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Ye, born and known as Kanye Omari West (born June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, businessman, politician and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the early 2000s. Intent on pursuing a solo career as a rapper, West released his debut album, The College Dropout (2004), to critical and commercial success, and founded the record label GOOD Music.
Why He Is a Monster (in a Good Way)
- He has great lyrics such as in "Jesus Walks" and "POWER". His wordplay can also be both clever and funny at times.
- He talks about many different themes including slavery to material goods ("New Slaves"), conflict minerals ("Diamonds From Sierra Leone"), celebrity worship ("POWER"), religion ("Jesus Walks"), consumerism ("All Falls Down") and many more.
- He has some epic songs like "Runaway" which is 9 minutes long and has a section that is just instrumental and manages to keep the listener engaged the whole song. He also made a 30-minute music video for it.
- His albums are always well crafted, so much so that he is one of the few artists that most people can't agree on what his best project is due to how different each project is.
- His sampling is amazing such as in "Bound 2", "Stronger" and "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1".
- Speaking of his sampling, his legendary debut album The College Dropout helped popularize the amazing "chipmunk soul" sampling style.
- He helped many smaller artists in the music industry become more well known such as Kid Cudi, Travis Scott, Drake, Big Sean, Chief Keef and, most recently, YNW Melly.
- He has influenced countless amazing artists of various genres, including XXXTENTACION, BTS, Halsey, Lil Uzi Vert, Drake and even Fall Out Boy.
- He has a record label (G.O.O.D. Music) full of talented artists such as Pusha T, Travis Scott, CyHi the Prynce and Big Sean.
- Many great artists and musicians like the late Michael Jackson, the late Prince, Elton John, Paul McCartney, the late Lou Reed, the late Greg Lake and Nick Cave praised his talent and creativity.
- His albums are daring and often inspire others such as Graduation, which merged hip hop, pop and electronic music, and 808s & Heartbreak, which helped autotune to get more popular.
- His use of autotune is comparable to the likes of Travis Scott and Bon Iver.
- Alongside The Roots, Outkast and A Tribe Called Quest, he has one of the most consistently great discographies in hip-hop.
- He is an amazing producer and produces many tracks with smaller and bigger artists. He produced five great albums in a matter of a few months.
- He has great chemistry with Kid Cudi, and they also released the phenomenal album KIDS SEE GHOSTS, which received a 10/10 from Anthony Fantano and also received widespread acclaim.
- His album covers are great and/or amazing pieces of art.
- He does really good on features.
- He has some really memorable quotes such as "I refuse to accept other people's ideas of happiness for me. As if there's a "one size fits all" standard for "happiness"".
- While his personality can sometimes be grating, a lot of the time he is very funny and out-going.
- He is quite outspoken and is not afraid to give his opinion on serious subjects, even though his opinions can cause controversy.
- He's stated that we need individual thinking and shouldn't be controlled by hive mind thinking. He also has criticised African-Americans who claim to be oppressed.
- Unlike John Legend, he defended the late Michael Jackson, arguing that companies and documentaries should not be allowed to “tear down our heroes” in his new interview.
- Speaking of which, Michael Jackson loved his music. Were not kidding, here's proof that the king of pop himself loved Kanye!
- His flows are really good and his rhyming scheme is well thought and poetic (ex. "Go2DaMoon").
- He is not afraid of experimenting and popularizing new things, whether it is adopting a different rap persona rather than the typical gangster rapper (The College Dropout), using autotune in an era when it was not cool to use it (808s & Heartbreak) or going for a more experimental sound (Yeezus).
- His music has taught many life lessons. In 808s & Heartbreak, he talks about dealing with the loss of his mother and the acceptance of vulnerability in times of devastation. In My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, he raps about the flaws of a hedonistic lifestyle (although he doesn't explicitly say it, the vulnerable nature of the songs show the sadness of the lifestyle and points out that many people indeed hide the cons with it and rarely speak out about a sex savvy life). In Kids See Ghosts and ye, he talks about his life with bipolar disorder.
- He is very good at making rhyme schemes and good flow and is also a master at manipulating and stretching syllables.
- He called out the way that Nike treated their employees with his song, "Facts".
- His amazing and trendsetting Yeezy clothing and shoe line.
- Unlike some other rappers, he has proved to be able to adapt to newer rap genres, for example, his songs with Fivio Foreign.
- Ironically, he, alongside his late mother, founded the "Kanye West Foundation" tasked with battling dropout and illiteracy rates, while partnering with community organizations to provide underprivileged youth access to music education. Also, when his mother unfortunately died, he renamed it after the late mother, calling it "The Dr. Donda West Foundation"
- He also participated in many fundraisers, benefit concerts, and has done community work for Hurricane Katrina relief, the Kanye West Foundation, the Millions More Movement, 100 Black Men of America, a Live Earth concert benefit, World Water Day rally and march, Nike runs, a Hurricane Sandy benefit concert, and an MTV special helping young Iraq War veterans who struggle through debt and PTSD a second chance after returning home.
