Kanye West
Kanye Omari West (born
June 8 1977) is a six-time
Grammy Award-winning
American producer/
rapper.
West was born in
Atlanta, Georgia, and moved to the
Chicago area with his family when he was three years old. His father, Ray West, was working as an award-winning photo-journalist at that time, and currently works as a pastoral marriage counselor.
Kanye's mother, Dr. Donda West, worked as the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University before retiring to serve as Kanye's manager.
After attending
Columbia College Chicago, a local Chicago art school, West attended
Chicago State University, but eventually dropped out in order to begin working on his music career. While attending school, West produced for local artists. He later gained fame by producing hit singles for major hip-hop/R&B artists, including
Alicia Keys,
Jay-Z,
Cam'ron,
Janet Jackson,
Brandy,
Talib Kweli,
Dilated Peoples,
Chamillionaire,
Ludacris, Carter Hays, and
John Legend.
West's style of production utilized pitched-up vocal samples, usually from
soul songs, with his own drums and instruments. The first song he produced featuring vocal samples was "This Can't Be Life," a track from
Jay-Z's
The Dynasty: Roc La Familia. Kanye admitted that
Wu-Tang Clan producer
RZA influenced him in his style;
.
Kanye West's sound featured heavily on Jay-Z's critically-acclaimed album
The Blueprint, most notably on the lead single "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" as well as the
Prodigy and
Nas diss "
Takeover." West soon became a major name in hip-hop production following the release of the album, but due to his appearance and overall style, struggled to find a way to get his own voice on record. Jay-Z admitted that Roc-A-Fella was initially reluctant to support West as a rapper, claiming that he saw him as a producer first and foremost. Multiple record companies put him aside because he was not a former street hustler and he did not wear stereotypical
hip-hop apparel. He was therefore not marketable the way other rappers were.
Kanye was involved in a car crash
October 23,
2002, when he fell asleep at the wheel while coming home from the studio. The crash left his jaw fractured in three places, and nearly killed him. The crash inspired his first single "
Through the Wire." He recorded it two weeks after the crash while his mouth was still wired shut. Following this recovery Kanye was said to have become a
born again Christian, stating that Jesus saved him with a quick recovery. He shows his faith in many of his songs such as the song 'Jesus Walks'.
On his critically-acclaimed debut album
The College Dropout, which was released on
Roc-a-Fella Records in February 2004, West utilized the style he had become known for; the album's lead single "Through the Wire", for example, featured pitched up samples from
Chaka Khan's "Through the Fire." A later single from the album, "
Jesus Walks," would become a major success, and later a staple of his benefit performances, such as at the
Live 8 concert.
The College Dropout received a great deal of critical praise.
On
August 30th,
2005, Kanye West released his second album
Late Registration. Reviews ranged from glowing ("Late Registration is an undeniable triumph" -Rolling Stone) to mixed ("As ornate and bloated as West's ego". -Spin magazine Sep 2005, p.99).With the help of producer
Jon Brion, West expanded his sound, on Late Registration, utilizing samples in different ways, along with compositions of strings and other sounds. [
1] The first two singles from Late Registration were "
Diamonds from Sierra Leone" (which contained samples from
Shirley Bassey's "Diamonds Are Forever") and "
Gold Digger" featuring
Jamie Foxx. The album went on to sell over 904,000 copies in its first week, and earned him eight
Grammy Award nominations including
Album of the Year and
Record of the Year for the song "Gold Digger". West announced that his third and fourth albums will be titled
Graduation and
A Good Ass Job, respectively.
In early 2005, Kanye coined the term "
white crunk" to describe the gritty drum sounds of
Scottish Indie group
Franz Ferdinand, whom he claims is among his favorite bands. West and the band met at the 2005
MTV Europe Music Awards, where they sat down together to share praise and advice. Kanye feels that the "white crunk" vibe has affected his new work, and is best exemplified on his song "
Diamonds from Sierra Leone". The band itself is also greatly influenced by Kanye and sought advice from him on how to improve production for their 2005 album
You Could Have It So Much Better.
West is also credited with revitalizing the careers of such rappers as
Common and Twista.
On Friday August 11th 2006, People Magazine reported that Kanye became engaged to his girlfriend Alexis while overseas for the past 2 weeks.
Political views
On
July 2,
2005, West appeared on the
Philadelphia bill of
Live 8, using the global platform to refer to "man-made diseases placed in African communities," a reference to the belief that
AIDS was introduced to Africa via the CHAT polio vaccine.
