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Kanye West

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Kanye West
File:Kanye West - Through the Wire - CD single cover.jpg
Kanye West, on the cover of his first solo hit, "Through the Wire".
Background information
Years active2000-present

Kanye West (first name pronounced /ˈkɑn.jeɪ/) (born Kanye Omari West, June 8, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an African-American hip hop producer and rapper from Chicago, Illinois.

Biography

After attending Columbia College, a local art school in Chicago, and then Chicago State University, West dropped out and began working on his music career. Even while attending school, West produced for local acts. He gained some fame by producing hit singles for major hip-hop/R&B artists, including Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Janet Jackson, Brandy, Talib Kweli, Hugh "MC Son" Ryan, Ludacris and John Legend. West himself worked on his solo album for a long period of time, having the release pushed back on multiple occasions.

West became a major name in hip-hop production following the release of Jay-Z's critically-acclaimed album The Blueprint, which featured six tracks produced by West. Due to his appearance and overall style, West struggled to find a way to get his own voice on record. Multiple record companies put him aside because he was not a former "street hustler" and did not wear the orthodox hip-hop apparel. He was therefore not marketable as an artist portraying the "typical rapper image."

A car crash on October 23, 2002 left his jaw fractured in three places. This also opened his eyes to the meaning of life to him. It was the inspiriation for his first single "Throuh The Wire." He recorded it two weeks after the crash while his mouth was still wired shut.

"Through the Wire", which sampled Chaka Khan's classic track "Through the Fire," would eventually become his lead single from The College Dropout, which was released on Roc-a-Fella Records in February 2004. 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.

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).[1] The first two singles 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 spun off eight Grammy Award nominations including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for "Gold Digger." West announced that his third and fourth albums will be titled Graduation and A Good Ass Job, respectively.

West, holder of three Grammys, has collaborated with numerous artists, most notably with rapper Twista on songs such as "Overnight Celebrity" and "Slow Jamz" (also featuring Jamie Foxx) - the latter would reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, becoming the first number one hit for all artists involved. West is also featured on Brandy's single, "Talk About Our Love." Others with whom West has collaborated include Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Hugh "MC Son" Ryan, Dilated Peoples, Mariah Carey, Miri Ben-Ari (whose violin arrangements featured heavily on The College Dropout), and John Legend (who also features on West's first album, providing background vocals). Kanye West is also credited with revitalizing the careers of such rappers as Common and Twista, as well as more recently producing the critically acclaimed The Game track "Dreams."

In early 2005, West coined the term "white crunk" to describe the gritty drum sounds of Scottish alternative dance-rock 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. West feels that the white crunk vibe has affected his new work, and is best exemplified on the track Diamonds from Sierra Leone, from his 2005 album Late Registration. 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.


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 by the U.S. government through the polio vaccine.

In "Crack Music", he raps, "How [will] 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."

On August 22, 2005, the MTV special All Eyes on Kanye West aired, on which West said that the term "gay" is the exact opposite word of "hip-hop" to many. He said 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 that his cousin was gay. He said, regarding this experience, "Yo, this is my cousin. I love him and I've been discriminating against gays." He further said, "Not just hip-hop but America just discriminates against gay people." He concluded by saying "... And 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.

File:Kanyebush.jpg
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. When he was presenting, West deviated from the prepared script:

"I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it 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 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 is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help -- with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, 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! (Black People)"

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 the U.S. East Coast in the live news-feed, but they were removed by the network when the concert was re-broadcast on the West Coast three hours later.

A week later West performed before an NFL game and was loudly booed for the duration of his performance.[2]

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." [3].

In February 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 drew fire for suggesting that he should be "a part of the Bible" and claiming that he is "definitely in the history books already." [4] He is now considered one of the biggest stars in the world.

GOOD Music & Pastelle Clothing

"GOOD Music" (an acronym for Getting Out Our Dreams), the record label founded by Kanye West, has already released John Legend's platinum selling debut album Get Lifted, along with Common's platinum album - Be. Other artists on the GOOD Music label include GLC, Consequence, Really Doe, SA-RA Creative Partners, and Farnsworth Bentley.

In September 2005, West announced that he will release his Pastelle Clothing line in spring 2006. He said of the decision, "Now that I have a Grammy under my belt and Late Registration [West's second album] is finished, I am ready to launch my clothing line next spring." [5]

Kanye West will be in the studio in 2006 to help launch the artists signed on his G.O.O.D. Music label. Artists rumored to release an album in 2006 are SA-RA, Consequence and GLC. There is also speculation that he is producing tracks for Jay-Z in 2006, that he has a major sleeper from Louisiana up his sleeve, and infinite hits for radio and underground equally.

Awards

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 (Barbershop, Wild N Out) who revisited his character as the leader of the fictional fraternity "Broke Phi Broke" from Late Registration. His nominations included (Awards won in bold):

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):

West's 2005 Grammy Acceptance Speech:

"Y'all might as well get the music ready 'cause this is gonna take a while. When I had my accident, I found out at that moment, nothing in life is promised except death. If you have the opportunity to play this game called life, you have to appreciate every moment. A lot of people don't appreciate their moment until it's passed. And then you got to tell those Al Bundy stories: 'You remember when I..." Right now, it's my time, and my moment, thanks to the fans, thanks to the accident, thanks to God, thanks to Roc-A-Fella, Jay-Z, Dame Dash, G, my mother, Rhymefest, everyone that's helped me. And I plan to celebrate, and scream and pop champagne every chance I get, 'cause I'm at the Grammy's baby! I know everybody asked me the question, they wanted to know, 'What, Kan, I know he's gonna wile out, I know he's gonna do something crazy.' Everybody wanted to know what I would do, if I didn't win... I guess we'll never know!"

Others

His work with pop icon Janet Jackson also earned him a 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 - even if I should have won all 10" [6].

Trivia

Discography

Mixtapes

  • Get Well Soon
  • I'm Good
  • Mick Boogie presents the Essentials Collection
  • Kon the Louis Vuitton Don
  • Akademiks:JeaniusLevelMusikKanyeWest Vol. 1
  • Akademiks:JeaniusLevelMusikKanyeWest Vol. 2
  • Freshmen Adjustment
  • Freshmen Adjustment 2
  • Summer School (A roOts Compilation)
  • Best of Kanye West
  • Tapemasters Inc- Kanye West: We Major
  • The Lost Tapes
  • Second Semester
  • Clinton Sparks presents Touch the Sky
  • Late
  • The College Dropout Mixtape Version

Albums


Singles

  • Guest appearances
    • "Brand New" by Rhymefest feat. Kanye West (February 2006) #32 UK

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Kanye West.


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