- He payed condolences by donated $10 million towards the completion of the Roden Crater by American artist James Turrell.
- He donated $2 million between the family of the late George Floyd and other victims of police brutality, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
- While poorly handled, he did manage to draw attention to the Black Lives Matter movement's misuse of its donations
- He rejected NFTs with a Twitter post saying "My focus is on building real products in the real world. Real food. Real clothes. Real shelter. Do not ask me to do a fucking NFT..."
Bad Qualities
- He's probably the most famous example of a celebrity unable to take criticism, most notably, his infamous rant on Sway in the Morning.
- He has a knack of interrupting people for no reason when they get an award and gets very triggered when Beyoncé doesn't win one. For example, his infamous "interruption" at the 2009 VMAs where he took the microphone from Taylor Swift basically stating that she should have not won VMA for best female pop video and that Beyoncé should have which is a jerk move from Kanye. Thankfully, he apologized for the incident. Similar to his interruption at the 2009 VMAS when Beck won a Grammy award on one occasion, Kanye walked up to him and then quickly walked off.
- Hell, even then-president Barack Obama called him a jackass.
- He has a massive ego and can be a jerk a lot. Him ranting in concerts or on Twitter is not uncommon. He even once called out a fan at his concert for not standing up during one of his songs despite the fact the fan was wheelchair-bound.
- He even has a song called I Am a God.
- He has some bad songs like "I Love It" (which even he hates and regrets making) "Nah Nah Nah", "Closed on Sunday", "Drunk and Hot Girls", "Violent Crimes", "Lift Yourself" (which he also hates himself, though to be fair, it was intentionally bad) and "Vultures".
- His cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody" at Glastonbury was terrible.
- He had one of the worst freestyles of all time.
- He does work with bad artists like Mh:horriblemusic:Sheck Wes (whom he signed to his label for no good reason other than his hit "Mo Bamba") and Lil Pump whose made both of their worst songs as Kanye and Lil Pump give lackluster performances over such a weird bassy beat.
- His album JESUS IS KING was met with mixed reception from critics and audiences.
- He has a bad habit of hyping up projects that will never eventually be released like Good Ass Job, Yandhi, Watch the Throne II, and, just recently, Donda 2.
- He attended a Kylie Jenner Halloween party during the COVID-19 pandemic without wearing a mask.
- He is currently getting sued for $30 million by Sunday Service cast and crew for unpaid commissions and mistreatment.
- As mentioned in BQ#3, his ego is awful and despite him being a critically acclaimed artist, he can be considered to be one of the least respectful rappers alive. Even some controversial rappers like DaBaby are much easier to get along with than Kanye!
- He sometimes loses his temper very easily. A notable example is when he shouted at Chance the Rapper.
- His views are also very delusional. He believes "Planned Parenthoods have been placed inside cities by white supremacists to do the Devil’s work" and has termed vaccines "the mark of the beast". He has admitted to running a "spoiler campaign" called "The Birthday Party" to hurt Joe Biden's chances of winning during his 2020 presidential bid.
- In October 2022, his "White Lives Matter" controversy, as well as his tweets about "going Defcon 3" on Jews, lead him to get temporarily (later permanently) banned from Twitter (now X) and Instagram, as well as having contracts with brands like GAP, Balenciaga and even his long-standing contract with Adidas, terminated.
- He admitted to liking and agreeing with Adolf Hitler and even posted a swastika interlaced with a Star of David on Twitter with the caption stating “YE24 LOVE EVERYONE #LOVESPEECH”. This has further tarnished his reputation and legacy, got him permanently banned from Twitter and Instagram, and has essentially exposed himself as a Nazi. Furthermore, he made an “apology” statement that was clearly not sincere and intended to rebuild his reputation.
- He wore a confederate flag jacket and made merch with the flag and the caption "I ain't coming down" and, to top it off, he said "it's my flag now".
- Nowadays, even many of his most devoted fans have given up trying to defend his comments.
- His 2023 song "Vultures", besides being pretty bad because of many issues such as the awful mixing and the lifeless and sleepy vocals, received controversy and a high amount of negative reviews due to the rapper referencing his previous anti-semitic comments, as well as claiming he had a sexual intercourse with Scooter Braun's ex wife and mentioning the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School.
Legacy
Ye is among the most critically acclaimed artists of the 21st century, earning praise from music critics, fans, industry peers, and wider cultural figures for his work. His praise ranges on his diversity on musical elements such as orchestral arrangements, synthesizers, and autotune. Outside of his music career, West's success in the fashion industry has led to him being recognized as one of the most influential popular culture figures of his generation.
