Kanye West; Successful Artist With Controversial Tragedies
Kanye Omari West, born in Atlanta, Georgia on 8th June 1977, is a Music Producer, Rapper, Songwriter, Singer and Fashion Designer. He is one of the most successful artists in Grammy awards history as he has won 21 Grammys till 2017. “I am Warhol. I am the No. 1 most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare in the flesh.” – Kanye West
West’s Childhood
West‘s father Ray was a photojournalist for Atlanta’s journal newspaper, later became a Christian counselor. His mother, Donda, was earlier a teacher, then became a professor of English at Chicago State University and eventually her son’s manager before she died from a heart disease after cosmetic surgery in 2007. When west was three, Ray and Donda got divorced. He then was raised by his mother Chicago’s middle-class South Shore neighborhood. He used to spend summers with his father. After getting 10, west moved to china with Donda for a year and then came back to Chicago. Later he started hanging out with Dj and Producer NO ID, who became his mentor. He took his education from Polaris High School, Chicago State University. Then he got into college but dropped it out for pursuing his musical career.
Early Life And Entry In Music Production
He then developed a signature style, by dubbing “chipmunk soul”. West big break came when he put together beats for Jay-Z in ‘This Can’t Be Life’ from 2000 The Dynasty: Roc la Familia album. In the same year, he added his presence to the industry by producing 4 songs on Jay Z’s The Blueprint, which were considered to be the greatest rap album of all time. From there he started producing for various talents like the rappers Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Ludacris, and the singers Alicia Keys and Beyoncé.
But west didn’t just wanted to be at the back, he wanted to become a rapper, but due to his ‘non-gangsta’ look he was not taken seriously. “I’d leave meetings crying all the time,” he recalled. He wrote and recorded a song ‘Through The Wire”. It was based on his experience of a head-on car collision that left him with a shattered jaw.
In February 2004, he released ‘The College Dropout’ for which he got 10 Grammy nominations and won 3 for ‘Jesus Walks’. After this he founded his record label, GOOD music (Getting Out Our Dreams) with Sony BMG. His next three Grammy came from his ‘Sophomore Album’. His song ‘Late Registration’ debut at NO. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 200.
In 2005, West caused a storm when he said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” criticizing the president for not visiting New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. It was a disgusting moment, but west believed his Taylor Swift dissing case in 2009 was “bigger than the Bush moment.”
Heartbreak And Controversy
In 2007 when west was going through heartbreak from his mother’s death, another tragedy happened when he broke up with his fiancé Alexis Phifer. His tragedy time span was at the peak when at the ceremony in Radio City Music Hall in New York, he protested against Taylor Swift wining the Best Female Video, he said Beyoncé she should have won. Though he later apologized, but the vibrations of that moment can still be felt.
Lately they became friends, but in 2016 Kanye rapped in his songs ‘famous’, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that b**** famous.” Taylor Swift then hit back from the stage at the 2016 Grammy Awards saying, “I want to say to all the young women out there: There will be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments… Don’t let those people sidetrack you.”
After this moment, west took break from music and went on with his fashion career. At first it got panned but his recent Season 5 collection in February 2017 got appreciated from Anna Wintour. “I liked it a lot,” she told the New York Post. “A little bit more focus than sometimes we’ve seen from him.”
He returned to music in 2010 with his fifth album and produced another album with Jay-Z in 2011, adding 3 more Grammys to his award section.
West Married Kim Kardashian
In 2012, his relationship with Kim Kardashian was in headlines. They got engaged in 2013, when West proposed her at the AT&T baseball stadium in San Francisco, and they married on May 24, 2014, in the historic Fort di Belvedere in Italy. The couple has two children: a daughter, North and a son, Saint.
West has been though a lot of controversies in his life because of his arrogant and rude behavior. Though he adds contradictions, but he’s also sensitive and self-deprecating.
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