Kanye West

Kanye West

Kanye Omari West (pronounced /'kɑn.je(ɪ)/) (born June 8 1977) is a six-time Grammy Award-winning American record producer and rapper. He has released his debut album The College Dropout, his second album Late Registration, and is working on a third album coming out in 2007 called Graduation. Both The College Dropout and Late Registration have received numerous awards. Kanye West also runs his own record label, GOOD Music.

Biography

Kanye West was born in Atlanta, Georgia, where he lived with both of his parents. At the age of three his parents divorced, and he and his mother moved to Chicago, Illinois. 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. Unlike most rappers he came from an upper middle class background.

After attending The American Academy of Art, a Chicago art school, West attended Columbia College Chicago, 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 Jay-Z, Common, Jadakiss, The Game, Alicia Keys, Foxy Brown, Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, Cam'Ron, Janet Jackson, Hugh "MC Son" Ryan, Brandy, Eminem, Talib Kweli, Keyshia Cole, Dilated Peoples, Ludacris, Lupe Fiasco, and John Legend. He also "ghost-produced" for his once mentor Deric Angelettie according to his song "Last Call" and the credits of Nas' "Poppa Was a Playa".

West's style of production often utilizes pitched-up vocal samples, usually from soul songs, with his own drums and instruments. The first major label song he produced featuring vocal samples was "This Can't Be Life", a track from Jay-Z's "Dynasty: Roc La Familia". Kanye admitted that Wu-Tang Clan producer RZA influenced him in his style, and has said on numerous occasions that Wu-Tang rappers Ghostface and Ol' Dirty Bastard were some of his all-time favorites. He has also admitted that he sped up the drum beat of Dr. Dre's "Xxplosive" to use as a replacement for his original drums on "This Can't Be Life".

2001

Kanye's sound was featured heavily on Jay-Z's critically-acclaimed album The Blueprint, released September 11 2001. His work was featured on the lead single "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" and the famous diss record against Nas & Mobb Deep called Takeover. West soon became a major name in hip-hop production following the release of the album, but struggled to find a way to get a record deal. 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 pushed him aside because he was not the stereotypical hip-hop artist. Companies felt he was not as marketable as rappers that portray the "street image" that is prominent in hip-hop culture. Also, apparently in 2001 he produced a song for then Jay-Z's hip-hop rival Nas that was called "You Can't Stop Me" which was meant for Stillmatic but it failed to make the final cut. The song has yet to been released.

2002–2004

On October 23, 2002, Kanye was involved in a car crash after falling asleep at the wheel while driving home from the recording studio. The crash left his jaw fractured in three places, and he barely survived. Although faced with many adversities and therapy, Kanye was inspired by life itself and what it now had to offer. The crash also provided inspiration for West's first single, "Through the Wire". Following his recovery, Kanye became a born again Christian, crediting Jesus for his quick recovery. West's faith is apparent in many of his songs, such as "Jesus Walks", which became a staple at his benefit performances, such as the Live 8 concert. These songs were featured on West's debut album, The College Dropout, which was released on Roc-A-Fella Records in February 2004, and went on to receive critical acclaim. The album also defined the style for which West would become known, including wordplay and sampling.

Kanye was involved in a financial dispute over Royce da 5'9"'s song "Heartbeat", produced by West and released on Build & Destroy: The Lost Sessions. Kanye maintains that Royce never paid for the beat, but recorded to it and released it; hearing him on the beat, the original customers decided not to buy it from West. After the disagreement, West vowed to never work with Royce again.

2005

On August 30, 2005, Kanye West released his second album Late Registration. Reviews were mostly favorable: "Late Registration is an undeniable triumph" (Rolling Stone), "As ornate and bloated as West's ego". (Spin September 2005, p.99). With the help of producer samples in different ways along with compositions of strings and other sounds. The record earned the number one spot on the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll of 2005. The first two singles from Late Registration were "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" (which features vocals from Shirley Bassey's "Diamonds Are Forever") and "Gold Digger" featuring Jamie Foxx (which contains an interpolation of Ray Charles's "I Got a Woman") 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".

In September 2005, West announced that he would release his Pastelle Clothing line in spring 2006. Even months after its speculated release, the current status of this project is unknown.

2006

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 if a bible were written in the present day, he is famous and important enough to be included in it. "I throw up historical subjects in a way that makes kids want to learn about them", West claimed. "[I'm] definitely in the history books already."

In February 2006, Kanye performed live at the 2006 BRIT Awards in London, England. He performed GoldDigger with hundreds of professional female dancers, all of them dressed head-to-toe in gold outfits. Four of these were the UK Pop Rock band RockerBaby.

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 — 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". [1]. West won several Grammy awards, including Best Rap Album, but did not win the Album of the Year Award. The award instead went to U2's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Ironically, in November 2006, West was the opening act for U2 during the 5th leg of their Vertigo Tour in Australia and New Zealand.

