye’s final Grammy win for best rap album, with tons of electronic and stadium sounds and a reflection of his journey from college. This would arguably be one of Kanye’s best albums by the hits it has like “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” “Flashing Lights” and “Stronger” and many more.

A few months later his mother Donda West died from complications after cosmetic surgery. The coroner also ruled that coronary artery disease was a factor in her death.

(Kanye had been set to release another album to continue the story of “The College Dropout”, “Late Registration” and “Graduation” called “Good A** Job” but it never released because of his mother’s death and got replaced by “808s & Heartbreak.”)

Kanye’s key impact (2004-2007)

The change he would make from 2004-2007 was that he finally shifted hip-hop by dethroning gangsta rap, creating more space for diverse lyrical themes. With that he also changed the sound of hip-hop by mixing electronic music with heavy synths. Conor Herbert reported that “Graduation is often credited with being the album that overthrew gangsta rap’s prominence in the hip-hop scene.”

2008: 808s & Heartbreak

Kanye would have to deal with his mother’s death. He and his wife, Alexis Phifer, would also break up during that year. This sent Kanye into a wave of emotions like grief, heartbreak and loneliness. This not only sparked profound sadness but an idea – Kanye would work on a album Called “808s & Heartbreak” for three weeks. The album really represents the difficult time he was going through.

Kanye would use the 808s drum machine for the album and also autotone. Going with this, Kanye would explore deep grief and isolation on songs like “Heartless”, talking  about the painful end to his relationship. “He lost his soul to a woman so heartless. Can you be so heartless?”

Another song is “Paranoid,” which discusses the  troubled relationship and where his own partner’s insecurities and mistrust clash with wanting love.  The song speaks of themes like jealousy, anxiety and many more.

Although “808s & Heartbreak” did not win or receive any award many people still think this album was very impactful by creating a new type of genre that later Drake and The Weeknd would be inspired by. The album would mark another change in the music industry by breaking the tough guy narrative and opening rap up to discussing a more personal pain.

2009: “VMAs Interruption”

This is one of the most famous and controversial moments of Kanye’s career.  Kanye was intoxicated Kanye at the VMAs – he brought a bottle full of Hennessy. When the awards hosts announced that Taylor Swift won the Best Music Video of the Year, Kanye went on the stage, grabbed the mic from Taylor and said “But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.” Kanye would both get Booed and cheered. The public did not respond well to this.  Kanye got tons of backlash and even President Obama said of Kanye: “ What a Jacka**”.

Kanye did a public post on a blog but deleted it. he also went on TV to apologize. He would end up leaving America for a while to get away from paparazzi and just to focus on his fashion work and getting a break from everything. Everyone thought Kanye messed up his entire career and could not ever bounce back. Kanye knew he had to really have a good album next. (There were also rumors of Kanye being suicidal, based on the lyrics for a unreleased song that got leaked called “Never see me Again”).

 

2010: “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” 

This album is one of the most expensive albums ever made, costing about $3 million dollars to produce. It is also one of the best albums of the 2010s, as rated by Rolling Stone. The preparation for “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (MBDTF”) was pretty crazy: First the track list was filled with great artists like Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, Pusha T, Rick Ross, Bon Iver, Kid Cudi, Rihanna, John Legend, Raekwon, Elton John, Swizz Beatz, RZA, CyHi the Prance, Big Sean, and Beyoncé.

The album was recorded in Hawaii on a small island with just them and no one else. No phones, no leaking anything about the album. Kanye was very serious during this time. Kanye had tons of rules to make sure everyone was focused. It was like a “Rap camp.” Kanye would also push everyone to change verses and sometimes spent all night working on beats. Kanye dropped four singles. The first song “POWER”  would be about the intoxicating nature of ego and how good he wants to be. “Runaway” would release with a short film in which Kanye reflected on his personal faults, failed relationships, andtold others to leave him alone with lines like these: “Run away fast as you can/ Run away from me, baby.” “Monster” featuring Rick Ross, Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj, is exploring artists as powerful people and showing the dark side of fame. And the last single with the album was “All Of The Lights”, which highlighted the chaos of family drama and its lyrics. “MBDTF” would explore concepts of the darker side of fame like the corruption of the American dream and with consumerism. While many people praised Kanye as the G.O.A.T, Kanye stated that he thought “MBDTF” was not his best work. He said “Dark fantasy is, almost like an apology record.” The album would win a Grammy for Best Rap Album and would be critically acclaimed and be named best album” by Rolling Stone and Billboard.

2011 “Watch The Throne”

“Watch The Throne” would be a Jay-Z and Kanye collaboration album. They had hits like N****s In Paris, Otis and Lift Off. This album would showcase power, wealth and status. This album did not have as big an impact as “MBDTF.” This album also addresses experiences with racism, financial freedom, and pride.