In "
Crack Music", he raps, "How [did] we stop the
Black Panthers?/
Ronald Reagan cooked up an answer." In the second verse, he raps, "Who gave
Saddam anthrax?/
George Bush got the answer." He has accused American politicians of insensitivity, claiming they "...[ride] home in their
Benzes and
Bentleys while poor Africans starve."
Demonstrating his views against George Bush, in a 2006 live orchestral performance of "All Falls Down" (later released on "Late Orchestration"), Kanye replaced "the White man gets paid off of all of that", with "George Bush gets paid off of all of that".
On
August 22, 2005, the MTV special
All Eyes on Kanye West aired, in which West spoke out against discrimination against homosexuality in Hip-Hop, claiming that hip hop has always been about "speaking your mind and about breaking down barriers, but everyone in hip-hop discriminates against
gay people." He then reflected on a personal experience. He said that he had a "turning point" when he realized one of his cousins was gay. He said, regarding this experience, "This is my cousin. I love him and I've been discriminating against gays." He went on to say that "not just hip-hop, but America just discriminates against gay people." He concluded by saying "I wanna just come on TV, and just tell my rappers, just tell my friends, 'Yo, stop it.'" He also drew comparison between African Americans' struggle for civil rights and today's gay rights movement.
The following year, in an interview with
Entertainment Weekly, West further expounded his experiences with and views on the relationship between the black and gay communities:
|
Kanye West denounces Bush response, American media at hurricane Katrina relief telethon while Mike Myers looks on |
On
September 2,
2005, during a
benefit concert for
Hurricane Katrina relief on
NBC,
A Concert for Hurricane Relief, West was a featured speaker. Controversy arose when West was presenting, as he deviated from the prepared script:
Mike Myers, whom West was paired with to present, spoke next and continued as normal by reading the script. Once it was West's turn to speak again, he said, "
George Bush doesn't care about black people".
Although the camera quickly cut away, West's comments still reached all of the U.S.
A week later West performed before a
New England Patriots football game and was loudly booed for the duration of his performance due to audience's disgust with him and his previous comments. [
2]
West and Myers would meet again on a brief sketch on
Saturday Night Live, in which Myers jokes that since the telethon, the goverment has stripped him of his American citizenship ("still got my Canadian citizenship to fall back on," Myers joked,) and placed him under heavy government surveillance. As West moves on to his scheduled performance, Myers breaks down.
After the 2006
Grammy nominations were released, West said he would "really have a problem" if he didn't win the
Album of the Year award because of the comments, saying: "I don't care what I do, I don't care how much I stunt â€" you can never take away from the amount of work I put into it. I don't want to hear all of that politically correct stuff." [
3].
In January 2006, West again sparked controversy when he appeared on the cover of
Rolling Stone in the image of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns. Later that month, he suggested in
Playboy that he'd be a
griot in a modern day Bible claiming "I bring up historical subjects in a way that makes kids want to learn about them." Seeing himself as an inspirational speaker, West claimed he would be "a part of the Bible" citing he is "definitely in the history books already."
West ran into some minor controversy regarding the writing credits for the Grammy-nominated song "Jesus Walks." Although MC
Rhymefest had received credit for co-writing the song, some alleged that the song's lyrics were entirely written by the then-unknown MC (the two maintain that they wrote and produced the song together and there is no evidence that all or even most of the song was the work of Rhymefest). Although Rhymefest received acknowledgement at the Grammy Awards when Jesus Walks won "Song of the Year", (an incredibly common practice in popular music) some maintained that the nomination was inappropriate for a hip-hop artist since West had not written all of the lyrics [
4].
Additionally, a financial dispute occurred over
Royce da 5'9"'s song "Heartbeat", produced by West and released on
Build & Destroy: The Lost Sessions. After the disagreement, West vowed to never work with Royce again.
Main article: GOOD Music
"
GOOD Music" (an
acronym for Getting Out Our Dreams), is Kanye West's own record label. Artists on the GOOD Music label include John Legend,
Common,
GLC,
Consequence,
Sa-Ra, and
Fonzworth Bentley. West is currently working on upcoming albums from these artists.
Main article: Pastelle Clothing
In September 2005, West announced that he will release his
Pastelle Clothing line in spring 2006.
