Kanye West: From unfortunate child to top star

Kanye West is a Grammy Award-winning Rapper, Music Producer and Fashion Designer. He is famous for his outspokenness and controversial statements, especially after marrying “queen of gossip” Kim Kardashian.

Biography of rapper Kanye West

Considered a music phenomenon of the 21st century, from music producer to rap superstar, Kanye West has affirmed his talent and repeatedly redefined “Hiphop” for the whole world. .

However, the adage that many talents have many flaws has never been wrong with Kanye West, he has overshadowed his countless achievements with statements in the media, strange “Tweets”, and his sense of the times. Unusual page style and Kim Kardashian’s grand marriage proposal caused the press to waste a lot of ink.

But those problems never made fans disappointed in Kanye. When he turned to music, what needed to happen was nine times at number one on the Billboard chart when he released solo albums and more. twenty-time Grammy Award winner.

And yet, Kanye West is also on Time magazine’s list of the hundred most influential people, receiving countless compliments from influential people like Lou Reed, Prince and Elon Musk and especially from himself. when directly asserting himself as god through his song I am a God .

His imperfect childhood in the South Shore area of Chicago

Kanye’s full name is Kanye Omari West, he was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia in 1977. His father, Ray West, is a photojournalist for Atlanta magazine and is also very active. in the Black Panther party, he later became a Christian advisor.

His mother, Donda West, was a teacher and later became an English professor at Chicago State University. When Kanye became a celebrity, she also took on the role of manager for her son. Unfortunately, her passing when he was just thirty caused Kanye to collapse, deeply affecting him. his psychology and music later.

Kanye’s family is also not complete, his parents divorced when he was only three. He was raised by his mother and only spent the summers with his father.

When she was ten, Mrs. Donda participated in a lecturer exchange program with China and brought Kanye along, and he experienced his early years as a person of color in a group full of differences.

After the exchange program ended and Kanye returned to Chicago, he was fascinated by the Hiphop culture there and became friends with DJ and Music Producer No I.D., who became a mentor for Kanye West on musical journey later.

Mentor and colleague Kanye West – Music producer No I.D

Kanye’s education is not as bad as people often speculate, he graduated from Polaris High School and won a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago, but his decision at that time was to drop his studies to pursue Pursue your own musical path.

Later, Kanye West named The College Dropout for the first solo album of his career, an action that demonstrated his extravagant nature, always pursuing his own ideals.

The journey from school dropout to talented music producer

At first, Kanye mainly worked with little-known local artists. Although he did not have a prominent mark, he developed his own style.

Later, he moved to New York and took a new step in his career when he collaborated with Jay Z to produce the song This Can’t Be Life, one of the most famous songs on the album The Dynasty: Roc La Familia.

Album cover of The Dynasty: Roc La Familia

A year later, Kanye West continued his rise by producing four more songs on Jay Z’s next album The Blueprint, which is one of the best rap albums of all time. From there, Kanye continued to produce music for many other young talents such as Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Ludacris, two famous artists Alicia Keys and Beyoncé.

Jay Z’s The Blueprint album cover

But he is not committed to a behind-the-scenes role and wants to shine like everyone else. Unfortunately, Kanye’s journey to becoming a rapper was not easy because he did not know at that time that a rapper had to be a “gangsta” person, not a kid with a pink T-shirt and Gucci loafers like Older brother.

At a standstill, Kanye West had to plead with Roc-A-Fella record label, but the label’s co-founder at that time, Jay Z, only briefly told TIME magazine:

“All of us rappers grew up on the streets, guys who had to do anything to survive. And then Kanye wanted to be a rapper, who, as far as I know, has never had to work hard a day in his life. I don’t know what kind of rapper he will become.”

That was Jay Z’s short answer to Kanye West, and other record labels said the same thing to him. Kanye later recounted that he walked out of those meetings with hope and always had to return with bitter tears falling.

