This is Kanye West

He is one of the most successful musicians of our time: Kanye West. Everything you need to know about him.

Atlanta – Ye was born Kanye Omari West on June 8, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia. His mother, Donda West, was a professor of English at Clark Atlanta University. After separating from her husband Ray, a former Black Panther, and moving to Chicago, she became chair of the English Department at Chicago State University. Kanye West grew up in Chicago with his single mother.

Kanye West grew up in a middle-class family

At the time, his middle-class origins set him apart from his peers in the genre. According to his own statement, he started rapping in third grade, inspired by Run-DMC and Public Enemy. At fourteen he met Chicago producer No ID, who was then working with rapper Common. No ID was an early mentor to him.

Kanye West graduated from high school in 1995. His mother pushed him to pursue degrees from the American Academy of Art and Chicago State University, but he focused more on his music career.

Kanye West’s breakthrough came with a production for Jay-Z

At first he concentrated more on producing than on rapping. Kanye West earned his first money working on Chicago rapper Grav’s 1996 album Down to Earth . He dropped out of college to pursue music full-time.

In the late 1990s he increasingly produced for commercially successful rappers, including Jermaine Dupri and Foxy Brown. He got his big break in 2001 while working on several songs on Jay-Z’s album The Blueprint. It stayed at #1 on the US charts for three weeks.

In 2003, West produced the hits Stand Up for Ludacris (#1 on the Billboard Hot 100) and You Don’t Know My Name for Alicia Keys (#3). He also released several mixtapes under his own name. In September of that year, Through the Wire was West’s first solo single, and it peaked at number 15 on the US charts.

Kanye West released his debut album in 2004

Due to a bootleg that had already circulated in advance, West re-recorded large parts of his debut album The College Dropout , in which he thematically dealt with his dropping out of school, among other things. The album was released in February 2004 after several delays and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. It was received very positively by the critics. It won Best Rap Album at the 2005 Grammy Awards and was also nominated for Album of the Year. All four singles and You Don’t Know My Name were also nominated, earning West two more Grammys out of ten nominations in total. In addition, the music video for Jesus Walks received several awards.

At the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, West introduced the song Love Lockdown as the first single from the album 808s & Heartbreak , released in November 2008. With the piece he tried his hand as a singer for the first time. Love Lockdown stayed in the German singles chart for 17 weeks, at number eight as West’s highest chart position in Germany to date.

In August 2011, Kanye West co-released the album Watch the Throne with Jay-Z. With a chart entry at number one in Switzerland, number two in Germany and number twelve in Austria, Watch the Throne is the most successful work by the two artists in German-speaking countries. In the US, it became West’s fifth album and Jay-Z’s twelfth to reach the top spot.

Kanye West is also very successful as a fashion designer

Kanye not only has ambitions as a rapper, he is also engaged as a fashion designer. As early as September 2005 he announced that he wanted to launch his own clothing line. He worked on it for four years before finally discarding the idea. Nevertheless, in 2009 he launched his first YEEZY’s together with Nike. The shoes became a great success and are sold at high prices.

In 2011 he presented his fashion brand for women, DW Kanye West at Paris Fashion Week. Some artists support his fashion, but the general perception was mixed negative. His second fashion line, which he presented at Paris Fashion Week in 2012, was much better received.

Kanye West released his last album in August last year

Kanye founded his company DONDA in 2012, named after his mother Donda West. The company’s goal is to create creative content, but what exactly goes on remains classified. However, when Kanye founded the company, he said he wanted to continue where Steve Jobs left off. A comparison that he will also make known with the YEEZY sneakers.

Despite his success in fashion, music and DONDA, Kanye always finds new areas of interest to explore. Due to his world fame, it is of course not difficult for him to get smaller film roles. For example, he has starred in an episode of the series Entourage, as well as in the film The Love Guru.

Donda was also the name of the last album Kanye West released. It was released in August 2021 and reached number 1 in the US, UK and Austrian charts. In Germany, it stayed in fourth place in the German charts for seven weeks. (Joshua Schoessler)