Discography
Studio albums
- The College Dropout (2004)
- 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) (formerly known as Yandhi before it was leaked)
- Donda (2021)
- Donda 2 (2022)
Collaborative albums
- Watch the Throne (with JAY-Z, as The Throne) (2011)
- KIDS SEE GHOSTS (with Kid Cudi, as KIDS SEE GHOSTS) (2018)
- Jesus Is Born (as Sunday Service Choir) (2019)
- Emmanuel (2020) (with Sunday Service Choir)
- Jesus Is King Part II (TBA) (with Dr. Dre)
- Good Ass Job (TBA)
- Watch the Throne II (TBA)
Compilation albums
- Cruel Summer (as G.O.O.D Music) (2012)
Live albums
- Late Orchestration (2006)
- VH1 Storytellers: Kanye West (2010)
Video albums
- The College Dropout Video Anthology (2005)
Mixtapes
- Get Well Soon... (2003)
- I'm Good... (2003)
- Welcome to Kanye's Soul Mix Show (with A-Trak) (2006)
- Can't Tell Me Nothing (2007)
Singles discography
Singles
As lead artist
- "Through The Wire" (2003)
- "All Falls Down" (featuring Syleena Johnson) (2004)
- "Jesus Walks" (2004)
- "The New Workout Plan" (2004)
- "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" (2005)
- "Gold Digger" (featuring Jamie Foxx) (2005)
- "Heard 'Em Say" (featuring Adam Levine) (2005)
- "Touch the Sky" (featuring Lupe Fiasco) (2006)
- "Impossible" (featuring Twista, Keyshia Cole and BJ) (2006)
- "Drive Slow" (featuring Paul Wall and GLC) (2006)
- "Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)" (with KRS-One, Nas and Rakim) (2007)
- "Can't Tell Me Nothing" (2007)
- "Stronger" (2007)
- "Good Life" (featuring T-Pain) (2007)
- "Flashing Lights" (featuring Dwele) (2007)
- "Homecoming" (featuring Chris Martin) (2008)
- "Love Lockdown" (2008)
- "Heartless" (2008)
- "Amazing" (featuring Young Jeezy) (2009)
- "Paranoid" (featuring Mr Hudson) (2009)
- "Forever" (with Drake, Lil Wayne and Eminem) (2009)
- "Power" (2010)
- "Runaway" (featuring Pusha T) (2010)
- "Monster" (featuring JAY-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver) (2010)
- "All Of The Lights" (featuring Rihanna) (2010)
- "Christmas In Harlem" (featuring CyHi The Prynce and Teyana Taylor) (2010)
- "H•A•M" (with JAY-Z) (2011)
- "Otis" (with JAY-Z, featuring Otis Redding) (2011)
- "Lift Off" (with JAY-Z, featuring Beyoncé) (2011)
- "Niggas in Paris" (with JAY-Z) (2011)
- "Why I Love You" (with JAY-Z, featuring Mr Hudson) (2011)
- "Gotta Have It" (with JAY-Z) (2011)
- "No Church In The Wild" (with JAY-Z, featuring Frank Ocean & The-Dream) (2012)
- "Mercy" (with Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz) (2012)
- "Cold" (featuring DJ Khaled) (2012)
- "New God Flow" (with Pusha T) (2012)
- "Clique" (with JAY-Z and Big Sean) (2012)
- "Black Skinhead" (2013)
- "Bound 2" (2013)
- "Only One" (featuring Paul McCartney) (2014)
- "FourFiveSeconds" (with Rihanna and Paul McCartney) (2015)
- "All Day" (featuring Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom and Paul McCartney) (2015)
- "Famous" (2016)
- "Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1" (2016)
- "Pt. 2" (2016)
- "Champions" (with Gucci Mane, Big Sean, 2 Chainz, Travis Scott, Yo Gotti, Quavo and Desiigner) (2016)
- "Fade" (2016)
- "Lift Yourself" (2018)
- "Ye vs. the People" (featuring T.I.) (2018)
- "Yikes" (2018)
- "All Mine" (2018)
- "XTCY" (2018)
- "I Love It" (with Lil Pump) (2018)
- "Follow God" (2019)
- "Closed on Sunday" (2019)
- "Wash Us In The Blood" (featuring Travis Scott) (2020)
- "Nah Nah Nah" (solo or remix featuring DaBaby and 2 Chainz) (2020)
- "Hurricane" (with the Weeknd featuring Lil Baby)
- "Life of the Party" (with André 3000) (2021)
- "Believe What I Say" (2021)
- "Off the Grid" (2021)
- "Eazy" (with the Game)
- "City of Gods" (with Fivio Foreign and Alicia Keys) (2021)
As featured artist
- "Welcome 2 Chicago" (Abstract Mindstate featuring Kanye West) (2001)
- "Get By" (Remix) (Talib Kweli featuring JAY-Z, Mos Def, Kanye West and Busta Rhymes) (2003)
- "Slow Jamz" (Twista featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx) (2003)
- "This Way" (Dilated Peoples featuring Kanye West) (2004)
- "Talk About Our Love" (Brandy featuring Kanye West) (2004)
- "Hold On" (Remix) (Dwele featuring Kanye West)
Trivia
- He cites A Tribe Called Quest, the late Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, the late George Michael, LL Cool J, Phil Collins, Madonna and RZA as influences.
- He is 5'8" (173 centimetres) tall.
- His first name Kanye, and his middle name Omari mean "the only one" and "God the highest" in Swahili respectively.
Comments
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