"Now that I have a Grammy under my belt and Late Registration is finished, I am ready to launch my clothing line next spring."The clothing line has been delayed until the fall of 2006.[
5]
2006 Grammy Awards
On
February 8,
2006, West won three Grammy Awards after being nominated for eight, alongside
Mariah Carey and his own protégé,
John Legend. At the ceremony, West performed "
Gold Digger" with
Jamie Foxx and members of the
Florida A&M Marching 100 marching band. He also performed "
Touch the Sky" after an appearance by long-time friend and comedian
DeRay Davis, who revisited his character as the leader of the fictional fraternity "Broke Phi Broke" from
Late Registration. His nominations included (Awards won in bold):
*
Album of the Year, for
Late Registration*
Album of the Year, for contributions to
Mariah Carey's
The Emancipation of Mimi*
Record of the Year, for "
Gold Digger" (featuring
Jamie Foxx) (from
Late Registration)
*
Best Rap Album, for
Late Registration*
Best Rap Song, for "
Diamonds from Sierra Leone" (from
Late Registration)
*
Best Rap Solo Performance for
Gold Digger (from
Late Registration)
*
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, for "They Say" (featuring
John Legend and
Common) (off
Common's
Be)''
*
Best R&B Song, for co-writing
Alicia Keys' "
Unbreakable"
2005 Grammy Awards
In
2005, Kanye West received ten
Grammy Award nominations, making him the most nominated artist of 2005. At the 47th Annual
Grammy Awards ceremony held on
February 13, 2005, West won Best Rap Album for his album
The College Dropout, Best Rap Song, along with long-time friend and rapper
Rhymefest, for his single "
Jesus Walks", and Best R&B Song for producing
Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name." West performed at the show alongside
John Legend,
Mavis Staples and the
Blind Boys of Alabama.
His 2005 Grammy nominations were (Awards won in bold):
*
Album of the Year, for
The College Dropout *
Album of the Year, for contributions to
The Diary of Alicia Keys*
Song of the Year, for writing "
Jesus Walks", along with co-writer
Rhymefest off
The College Dropout*
Best New Artist*
Best Rap Album, for
The College Dropout *
Best Rap Song, for writing "
Jesus Walks", along with co-writer
Rhymefest off
The College Dropout*
Best R&B Song, for co-writing
Alicia Keys' "
You Don't Know My Name" off
The Diary of Alicia Keys*
Best Rap Solo Performance, for "
Through The Wire," off
The College Dropout*
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, for "
All Falls Down (featuring
Syleena Johnson" off
The College Dropout*
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, for "
Slow Jamz" (featuring
Twista and
Jamie Foxx) off
The College DropoutWest's 2005
Grammy Acceptance Speech::
Others
His work with pop icon Janet Jackson also earned him a Grammy nomination for her single "I Want You," produced by West, which was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.
After losing the Best New Artist award to Gretchen Wilson at the 2004 American Music Awards, West went on a rant against the music industry, claiming "I was the best new artist this year," and "I got 10 Grammy nominations, and won three â€" even if I should have won all 10" [6].
Kanye West was named 'Best International Male' at the 2006 Brit Awards in London. He also gave what was generally considered the standout performance of the ceremony, performing a medley of Diamonds from Sierra Leone, Gold Digger, and Touch The Sky. During Gold Digger, he danced with over seventy female dancers, who were painted gold and dressed in gold bikinis.
West has opened up U2 on quite a few dates during their Vertigo International tour and is set to open 3 dates for the Rolling Stones on their 2006 "A Bigger Bang" Tour.
* In his home, he has paid for a painting on his ceiling similar to Michelangelo's painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, saying, "It's gonna have over 50 cherubs and saints." .
* West Lived in China with his mother when he was 10.
* Kanye was an English major at Chicago State University.
* His second album Late Registration sold over 904,000 copies in its first week.
* His statement "George Bush doesn't care about black people" was satirized on Arrested Development. GOB's puppet Franklin Delano Bluth wore a t-shirt with the slogan "George Bush doesn't care about black puppets" in one of the series' final episodes.
* West started his career as a ghost-producer. (Producing songs by proxy)
* Before West became well-known, he had produced a track for The Madd Rapper featuring Eminem called "Stir Crazy."
* In "I Need To Know", Kanye imitates Eminem's verse from "Dead Wrong", and "Drop Dead Gorgeous" uses lyrics from Notorious B.I.G.'s verse from the same song.
* In "Doin' Fine", Kanye imitates Onyx's "Slam" when he says, "but wa-wa-wait it gets worse."
* He performed karate demonstrations outside his house at a young age to make money.
