Kanye Omari West ( /?k??nje?/; born June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z’s album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and Janet Jackson. His style of production originally used pitched-up vocal samples from soul songs incorporated with his own drums and instruments. However, subsequent productions saw him broadening his musical palette and expressing influences encompassing ’70s R&B, baroque pop, trip hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronica, synth-pop, and classical music.
kanye West
Has a metal plate in his chin from near fatal car accident in which he was involved in around 3 pm on October 23, 2002. He was driving home from a studio session and fell asleep behind the steering wheel and crashed into another car.
Has produced numerous songs for many artists including Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Jay-Z, DMX, Alicia Keys, Common, Mos Def, and many others.
He is signed to Roc A Fella Records.
His debut album, “College Drop Out”, sold over 400,000 copies in its first week.
At age 3 his parents Ray West and Donda West divorced. She moved to Chicago and was an English professor at Chicago State University, and retired to be Kanye’s manager. She appeared on FOX News’ “The Big Story with John Gibson” on May 18, 2007, to talk about her son, which led to her being dubbed a “hip hop mama”.
His debut album CD booklet contains ‘yearbook-style’ photos of the entire “College Dropout” album staff, along with high school superlatives underneath them. His was “most unlikely to succeed”.
Made his European television debut performing his song “Through the Wire” on “Raymann is laat” (2001).
Nominated for 10 Grammies in 2005. He ended up winning 3.
Moved to Chicago when he was 3 years old.
His mother is a former English professor at Chicago State University.
Attended Chicago State University / Columbia College, Chicago. He dropped out to pursue music, hence the name of his 2004 debut album “The College Droput”.
Lived in China for a year with his mother when he was 10 years old.
Has his own record label with the acronym G.O.O.D which stands for Getting Out Our Dreams, a subsidiary of Geffen.
Rapper Common signed to G.O.O.D.
Sophomore album “Late Registration” moved over 860,000 units in its opening week, landing it at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, a career first for the rapper.
His name is pronounced like “Con-yay”.
CD: “Graduation”, 2006.
His favourite band is Scottish rock group Franz Ferdinand.
Is an only child.
Mother, Donda West, died on November 10, 2007 from complications of surgery.
Kanye and his fiancée, clothing designer Alexis Phifer, have ended their engagement [April 21, 2008].
Blogged that Scarlett Johansson was his “favorite white girl”.
At the 2009 MTV Music Video Awards, he jumped up on stage and interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech after she had won Best Female video saying that Beyoncé Knowles had the best female video.
Kanye broke down at a concert in Paris, a week after the passing of his mother, Dr. Donda West, as he tried to sing the verses of “Hey Mama”, a song he had written earlier on in his career in dedication to her.
Part-owner of a chain of Fatburger restaurants.
