Image Credit :- Michael Wyke / Associated Press
American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer, Kanye Omari West, born on June 8, 1977, is one of the best-selling music artists in the world and has sold over 160 million records. Successful as his music career has been, he has also been at the center of several controversies and scandals that have brought about mixed global reactions. Though criticized for his vocal abilities, Kanye has time and again proven that he has a knack for churning out beautiful melodies that rely heavily on his innate creative prowess and the strength of his songwriting.
Early Years
Kanye was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Ray West, a former Black Panther and one of the first black photojournalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Donda C. West, a professor of English at Clark Atlanta University and the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University. After the divorce of his parents, he moved to Chicago, Illinois with his mother at the age of three, where he was raised in a middle-class environment and attended the Polaris School for Individual Education. At the age of 10, Kanye moved to Nanjing, China, with his mother where she was teaching as a Fulbright Scholar at Nanjing University.
West expressed an affinity for art at a truly young age and started writing poetry by 5. He took to rapping when he was in third grade and made musical compositions in the seventh grade, and later on, sold them to other artists. After graduating high school, he took received a scholarship from Chicago’s American Academy of Art in 1997 and began taking painting classes, but later transferred to Chicago State University to study English, only to drop out at the age of 20 to pursue his musical career.
Musical Career
Intent on pursuing a solo career as a rapper, Kanye released his debut studio album ‘The College Dropout’ in 2004, followed by ‘Late Registration (2005)’, ‘Graduation (2007)’, ‘808s & Heartbreak (2008)’, ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)’, ‘Yeezus (2013)’, ‘The Life of Pablo (2016)’, ‘Ye (2018)’, ‘Jesus Is King (2019)’, and ‘ Donda (2021)’. He explored diverse styles and elements like orchestras, synthesizers, autotune, and even Christian and gospel music, to inculcate a massive musical diversity. His collaborative albums include ‘Watch the Throne (2011)’ with Jay-Z and ‘Kids See Ghosts (2018)’ with Kid Cudi. He also has to his credit the compilation album ‘Cruel Summer (2012)’, two demo albums titled ‘97’Beat Tape (1997)’ and ‘Donda 2 (2022)’, two live albums titled ‘Late Orchestration (2006)’ and ‘VH1 Storytellers (2010)’, the video album ‘The College Dropout Video Anthology (2005)’, and five mixtapes: ‘Get Well Soon… (2002)’, ‘I’m Good… (2003)’, ‘Kon the Louis Vuitton Don (2004)’, ‘Welcome to Kanye’s Soul Mix Show (2006)’, ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing (2007)’, and ‘G.O.O.D Fridays (2010)’.
Awards and Achievements
Kanye West has been the recipient of 24 Grammy Awards and 75 nominations, the Billboard Artist Achievement Award, a joint-record three Brit Awards for Best International Male Solo Artist, and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. Six of his albums were included in Rolling Stone’s 2020 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list and they also named him among the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. West holds the record for the most number of albums opping the annual Pazz & Jop critic poll, besides Bob Dylan, and he has also been named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015 by Time. On the fashion end, Kanye has collaborated with brands like Nike, Louis Vuitton, Gap, and A.P.C., and led a collaboration between Yeezy and Adidas. He is also the founder and head of the brand Donda.
Net Worth
Earlier, Kanye West’s net worth was a soaring $2 billion. However, as a result of several recent missteps and unfortunate turn of events, the net worth of the self-proclaimed genius has plummeted to $400 million, losing a staggering $1.6 billion.
Personal Life
Kim Kardashian and Other Relationships
Kanye West started dating Kim Kardashian in April 2012, and the two became engaged in October 2013 and got married in May 2014 at Fort di Belvedere in Florence. Because of the couple’s high-profile status, the marriage gained massive media coverage. Together the couple have four children: North West, Saint West, Chicago West, and Psalm West. However, storms arose between the “perfect couple” when during one of his presidential campaign rallies on July 2020, Kanye had a breakdown and revealed that they has previously considered terminating Kardashian’s first pregnancy. This led to a series of controversies, and West acknowledged the idea that they might be getting a divorce and later on tweeted that the Kardashians were trying “to lock [him] up”. After the divorce, Kanye and Kim shared joint custody of their children, and West was ordered to pay $200,000 in monthly child support and be responsible for half of the children’s medical, educational, and security expenses.
Before his relationship with Kadarshian, Kanye was in an on-and-off relationship with the designer Alexis Phifer and the two got engaged in August 2006 but it came to an end in 2008. He then dated model Amber Rose from 2008 until mid-2010, and the relationship ended on a rather ugly note. After his divorce from Kim, Kanye actress Julia Fox for around two months. It was reported in January 2023, that West has informally married Australian architect Bianca Censori, who works for Yeezy, in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills but the couple has not filed for a marriage license.
Other Issues
Earlier admired for his outspoken views, Kanye West later became a frequent source of controversies because of his conduct on social media, public settings, and awards shows – the most memorable one being the controversy with Taylor Swift at the VMAs, as well as his comments on fashion industries, music, race, U.S. politics, and slavery. He has also been fodder for tabloids because of his religious faith, mental health, and unsuccessful presidential campaign. He was widely condemned for his antisemitic statements in 2022, because of which he lost many sponsors and partnerships—including his collaborations with Adidas, Gap, and Balenciaga. He later on also went on to praise Adolf Hitler, denied the Holocaust, and proclaimed himself a Nazi.
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