On August 5, 2006 Kanye headlined the second day of the Lollapalooza music festival in his hometown of Chicago. Later that month, People magazine reported that Kanye became engaged to his girlfriend Alexis while spending two weeks overseas with her.

On November 2, 2006, when "Touch the Sky" failed to win Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards, West went onto the stage as the award was being presented to Justice and Simian for "We Are Your Friends" and argued that he should have won the award instead. Hundreds of news outlets worldwide criticized the outburst. On November 7, 2006 Kanye apologized for this outburst. He did this publicly during his performance as support act for U2 for their Vertigo concert in Brisbane, Australia.

In December 2006, Robert "Evel" Knievel sued Kanye West for trademark infringement in West's video for "Touch the Sky". Knievel is taking issue with a "sexually-charged video" in which West takes on the persona of "Evel Kanyevel" and attempts flying a rocket over a canyon. The suit filed in federal court claims infringement on his trademarked name and likeness. Knievel also claims the "vulgar and offensive" images depicted in the video damage his reputation. The suit seeks damages and to stop distribution of the video.

This year he was also rumored to be working on Michael Jackson's next album, scheduled for late 2007, along with his cousin Devo Springsteen and John Legend.

2007

In 2007, it was announced that West would be starring in a series directed by Larry Charles. He has been working on the pilot episode for the past two years with Larry Charles and Rick Rubin. He also had this to say on January 14, 2007: “I wouldn’t do something as cliché as a reality show. At least give me the credit for being more creative than that. It’s a situational half-hour comedy. It’s fictional, and loosely based on my life." West recently collaborated with Japanese hip hop group Teriyaki Boyz to produce the single "I Still Love H.E.R.", a reference to Common's 1994 single "I Used to Love H.E.R.". It is rumored that West's introductory lines preceding his verse are a thinly-veiled jab at producer/rapper Danny!, who was mercilessly compared to West in the beginning of his career.

Kanye is also working on his new artist Jazz Cartier' ,Jazz Cartier's album, Cool, Calm & Cartier', is set to be released in December. Jazz Cartier' is signed under Def Jam/G.O.O.D Music.

Kanye was slated to appear on Timbaland's solo LP Timbaland Presents Shock Values on a track with Missy Elliott but didn't make the cut.

In the middle of February, Kanye released a remix of Fall Out Boy's new #1 hit song "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race" from their newly released album Infinity On High. In the remix he congratulates FOB for their recently huge success and their #1 hit also adding that he wants the #1 spot also ("The Arms Race made them raise their arms and race straight to the top, who knew? Right now they've got the #1 spot, do ya want that... me too"). It is also rumored that Fall Out Boy will be releasing a remix of one of West's songs off his new album later this year.

Further to this, during a radio appearance in early 2007, West, like many of his peers, recorded an impromptu freestyle to the popular song "Throw Some D's". West's version became extremely popular because of the different stance he took. The song that to all other rappers was about automobile rims, was used by West to comically refer to D-cup breasts. Because of the unexpected success of the song, West went on to make a video for the freestyle, in which he is seen playing his 'Old Ass Cousin'. The video for the remix can be seen here.

Kanye was also featured in a new song called "Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)". It was believed to be a single from his upcoming album, Graduation, because of him being the main rapper, but Nike quickly explained that it was for the Nike Air Force One's anniversary. It was meant only to be an exclusive track.

Management/production firm Hip-Hop Since 1978 entered into an exclusive partnership with Bryant Management to represent rapper Lil’ Wayne. Gee Roberson and Kyambo "Hip-Hop" Joshua of Hip-Hop Since 1978 will work together with Lil’ Wayne’s long-time manager Cortez Bryant as they take on all facets of Lil’ Wayne’s career including music, television, and film. Roberson and Joshua also manage superstar rapper Kanye West, who will lend his production talent to Lil' Wayne's upcoming release "Tha Carter 3".

On March 25, Kanye and his father Ray West supported World Water Day (http://www.worldwaterday.net/) by having a "Walk for Water" rally.

After a two-year break, Kanye has returned back to being a fashion columnist on lifestyle magazine Complex.

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 OPV AIDS hypothesis.

In the song "Crack Music", he raps, "How [did] we stop the Black Panthers?/Ronald Reagan cooked up an answer", a reference to the allegation that the Reagan administration intentionally placed crack cocaine in the ghettos of the United States. In the second verse, he raps, "Who gave Saddam anthrax?/George Bush got the answer", a reference to the allegation that he sold chemical weapons to Iraq in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the song "Roses", West raps about his belief that the government controls the spread of AIDS by rapping "If Magic Johnson got a cure for AIDS / And all the broke mothafuckas passed away / You telling me if my grandma was in the NBA / Right now she would be okay?". This is also a reference to Magic Johnson's unlikely recovery and highly publicized battle with the virus.

