Kanye West

Kanye West, born on June 8, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia, is an American hip hop producer and rapper from Chicago, Illinois.

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. With his mouth still wired shut and weeks after his accident, he recorded his song "Through the Wire."

"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). 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.

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.

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.