Kanye West

In November 2007, West’s mother Donda West died of a heart disease right after she underwent a plastic surgery procedure. She was 58 years old at the time. This left West in turmoil, as he was extremely close to his mother; she had released her memoir before her death called ‘Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar’.

West was in romantic relationship with various women like: designer Alexis Phifer. They were in a relationship for almost 4 years and broke-up their 18 month long engagement in 2008. Thereafter, he dated model Amber Rose but the relationship was also called off in 2010. West dated longtime friend Kim Kardashian and they got engaged in 2013. They were blessed with a daughter North ‘Nori’ West on June 15, 2013 in L.A., California. The couple married on May 24, 2014 at Fort di Belvedere in Florence, Italy.

Kanye West was born on 8 June 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia to Dr. Donda C. Williams West and Ray West. His father was one of the former Black Panthers and the first ever black photojournalist at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His mother was an English Professor at the Clark Atlanta University and also the Chair of English Department at the Chicago State University. His parents divorced when he was only 3 years old and he moved in with his mother to Chicago, Illinois.

West was raised in a humble way and belonged to a middle-class background. He did his schooling from the Polaris High School in Illinois. He shifted to Nanjing, China at the age of 10 when his mother was asked to teach at the Nanjing University as a part of an exchange program. He was creative from an early age. He wrote his first poetry at the age of 5. He started to rap at the young age of 5 and composing his own music by the time he was in the seventh grade.

West started to get more and more involved in the hip-hop scene of the city and when he was 17, he wrote a rap song called ‘Green Eggs and Ham’. He persuaded his mother to pay him money so that he can start recording in the studio. Although his mother did not want this for him, she started accompanying him to a small basement studio in the city. There west met ‘The Godfather of Chicago Hip Hop’, No I.D. He soon became West’s mentor.

In 1997, West was offered a scholarship from the Chicago’s American Academy of Art and he took upon it to learn the art of painting and then took the transfer to the Chicago State University to pursue English literature. At the age of 20, he decided to drop out of the college to pursue his dream to become a rapper and a musician, full time. This greatly upset his mother.

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.

For his album ‘The College Dropout’, West grabbed 10 Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year and Best Rap Album. He won a Grammy for the Best Rap Album category. His album was certified as triple platinum in the United States.