Kanye West, now known as Ye, is one of the biggest names in the modern music industry. Kanye is a professional rapper and currently ranks very high on the list. Apart from being an outstanding rapper, he has also produced several hit records. West has his clothing line and has also excelled as an entrepreneur.
The singer was always very much keen on music right from his childhood. It did not take him much time to express his talent. The rapper has a very unique way of structuring his songs that makes him stand out from the rest. West has been awarded several accolades for his sensational compositions.
Kanye West Age
Kanye West is 47 years old in 2024. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia on 8th of June, 1977. However, West shifted to Chicago when he was three years old. His mother accompanied him and did a remarkable job of bringing him up independently.
His full name at the time of his birth was Kanye Omari West. West experienced a troubled childhood as his parents did not get along well and got separated. Kanye West had a boring childhood. This was predominantly because his mother could only afford a middle-class lifestyle.
The rapper got his initial education from the Polaris School For Individual Education. Later, he settled in China as Donda(West’s mother) got a job as a Fullbright Scholar at Nanjing University. West did have a language barrier in the beginning and was the sole foreigner in his school.
Ye was admitted to the American Academy of Art in 1997 with a Scholarship. However, the rapper soon found it difficult to attend classes and dropped out of college at the age of 20.
However, he was a quick learner and mastered his grades soon. Ye was very much keen on rapping and initiated the practice while being in the third grade.
West composed his first song when he was just thirteen years old. The title of the composition was “Green Eggs And Ham”, drawing inspiration from Dr.Seuss’ children’s bestseller.
The rapper was soon noticed by the famous DJ, Dr. No I.D. He took up the responsibility of mentoring West and also taught him to develop samplers. It was under his able guidance, that Kanye received his first sampler at fifteen years.
Family & Parents
His father’s name was Ray West, who was a Black Panther. He also had significant contributions in the field of journalism as Ray ranked among the best black photojournalists. West’s mother was Mrs. Donda C West who worked as an English professor at the University of Clark Atlanta. She also served as the chair of the Department of English at Chicago State University.
Wife & Childrens
Kanye West found love in the popular model, Kim Kardashian. The duo started dating in 2014 and eventually got married in 2015. However, things got rough gradually and the couple divorced in 2021.
Kanye has four kids through Kim Kardashian, including Northwest, Saint west, Psalm west, and Chicago West.
West has continued to pose problems in Kim Kardashian’s life. He has threatened to physically harm Kim’s current love interest, Pete Davidson.
Career
Kanye West began his career as a promising producer. He made significant contributions to Jermaine Dupri’s “Life In 1472”. West became popular when he worked for Roc-A-Fella. West’s composition, particularly on “Blueprint”(by Jay Z) was highly praised. Kanye West was in great demand as he produced some of the unique samples in the industry.
Unfortunately, he failed to get big breaks due to his not-so-wealthy financial background. West finally made the cut when he released his debut album, ” The College Dropout” in 2004. The sales of the album skyrocketed immediately. Almost every song became popular and fans went crazy about the album.
West received the Grammy in 2005 for one of the songs in the album. The rapper has not looked back since then. Another huge success followed in 2005 when he released his second album, “Late Registration”. Songs like ” Gold Digger” and “Diamonds From Sierra Leone” topped the charts at once.
Besides attaining fame as a singer, West continued his production work as well. He teamed up with big names like Mariah Carey, Beyonce, and Nas.
Kanye West continued to produce consecutive hits. His albums “Graduation”, ” 808s and Heartbreaks”, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”, ” Watch the Throne”, “Cruel Summer”, “Yeezus”, and ” Life Of Pablo”, “Jesus Is King” achieved huge success.
It was the popularity of his songs that made Kanye West the richest black rapper in America. He won several Grammy awards for his songs.
The latest album of West, “Donda” was released in 2021. Kanye West is the founder of the GOOD music label and also owns a clothing brand named YEEZY.
Height and Physical Appearance
Kanye West is tall with a height of 5 feet 8 inches, his weight is approximately 76 kg or 167 lbs. His body measurements of 32-16-28 inches, including 12 (US) shoe sizes, and has Brown eye color and Black hair color.
Net worth
As of 2024, the estimated net worth of Kanye west is around $32 billion. He has earned the amount through his profession as a Rapper, Record Producer, Songwriter and fashion designer.
Controversy
Kanye West has always been a controversial character. He criticized the US President, George W Bush in 2005 for the government’s delayed reaction to the “Katrina” disaster. West commented that the President was not sympathetic toward the Black section of the society.
The rapper also landed himself in a huge controversy when he used autotune for one of his albums. West’s biggest rift came when he publicly humiliated Taylor Swift at the MTV Music Video Awards. West mocked Swift and stated that Beyonce deserved the award more than Taylor. The rapper was highly criticized by the media and had to write a public apology to Taylor Swift.
Kanye returned to make headlines once again as he stated that the slaves of African-American origin were themselves responsible for their enslavement.
West also ran for the American Presidential Elections in 2020. His decision came whimsically with less than four months on the calendar. The rapper failed miserably garnering only 0.04% of the total votes.
Kanye West as a Fashion Designer
Kanye has always been an ambitious individual. Apart from rapping, he has also been engaged in fashion designing. His journey in this domain began in 2009 when he released his sneaker line YEEZYs with Nike.
It turned out to be a big success. In 2011, Kanye presented DW Kanye West, his fashion brand for women, at Paris Fashion Week. In 2012, he introduced his second fashion line at the Paris Fashion Week.
2013 saw West collaborating with A.P.C to launch a white T-shirt with a $120 price tag. Within a short period, all the T-shirts were sold out.
In 2015, a long partnership began between Kanye and Adidas, the German apparel company. West launched his long-awaited fashion line, Yeezy. Season 1 of this fashion line featured women’s and men’s streetwear like oversized sweaters, surplus-military-inspired sneakers, jackets, and boots.
Till now, eight seasons of YEEZY lines have been released. West, with his wife Kim Kardashian, also unveiled a fashion line for children, Kids Supply. It produces children’s clothes like variations of designer garments and jackets inspired by the founder of Comme des Garcons, Rei Kawakubo.
Awards and Achievements
- Received the Best International Male recognition at the 2006 Meteor Awards.
- West is a three-time winner of the Brit Award for the best male solo artist.
- Won the Shoe of the Year for the YEEZY Boost in 2015 Footwear News Achievement Awards.
- Kanye was the second rapper to get the MTV Video Vanguard Award.
- Won Artist of the Year award at the 20th Annual Webby Awards for the album The Life of Pablo.
- Kanye won the most Grammys at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
