It is not surprising for his fans that the singer, who is known for his confrontational character, is constantly on the agenda with sensational events as well as his success in music.
As a matter of fact, West has faced many people and organizations from Taylor Swift to George W. Bush, from Spotify to Apple. More precisely, he himself wanted to duel with them. Fueled by anger, the rapper never deprived himself of reproaches, harsh critics, boos, and hatred while climbing the ladder of fame.
In any case, this is a feature that distinguishes him from others: Deepening the path he opened with his talent with his belligerent temperament. But will Kanye be able to survive the hole he dug this time?
He seems to have lost the war for now, but as he said in reference to the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in one of his most popular songs: "What doesn't kill me now makes me stronger". So only time will tell if Kanye will be resurrected and throw an uppercut.
But let's take a look at the steps Kanye West took to become one of the biggest celebrities in the world, the fights he fought, the battles he won or lost, and how he became one of the symbols of popular culture.
He met rap at the age of three, wrote poetry at the age of 5
Born on June 8, 1977, the only child of Donda and Ray West, Kanye learned a lot from his mother, an English teacher, and his father, who was a photojournalist for The Atlanta Journal Constitution. West, who met rap music at the age of three, started writing poetry at the age of 5.
Kanye West apparently learned how to make headlines from Ray West, who is also a member of the Black Panther Party, known for advocating black people's rights in the US.
The rapper, whose full name is Kanye Omari West, means "unique person" in Swahili. Although West thought his name was reflective of him, he's used it in various ways throughout his career.
However, Donda West, a professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, had a huge influence on her son and also managed him. After the divorce of his parents, Kanye lived with his mother from the age of three.
When the musician was 13, Dr. He recorded his first rap piece, interpreting Seuss's poem Green Eggs and Ham in a different way.
Dropped out of college for rap
He won a scholarship in 1997 to study at the American Academy of Arts in Chicago for a year, and followed his mother's path and transferred to Chicago State University to earn a degree in English. However, he did not finish school and dropped out of university to accelerate his music career.
West had to do undesirable jobs to earn a living. He worked as a marketer at the retail company Montgomery Ward. He even considered entering the porn industry before devoting his life entirely to music.
However, he started to gain fame in the industry by stepping into production. He started his career in the 1990s by producing backgrounds for other artists, and over time he developed a style of his own. The samples he took from classical pieces in the soul genre brought a new breath to hip-hop at that time.
West is considered one of the best hip-hop music producers even today, as he has made many innovations.
He took his first big step in producing at the age of 19, making 8 tracks for Chicago rapper Grav's 1996 album Down to Earth. Afterward, he started producing music for D-Dot, which was awarded the Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards in 1998, and the group Go-Getters, of which he was a part.
In 2000, he began mixing tracks for the artists at Roc-A-Fella Records, one of the biggest in the industry and founded by Jay-Z, Damon Dash and Kareem Burke, and was instrumental in the revival of the career of the rap legend of the time, Jay-Z.
He mixed The Blueprint, released in 2001 by Jay-Z, which is considered one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. This made Kanye known and started producing full-time at this record label.
Although Kanye was a very successful producer, he wanted to be a rapper. However, many labels turned him down because he was recognized as a producer rather than a rapper. After much struggle, Damon Dash signed him to Rock-A-Fella Records in 2002.
One of the most important factors in his success was his accident in October 2002. West had a disastrous car accident after falling asleep at the wheel and broke his jaw. A wire was placed in his mouth for the treatment of his jaw. But just two weeks later, with a wire in his mouth, he covered his experiences of the accident in the song Through the Wire.
The critically acclaimed track provided the energy he needed to record his debut album. In December 2002, he released a mixtape called Get Well Soon, which also featured Through the Wire. He also announced that he is working on the album The College Dropout.
The album was scheduled to be released in August 2003. But when The College Dropout leaked months before its release date, West turned that in his favor and improved the album's flaws.
The College Dropout was finally released in February 2004 and peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Through the Wire also stayed at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 5 weeks. The second track of the album, Slow Jamz, reached number one.
The critically acclaimed album earned West 10 Grammy nominations and took home the 2005 Best Rap Album award.
In his award speech, he showed how confident he was by saying, "Everyone was wondering what I would do if I didn't win. I guess we'll never know."
He founded his own record label, Good Music, in 2004, and I.D. and signed with singers such as John Legend.
After his success with The College Dropout, his technique using soul samples was quickly copied by others. However, in order not to become too dependent on this method, he used new techniques in his next album.
He spent $2 million to include a string orchestra on his second album, Late Registration. He collaborated with Jon Brion who composed the soundtracks.
Released on August 30, 2005, Late Registration has sold 2.3 million copies by the end of the year. His second album was the biggest success of that season. Late Registration also won Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards.
He was inspired by many different genres on his third album Graduation. To write deeper lyrics and tailor his music for big stage performances, U2 took a close look at the work of artists like Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash.