Demonstrating his views against George W. Bush, in a 2006 live orchestral performance of "All Falls Down" (later released on the "Late Orchestration" mixtape) West 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 homophobia 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 ... 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:

I think in the daily life of a black male, we gay-bash way more than we disrespect women. We would call a gay guy a fag to his face. But if we walked up to a woman and said Aiight, bitch! we would know that was disrespectful. I remember five years ago I was in this clothing store in Greenwich Village with my old girlfriend. I said the word "fag" kind of loud and there were some gay dudes in the store. My girlfriend was like, Yo, c'mon, step into the new millennium. Well, my level of consciousness has since raised. And I actually think that standing up for gays was even more crazy than bad-mouthing the president. In the black community, someone could label you gay and bring your career down. But that was me showing what black people are really about today, or at least what we need to be about.

Hurricane Katrina fundraiser controversy

File:Kanyebush.jpg

Kanye West denounces the response of President Bush and the American media to Hurricane Katrina at relief telethon as a stunned Mike Myers stands nearby.

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:[2]

I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it [the media] says, 'they're looting'. You see a white family, it says, 'they're looking for food'. And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the teacher, the TV, because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what's, what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was, if I was down there, and those are, those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help — with the set up, the way America is set up to help, the uh, uh, the poor, the black people, the, uh, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, this is, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way — and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!

Mike Myers, with whom West was paired to present, spoke next and continued as normal by reading the script, though with obvious discomfort. Once it was West's turn to speak again, he delivered the controversial phrase:

George Bush doesn't care about black people.

Although the camera quickly cut away to Chris Tucker, West's comments still reached all of the U.S.

Kanye West and Mike Myers met again on a brief sketch on Saturday Night Live, in which Myers joked that since the telethon, the government 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.

Discography

Main articles: Kanye West discography and Kanye West production discography

Studio albums

• 2004: The College Dropout
• 2005: Late Registration

Solo Singles

• 2004: "Through the Wire"
• 2004: "All Falls Down" (featuring Syleena Johnson)
• 2004: "Jesus Walks"
• 2004: "The New Workout Plan"
• 2005: "Diamonds from Sierra Leone"
• 2005: "Gold Digger" (featuring Jamie Foxx)
• 2005: "Heard 'Em Say" (featuring Adam Levine)
• 2006: "Touch the Sky" (featuring Lupe Fiasco)
• 2006: "Drive Slow [Remix]" (featuring Paul Wall, GLC, & T.I.)

Featured Singles

• 2004: "Slow Jamz" (Twista featuring Kanye West & Jamie Foxx)
• 2004: "Talk About Our Love" (Brandy featuring Kanye West)
• 2004: "Selfish" (Slum Village featuring Kanye West & John Legend)
• 2006: "Number One" (Pharrell featuring Kanye West)
• 2006: "Grammy Family" (DJ Khaled & Consequence featuring Kanye West & John Legend)
• 2007: "Wouldn't Get Far" (The Game featuring Kanye West)

Awards

Grammy Awards

Year	Category	Song/Album	Genre
2005	Best Rap Album	The College Dropout	Rap
2005	Best Rap Song	"Jesus Walks"	Rap
2005	Best R&B Song	"You Don't Know My Name" 1	R&B
2006	Best Rap Album	Late Registration	Rap
2006	Best Rap Song	"Diamonds from Sierra Leone"	Rap
2006	Best Rap Solo Performance	"Gold Digger"	Rap

¹ Albums Kanye contributed to by co-producing/co-writing songs.

Trivia

• In his home, West paid for a painting on his ceiling similar to Michelangelo's painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. "It will hang on the ceiling in my dining room. It's gonna have over 50 cherubs and saints." said West.
• Late Registration sold over 904,000 copies in its first week.
• West's 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.
• The same statement was also satirized on the South Park episode Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow, as "George Bush doesn't care about beavers!".
• Kanye West is parodied in the film Epic Movie for the controversial statement as well, although it is the parodied Diddy who says it and it was about the "Evil White Bitch".
• West started his career producing songs by proxy, most notably for Bad Boy producer Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie.
• He appeared in Cassidy's "Get No Better" music video.
• West has reportedly made several unsuccessful romantic advances to Sugababes singer Amelle Berrabah on numerous occasions. On the most recent occasion, he allegedly ordered his 29-year-old assistant to "issue Amelle with a furious telling off".

See also

• GOOD Music
• Pastelle Clothing

External links

• Official Site
• kanYe Talk Kanye West site
• Allmusic.com artist page
• Kanye West on ARTISTdirect.com
• Kanye West discography at MusicBrainz
• Template:Nndb name
• Kanye West Tabs at Homemusician.net
• [http://-Kanye--West-.bebo.com