Later, another co-founder of Roc-A-Fella, Damon Dash, reluctantly signed with Kanye in 2002, but not out of respect for the dream but because he wanted him to continue working as a music producer for Kanye. Surname.

That October, as Kanye finished work and was driving home, he had an accident and injured his jaw, and his song and album Through the Wire was born from this unfortunate experience.

ẢKanye West’s Through the Wire album cover

A little known information is that Kanye’s jaw was still recovering from injury at that time and the latter part of the album Through The Wire was only completed while he recuperated in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, as soon as the album was completed, it was secretly distributed on online channels.

In response to those playing cowards, Kanye decided to revamp Through the Wire, revising and rewriting the album’s songs, tweaking the music, and then re-releasing it.

The College Dropout album and Kanye West’s first “push” in life

The College Dropout was released in early 2004, it sold nearly three million copies and transformed Kanye from an unknown to a mega-star. This album also broke the mold of the Gangsta-rap style by criticizing consumerism, racism, higher education and religion.

Back of The College Dropout album

On his single Jesus Walks, he wrote that:

“They say you can rap about anything but Jesus

Which means guns, sex, lies and videos

Because if I talk about God, no one will play my music.”

The album The College Dropout peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 and received 10 Grammy nominations, winning three awards including Best Rap Song for Jesus Walks and Best Rap Album.

Kanye West’s Grammy Award winning moment (Photo: gettyimages)

Shortly after the release of this album, Kanye founded his record label, Good Music – Short for Getting Out Our Dreams and in conjunction with Sony BMG Records. He later collaborated with John Legend, Big Sean, Common, Pusha-T and many other artists.

Late Registration or the young rapper’s extravagance?

Kanye spent a year and two million dollars on his second album, he also hired a symphony orchestra and collaborated with composer Jon Brion, someone who had never collaborated with anyone in the Hiphop world before.

Someone as famous for his relentless creativity as Kanye is always breaking new ground and there are no limits to stop him. Kanye West himself also announced to the New York Times that he wanted to know that he could bring Hiphop to the fore. to any higher peak.

Is this statement really “extravagant” or does Kanye really do it? That was still an open question when the Album Late Registration brought him three Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album, two songs in the Album, Diamonds from Sierra Leone won the award for best Rap song and Gold Digger won the award for solo performance. for Best Rap Song.

Kanye West’s Late Registration album cover photo

Late Registration had a more impressive debut than The College Dropout topping the Billboard 200 chart upon its debut, which is an impressive feat and one that Kanye West will surely reach many more times.

Commenting on this Kanye album, famous journalist Rob Sheffield gave it “five stars” in Rolling Stone magazine. Late Registration showed the difference in lyrics, music making skills, desire to rise higher than the masses and turned the entire music world into a place for Hip Hop performance.

But Kanye’s life has not only achievements but also countless “Dramas”. Just a month after the release of Late Registration, he appeared on an NBC show to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

But few people expected that Kanye West would cause a “media storm” when he said on live air that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people!” – Kanye’s statement has increased criticism of President Bush because he did not visit the city of New Orleans right after it was devastated by the storm.

Kanye West blamed Bush for not caring about black people right on television

Although shocked by the actions of the emerging rapper, Bush only responded, “It was one of the most disgusting moments” of his presidency. Anyway, Kanye West doesn’t care much about the statement, he probably doesn’t lose too much sleep thinking about how to handle it like the president.

Graduation and the rise of Kanye West – The representative of the stage

After touring with the rock band U2 in 2005 – 2006, Kanye was inspired to bring Hiphop more popular to the public, to gain the right to perform in venues such as stadiums and arenas, two a place not originally for Hiphop.

He was also influenced by other famous Rock bands such as the Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Killers and the House music genre, which originated in his hometown of Chicago.

Kanye West’s Graduation album cover photo

Therefore, Kanye West’s third album, Graduation, was greatly influenced by the above two factors, released at the same time as 50 Cent’s album, Curtis, and was seen by the public as a “battle” between the two representatives of Hiphop. , between a representative of the street and one of the stage, Kanye is the one who smiles last.