The album's release date coincided with 50 Cent's album Curtis. This created a head-to-head race between the two rappers old and new.
Graduation sold 957k copies in its first week and debuted at number one. Stronger became a hit and contributed to the resurgence of disco/electronic music in the late 2000s.
Kanye beat 50 Cent with his unconventional style, and it was one of the most impressive moments in rap history.
The rapper's next album 808s & Heartbreak also left a huge impact on hip-hop. The album contained many unusual parts for a rap album. He performed his lead single, Love Lockdown, for the first time at the 2008 MTV Music Awards, and critics were amazed by his unusual production style.
His album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which he released in 2010, also won the Best Rap Album award. West returned with 22 awards from the Grammy Awards, for which he was nominated 75 times in total. In addition, he is among the most successful musicians in history with more than 160 million album sales.
West's 6 albums entered Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2020.
Time named him in their list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015. On the other hand, Forbes estimates West's net worth at 1.8 billion as of 2021.
Of course, West's talents are not limited to music.
Also very interested in fashion, West collaborated with Nike to launch YEEZY shoes in 2009.
In the same year, he designed a shoe line for the famous fashion giant Louis Vuitton and presented this line at Paris Fashion Week.
In 2011, women's fashion brand DW showcased Kanye West at Paris Fashion Week. It received both good and bad reviews. The series he introduced in 2012 was more appreciated.
In 2013, he collaborated with APC to sell a white T-shirt for $120. All t-shirts sold out soon.
Kanye founded the company DONDA, named after his mother, in 2012. In his statement, West said that he will continue where Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, who died in 2011 left off. Although detailed explanations about the company's activities are not made, DONDA has signed many music videos, books, stage design, film and marketing projects.
West, who proved himself in entrepreneurship, began to be unable to restrain his ego as he went from success to success and came to the agenda with many scandalous events.
When Hurricane Katrina devastated the USA in 2005, all the famous names rolled up their sleeves to support the damaged with their aid campaigns. During the charity show broadcast on NBC, West made a different choice from his colleagues, choosing to make an irrelevant statement.
When the rapper came to his senses, he said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people," targeting the US President of the time.
At the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009, Taylor Swift received the award for Best Music Video, featuring works by female artists, while West jumped onto the stage to interrupt Swift's speech and marked the night.
After saying "I'll let you finish", the rapper shocked everyone that Beyoncé had "one of the best videos of all time" and deserved the award more.
West stood by his claim on Nick Cannon's show in September 2020, stating:
If God didn't want me to step up and say 'Beyoncé has the best video' God wouldn't have put me in the front row.
The rapper made a statement that is remembered with great surprise even today, after talking about his work in both rap and fashion when he appeared on the radio show Sway in the Morning in 2013.
Referring to the American painter Andy Warhol and the British playwright William Shakespeare, who are considered the cornerstones of art history, he used the following statements:
I am Warhol! I am the most influential artist of my generation! I am the living Shakespeare! Walt Disney! Nike! Google! Who will now be the Medici Family and allow me to create more? Or do you want to marginalize me until my time is up?
West would have had a similar tantrum when he ran for President of the United States in 2020.
West, who supported former US President and Republican politician Donald Trump many times, surprised not only his fans but the whole world by announcing that he was running for president in 2020.
He shocked many by making a statement about abortion at his first rally in South Carolina in July 2020.
Stating that he and his wife at that time, Kim Kardashian, were considering having their eldest child, North West, aborted, West said:
I almost killed my daughter. God sent me the message 'if you destroy my dreams, I will destroy yours'. I called my wife and said, 'We are going to give birth to this child.
West, who had a bad relationship with Kim Kardashian, with whom he had 4 children at that time, later lost both the presidency and his wife.
Divorced with Kim Kardashian, declared war on Pete Davidson
Due to the severe discord, Kardashian filed for divorce from West in February 2021. The duo distanced themselves from each other over time and sailed to other ports.
Although West was with other names like Julia Fox and Chaney Jones, he couldn't stomach Kardashian being with comedian Pete Davidson. Threatening to beat the 28-year-old comedian, West drew a backlash by burying Davidson's puppet alive in his music video for Eazy.
West, who released his latest album Donda 2 on February 23, tried a new method this time instead of sharing his tracks on digital broadcasting platforms.
After West announced last month that he would only release the album on his own developed Stem Player, 8,000 units of the device were sold within 24 hours.
Boycotting platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, West said, "It's time to free music from this oppressive system. It's time to take control and build our own system."
Many found the rapper's move "genius".
But there were also those who thought he was getting more and more crazy now.
West, who has never fallen off the agenda with the wars he has waged, the steps he has taken, and his statements, seems to be more popular with himself.
TWO SMALL NOTES:
Kanye West's mother, Donda West, died in 2007 after plastic surgery.
Yeezy officially changed his name on October 19, 2021, deciding on rapper Ye, also known by the nickname Yeezus.