Kanye West Influence

Kanye West, born June 8, 1977, is a world renown rapper, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur. among the most acclaimed musicians of the 21st century, and is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 32 million albums and 100 million digital downloads worldwide. He has won a total of 21 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all time. (Kyles, 2013)

When it comes to running a business, your hustle and work ethic are your bread and butter. Sure, you may have a product that is out of this world, but if your business model is shaky, it could spell trouble for your brand. There is something to be said for Kanye’s consistency in his message and branding. Likeable or not, the rapper believes in his goals, which is crucial to the equation.

Kanye Omari West, an icon of hip-hop, pop culture, fashion and music in general. Kanye Omari West, a person belittled against and a person subjected to a life of racism and hate. Born on June 8th, 1977, Donda West, West’s mother, always knew he was destined for greatness, but did she know her son would turn out to be the Kanye West, a man lacking the respect he deserves for transforming a big part of the music we listen to on this very day? West came onto the scene in the late nineties but didn’t release The College Dropout until 2004, an album that took everybody by surprise. Kanye West changed the gangster filled rap genre by releasing his positive, soulful debut album, changing the way rappers

Kanye West also known as "Yeezy" is American rapper, fashion disaster, and also music producer. People may say that Mr. West is our youth of today voice. He has made a tremendous mark in the music and fashion industry. As we all know Mr. West is known for having his moments. It is safe to say that he has the best and top “omg” Moments, such as interrupting Taylor Swift at the VMA’s. Kanye in the begging when he first came on the hip hop scene was this calm, joyful, his music in my eyes was the most different music out at the time, just because he wasn’t rapping about what everyone else was. Kanye was one of those joyful guys, everybody wanted him on his record or produce it. Then a tragic event occurred where his mom died. After then you see

In his spoken word song “I Love Kanye”, West pokes fun at the media’s egotistical perception of himself. He raps, “What if Kanye made a song about Kanye? // Call it ‘Mr. Old Kanye’, man that’d be so Kanye // that’s all it was Kanye, we still love Kanye // and I love you like Kanye loves Kanye…” (I Love 1). This is evidence that Kanye isn’t the blind, egotistical, out of control superstar. Kanye West is just like everyone

Kanye West has many heroic traits about him. One of which, is his capability for

Peter Bienart, the American columnist “The top line is that hubris is a disease that comes from success. " When you start to have a lot of success you will start to have excessive pride about it and you will want other people to know how successful you are. The Odyssey is about a man named Odysseus and he is at war for 10 years and then it took him 10 years to reach back to his home. Kanye West is a modern hero who just like, Odysseus, wants to always be the best. Kanye West makes music on being the best and his experiences.

“Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you…I’ll let you finish. But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!” (West). Most people if they don’t know anything about Kanye West, they know this quote. When anybody hears his name everybody always has an opinion. Some people love him, while a lot of other people hate him, each for a variety of reasons. Though most people only see the arrogant and egotistic side of Kanye, the more important side that people don’t always see is the hardworking musician. In order to fully understand Kanye’s motives and to fully appreciate him, people have to know how he got to the point he is now today.

“Everybody wants to know what I would do if I didn’t win, I guess we’ll never know” said Kanye West after winning the ‘Best Rap Album’ during the 47th Grammys which brought the crowds to abruptly cheer for him and is still talked about it until this day. From many of West’s accomplishments the album “Graduation” which was released in 2007 is one of the best albums he has produced. The album contained segments of many foundation of music such as soul, rock, electro, dub and so on which advocated the audience to realize his talent and intelligence through his creativity and articulated lyrics that mainly emphasizes his perspective, identity, and fame that he has built for himself. Kanye West was born in 1997 in Georgia but mainly grew up in Chicago with his mother after his parents got divorced when he was three. West was exposed to Chicago’s hip hop culture at a very young age and met a DJ that eventually became his mentor throughout his youth.

West a great artist is the fact that he has never been shy of his identity. Kanye West burst on to the music scene when 50 Cent was bringing gangsta rap back and on the extreme contrary Ye was talking about the mundane aspects of his life such as love, relationships, dreams and middle-class upbringing. Tim’m West, an educator and performance artist, recollects his thoughts about Kanye West in his article “Hard to Get Straight”. “Kanye West is the “tell all” confessional animal exposes his dirt so no one else can dig him into a hole” (115) emphasizing the fact that during his early years in music many questioned Kanye and his credibility to be a “rapper”. He did not fit into the rapper mold; Ye was quiet, calm and collected.

A collaboration between Jay Z and Kanye West, “Watch The Throne” was a 2011 album that marked a major turning point in West’s career and ultimately launched him from the land of music fame into universal stardom. Although music is a purely aural art form, the visual component of an album cover encapsulates the message of the album and its possible connotations, even in an age where physical music is largely obsolete. West’s fourth commercial release depicts an image of a textured gold tile that would look at home in a cathedral or palace. This high-culture image symbolizes Kanye’s metamorphosis as an artist and signifies a change of direction in his career. Starting off as a beat-maker and music-producer from Chicago, Kanye enjoyed a youthful

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy boasted an amazing maximalist approach that boarded on a hip hop opera symphony with lyrics that were memorable and verses that can rank as the best hip hop verses of all time. It was an album filled with legendary moments that music fans will remember for ages, and moments Kanye fan boys will yell at his concerts. This reaction by hip hop fans for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was immediate. For Yeezus, it was different. Yeezus’ minimalistic approach threw fans and critics off due to the very left field and experimental approach he took for this album, both sonically and thematically. In spite of this, Yeezus still manages to hold up it’s quality, value, and impact in comparison to his preceding albums while becoming one of the most important hip hop albums of all time.

Followed by the intro is an abrupt disbelief, since most of Kanye’s listeners do not anticipate hearing this “surprise” on a hip-hop compilation. The “surprise” is the vocal harmonies. After the accords of “Can we get much higher”, the rhythm aggressively bangs into motion and “Dark Fantasy” opens. “I fantasized about this back in Chicago/ Mercy, mercy, that Murcielago,” West raps, apparently astonished that he accomplished all he ever desired. For the rest of Dark Fantasy, Kanye is liberally combining the luxuries (“Mercy, mercy me, that Murcielago”) and the existential (“Hey teacher, teacher/Tell me how do you respond to the students?/And refresh the page and restart the memory?/And re-spark the soul and rebuild the energy?”).

With twenty-one Grammy’s and fifty-seven nominations, Kanye West is often regarded as one of the most influential and important artists of our time (The GRAMMYs 2). But many believe he is a musical fluke, who seeks attention and controversy. West first broke into the music industry by producing beats under the guidance of famous hip hop producer No I.D. (“The Mentor” 1). After his highly praised groundbreaking album, The College Dropout, was released, Kanye quickly found himself in the spotlight. His second album, Late Registration, was met also met with critical acclaim. With his recent successes and connection to the youth of America, West took an opportunity to help the people affected by Hurricane Katrina by appearing on TV alongside Michael Myers for a Red Cross event.

From being known to creating compose hip-hop music, a fashion icon and establishing a foundation with his mother to being seen as the most hated celebrity in the entertainment industry. Kanye West took it upon himself to defend his opinion when it came to the winner of the Best Female Video on the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. By taking the stage and grabbing the microphone from the country music star Taylor Swift and basically stating that she did not deserve the title. The event left the audience and TV land very stocked. What some may not realize is that Kanye West displayed multiple stereotypes that society may think African Americans possess. The stereotypes, which were displayed, were drunkenness, outspokenness and the fact that a