The results came in the first week, Graduation sold nearly a million copies and was crowned king.

And it all fell apart when his mother passed away..

Upon the release of Graduation, Kanye West became a leader in the industry and was hailed by the media as “The Gangsta Rap Killer.” But the most sublime moment was also the most tragic moment, Kanye’s beloved mother, Donda, died of a heart attack.

One year after his mother’s death, he released 808s & Heartbreak, an album filled with emotions of sadness, pain, and loneliness. Kanye even gave up rapping completely and announced, “My Hiphop journey is now over.”

808s & Heartbreak – Kanye West’s most tragic album

Luckily for the music world, he reconsidered and went on to win two Grammy awards when collaborating with Estelle in American Boy and TI in Swagga Like Us. However, whether Kanye West is really okay after this incident is still a big question mark.

And not to make fans wait too long, during the 2009 MTV Awards he snatched the microphone from Taylor Swift when she won the Best Female Video award for the MV You Belong With Me, creating a moment worse than the criticism. blamed President Bush before that.

Kanye West snatched Taylor’s mic at VMAS 2009

Would an unruly artist like Kanye West stay in his sanctuary?

The rise of Kanye West and Yeezy in fashion

A little known information is that since 2006, Kanye West has cooperated with fashion brands such as A Bathing Ape and Nike to develop a number of limited edition Sneakers models, and he even interned at GAP and Fendi. to accumulate experience.

Bapesta Fs-001 – Pair of Sneakers combining Kanye West and A Bathing Ape

Kanye’s debut collection was launched in Paris in 2011 but it was immediately criticized by experts. Long Nguyen, creative director of fashion magazine Flaunt, also spoke up:

“You can’t put a bunch of fox fur in your fashion collection, show it off and equate it with high fashion products.”

After the performance, Kanye West spoke slowly, “Please be gentle with me”, “Please give me the opportunity to develop”. But his second collection was no better, the indifference from the experts made Kanye decide not to perform in Paris anymore.

Instead, he switched to collaborating with French fashion company A.P.C and then a $10 million contract with Adidas. The Yeezy Season 1 collection in collaboration with Adidas launched at the end of 2015 has caused a “fever” across all media fronts, including the young street fashion community in Vietnam.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy with its emotional extremes

Returning to the music race at the end of 2010 when he released the fifth album of his career, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, combined with a series of other music producers such as Jeff Bhasker, RZA, No I.D. and Mike Dean, Kanye West has proven that he is capable of overcoming any challenge.

With a series of co-occurring themes such as excess and fame, emotional extremes, consumer culture, racism and the American dream, famous music magazine Pitchfork even called it is a monument.

This album also topped the Billboard 200 music chart as soon as it was released and sold nearly half a million copies. Four singles from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy including Power, Monster and Runaway also charted highly.

The next year, Kanye West and another big star, Jay Z, collaborated on the album Watch the Throne and brought them both three more Grammy awards.

Will marriage with Kim Karashidan cause Kanye West to lose his long-standing position?

In 2012, Kanye released a compilation album called Cruel Summer with the participation of artists under GOOD Music, but public opinion flocked to his marriage with reality TV star Kim. Karashidan.

Kanye West’s Cruel Summer album cover

It can be said that the combination of many stars such as Snoop Dogg, Gunna, Ryan Adams, Lil Jon and even Kanye West and Jay-Z still cannot erase the combination of these two “scandalous” individuals.

When one person is a reality TV star with “shocking” statements and the other person is a Rapper with many “slanders” entering married life, many people have questioned whether Kanye West is still a leader. Can it reach new heights?

The answer came via Yeezus, Kanye’s sixth album. Warmly received by critics and even dubbed “the darkest and most musical that Kanye has ever created”, it is not difficult to understand why fans consider this his best album.

Kanye West’s sixth album – Yeezus

However, awards did not come to Kim Karashidan’s fiance like before, he only received two Grammy nominations including Best Rap Album. This is also proof for fans that Kanye West will continue to progress in the music field, even though he has just gone through the most important marriage of his life.