* West opened for U2 on their Vertigo Tour.Albums
| Album cover | Album information | | The College Dropout
*Released: February 10, 2004
*Chart positions: #2 US
*Last RIAA certification: 2X Platinum
*Singles: "Slow Jamz", "All Falls Down", "Jesus Walks", "Through the Wire", "The New Workout Plan" |
| Late Registration
*Released: August 30, 2005
*Chart positions: #1 US (2 Weeks)
*Last RIAA certification: 3X Platinum
*Singles: "Diamonds From Sierra Leone", "Gold Digger", "Heard 'Em Say", "Touch the Sky", "Drive Slow" |
| Graduation
*Released: TBA
*Chart positions: TBA
*U.S. Sales: TBA
*Last RIAA certification: TBA
*Singles: TBA |
| A Good Ass Job
*Released: TBA
*Chart positions: TBA
*U.S. Sales: TBA
*Last RIAA certification: TBA
*Singles: TBA |
Singles
Guest appearances
Kanye has collaborated with numerous artists, including Twista on songs such as "Overnight Celebrity" and "Slow Jamz" (also featuring Jamie Foxx) â€" the latter would reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, becoming the first number one hit for all artists involved. Other songs Kanye has featured on include:
*"Welcome 2 Chicago" by Abstract Mindstate feat. Kanye West (2001)
*"The Good, The Bad, The Ugly" by Consequence feat. Kanye West (2003)
*"Higher" by The Game feat. Kanye West (2003)
*"Oh Oh" by Melbeatz feat. Kanye West (2004)
*"So Soulful" by Consequence feat. Kanye West, Khayree, & John Legend (2004)
*"03' Til Infinity" by Consequence feat. Kanye West (2004)
*"Take It As A Loss" by Consequence feat. Kanye West (2004)
*"I See Now" by Consequence feat. Kanye West, & Little Brother (2004)
*"Where You At" by Kanye West feat. The Game & Ludacris (2004)
*"Getting Out The Game" by Consequence feat. Kanye West (2004)
*"Gettin' It In" by Jadakiss feat. Kanye West (2004)
*"Turn Yourself In" by Consequence feat. Kanye West (2004)
*"Get By (Remix)" Talib Kweli feat. Mos Def, Jay Z, Kanye West, and Busta Rhymes (2004)
*"Overnight Celebrity" by Twista feat. Kanye West (2004)
*"This Way" by Dilated Peoples feat. Kanye West (2004)
*"Changing Lanes" by CHOPS feat. Kanye West (2004)
*"Down And Out" by Cam'ron feat. Kanye West and Syleena Johnson (2004)
*"The Food" by Common feat. Kanye West (2004)
*"Talk About Our Love" by Brandy feat. Kanye West (2004)
*"Confessions Part 2 (Remix)" by Usher feat. Kanye West, Shyne and Twista (2004)
*"I Gotta Love" by Jin feat. Kanye West (October 2004)
*"Selfish" by Slum Village feat. Kanye West and John Legend (2004)
*"Pusha Man" by Bump J feat. Kanye West, & Rick James (2004)
*"Pusha Man Remix" by Bump J feat. Kanye West, Keyshia Cole, & Rhymefest (2004)
*"The Way That U Do" by Carl Thomas feat. Kanye West (2004)
*"Talk About Our Love" by Brandy feat. Kanye West (2004)
*"Crazy" by Aura feat. Kanye West, & Malice (2004 or 05)
*"Fly Away" by Miri Ben-Ari feat. Fabolous, Kanye West, & Musiq Soulchild (2005)
*"Number One" by John Legend feat. Kanye West (2005)
*"Go" by Common feat. Kanye West (2005)
*"Stay the Night" by Mariah Carey (produced by Kanye West) (2005)
*"Extravaganza" by Jamie Foxx feat. Kanye West (2005)
*"Grammy Family" by DJ Khaled feat. Consequence, John Legend (2006)
*"Brand New" by Rhymefest feat. Kanye West (February 2006)
*"Tell Me When To Go (Remix)" by E-40 feat. Kanye West, The Game, and Ice Cube (2006)
*"Back Like That (Remix)" by Ghostface feat. Kanye West and Ne-Yo (2006)
*"Side 2 Side" by Three 6 Mafia feat. Kanye West and Bow Wow (2006)
*"More" by Rhymefest feat. Kanye West (2006)
*"Rise of the Phynx. Jet Phynx
*"Number One" by Pharrell feat. Kanye West (2006)Mixtapes
Note: The following mixtapes are compilations of tracks put together by various Hip-Hop DJs. Not all of them are directly affiliated with Kanye WestMotion Picture Soundtracks
Kanye West has interpreted the theme music for "Mission Impossible 3". He has also recorded a song ("Impossible" featuring Keisha Cole and Twista) for the movie. West performed Impossible on TRL with Keisha Cole and Twista.
* GOOD Music
* Kanye West production discography
* Roc-a-Fella Records* Official Site
* Allmusic.com artist page
* Kanye West on ARTISTdirect.com