Collaborated with the legendary Paul McCartney but was obscured by his statements

In early 2015, the public was shocked to hear that Kanye West would join Paul McCartney, former member of The Beatles, and Rihanna to release the single Four Five Seconds. It should be noted that up to now, no rapper has ever “shared the stage” with McCartney.

It was thought that collaborating with big stars would help Kanye realize his position and calm down emotionally, but no, just a month later he disrupted the 57th Grammy Awards.

While Beck was accepting the album of the year award, Kanye West walked up to the stage and protested to the artist that he should learn to respect art, and it would be best to give the award back to Beyoncé because she deserved it more.

Everyone was surprised by Kanye’s actions, especially Jay-Z, Beyoncé’s husband, even though he knew Kanye West was defending his wife. But just three weeks later, Kanye used social networks to apologize to the person he objected to: “I want to publicly apologize. I’m sorry, Beck.”

Luckily for Kanye, even though Beck was opposed, he remained calm and sympathized with him. The incident quickly “sunk down” a short time later.

The Life of Pablo and its mission to create Gospel music

Before releasing this album, Kanye West faced a series of controversies and he tweeted more than everyone else combined. Every day, he posts a series of tweets on everything from his products to his fight with Wiz Khalifa, who he misunderstood as criticizing his wife, Kim Karashidan.

Kanye even urged fans to lobby Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to let Zuck invest a billion dollars in his idea. He also attracted media attention when he announced that he had debts of up to $53 million.

But luckily for him, those controversies couldn’t knock The Life of Pablo from the No. 1 spot on the prestigious Billboard music chart for the seventh consecutive time.

The Life of Pablo is a combination of many genres from Trap, Gospel to Avant-pop and Classic soul, Dance hall, much more diverse than the previous album Yeezus. Through this album, Kanye also said his mission is to create Gospel music (Music for religion).

However, on Google in the following days, the only information people could find was that Kanye West was aggressive towards others, that he and his wife were criticized by the public, and many other things.

Although every magazine highlights Kanye’s work, the clear reality is that The Life of Pablo though noted by famous music journalist Rob Sheffied: “Life of Pablo continues to be a masterpiece of Kanye West like 6 albums before him” then it still has a chance to “sink” because of Kanye West’s inflammatory statements as usual.

Continues to top music charts with “Ye”

At the end of May 2018, Kanye West released his eighth music album, Ye. This album features appearances from many famous artists such as Kid Cudi, John Legend, Nicki Minaj, Willow Smith and Kevin Parker.

Ye as well as previous albums, always hovered at the top of the Billboard 200 music chart and helped Kanye have eight consecutive number one positions when releasing new albums, equaling the record with Eminem and The Beatles .

Containing many personal stories about the rapper’s personal life, this album was still well received and enjoyed by the public. Kanye West’s perseverance throughout the working process was also reposted by many parties, showing us a different story. Another person is full of enthusiasm and passion for ideas, different from the usual “aggressive” look.

Jesus is King and for the ninth time at number one

Released after many months of delay, Jesus is King received a lot of mixed reactions from the public when the release date was near. Kanye West’s controversial statements also contributed to this album being “distracted”. ” somewhat.
Album Jesus is King – Kanye West’s ninth “No 1” album

But once again, Kanye has shown us that nothing can stop him. Sales reached 264 thousand copies in the first week, larger than both of his previous albums, Ye or Kids See Ghosts, which he collaborated with Kid Cudi.

Even though music fans constantly argue that Jesus is King has high sales because it has four more songs than previous albums, or that the lack of any big hits helps it stand out more, Kanye West still maintains quality in his work.

Talking about a person’s love for God and being a continuation of The Life of Pablo, Jesus is King is considered completely lackluster and has no highlight, the male rapper is also considered superficial with his products. work when the entire album is less than 30 minutes long.

However, his products never fail to delight fans, and the sales of Jesus is King somewhat show that.