RAPPER OF THE MONTH

Birth name: Kanye Omari West
Birth date: 8 June 1977 (33)
Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia, United State
• Kanye was born in Atlanta, Georgia but moved to Chicago when he was three after his parents got divorced. His mother was an English professor at Clark Atlanta University and his father is a former Black Panther, who’s now a Christian counsellor.
• Kanye enrolled at Chicago State University but dropped out to pursue music. While at school he produced for local artists but later gained fame as a producer by producing for the likes of Talib Kweli, Jay-z, and Cam’ron, to mention a few. Kanye has said that Wu-Tang Clan producer RZA influenced his production style.
• West got his big break through producing numerous tracks off Jay –z’s critically acclaimed album The Blueprint, like the lead single “Izzo (H.O.V.A)”, Kanye soon after became known a major producer in hip hop.

• Kanye began pursuing his dream of being signed as a rapper but struggled to get signed because major labels felt he was not as marketable as rappers who portray the "street image" that was big in hip hop. Even Jay-z admitted that he was reluctant to sign him as a rapper, claiming that he saw him as a producer first and foremost.

• On October 23, 2002, West was involved in a near fatal car accident while driving home from studio. The crash inspired hit tracks like “Through the wire” and “Jesus walks” which appear on his debut album The College Dropout.
• Kanye’s trademark and mascot is a “Dropout Bear” which appears on 3 of his album covers.
• Kanye has stated on several occasions that outside of work, he enjoys listening to rock music over hip-hop. He names, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Killers as some of his most favorite musical groups.
• After a two-year break from music, West returned back to the scene, as a fashion columnist in the lifestyle magazine Complex.
• In May 2007, West split from long-time model girlfriend Alexis Rainey. The couple was engaged for 18 months. Later that year Kanye’s mother, Donda West, died of complications from cosmetic surgery involving breast augmentation. In an interview in New Zealand Kanye for the first time spoke about his mother’s death saying “It was like losing an arm and a leg and trying to walk through that”.
• Earlier this year, he make his very first animated television guest appearance, on a new animated television series titled The Cleveland Show. Kanye was the voice "Kenny West", a rival of Cleveland Brown's son. In his first episode he performed a rap battle with Cleveland’s son.
The (good) money:
• In August 2008, Kanye revealed plans to open 10 Fatburger restaurants in the Chicago area although the process is still being finalized. His company, KW Foods LLC, bought the rights to the franchise in Chicago.
• He has also worked with Nike to release his own shoe, Air Yeezys.
• Early 2009, during Paris Fashion Week, he introduced his first shoe line designed for Louis Vuitton. The shoe line was released later that year.

• Kanye currently runs his own record label GOOD (Getting out our dreams) Music which is home to artists like John Legend, Kid Cudi and new rapper Big Sean. He is also CEO of Jay-z new record label Roc Nation.

Discography:
• The College Dropout (February, 2004), the album was certified triple platinum. It defined the sound for which Kanye would become known by, including wordplay and sampling. The album went on to receive Grammys for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song for “Jesus walks”.
• Late Registration (August, 2005), the album sold 860 000 copies in its first week and later went on to be certified triple platinum like his debut album. The album earned 8 Grammy nominations winning only 3 which were Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song for “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” and Best Rap Solo Performance for “Gold Digger”.
• Graduation (September, 2007) the album was released the same day as 50 Cent’s album Curtis. The two rappers had a challenge on who would sell the most, with 50 even saying that he would quit rap if Kanye’s Graduation was to sell more, regardless to say Kanye’s Graduation did sell more, selling 957,000 copies in its first week of release, making it the highest first week sales in Def Jam History , while Curtis sold 691,000 copies in its first week of release. The album went on to being certified double platinum. Like Late Registration Kanye was nominated for 8 Grammys but this time he won 4 of them including Best Rap Album, Best Rap Solo Performance for “Stronger”, Best Rap Performance by a Duo for “Southside” featuring Common and Best Rap Song for “Good life”.
• 808s & Heartbreak (November, 2008), the album was #1 on numerous charts, even though it’s first week sales were less than half of the first week sales of Graduation with 450,145 copies sold. The album was Kanye’s most emotional album with tracks like “See You I My Nightmare”, “Heartless” and “Love Lockdown”. The album received mixed reviews, with some critiquing him for making an auto tune album.
• Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), Kanye has spent most of this year in Hawaii working on his 5th album, which is said to be released on the 16 November 2010. The first single of the album is a track called “Power” which features Dwele. At this year’s VMA’s he premiered the next single from the album called “Runaway”, shortly after the awards Kanye revealed that he is working on a 40 minute short film based on the song, the film is about a fallen phoenix whom Kanye falls in love with.
Controversy:
• On 2 September 2005, during a telethon for Hurricane Katrina relief, Kanye was a featured speaker. Controversy arose when he was presenting, and instead of saying the prepared script he said “George Bush doesn't care about black people.” At this point, the telethon producer cut off the microphone and then cut away to Chris Tucker.
• In January 2006, he again sparked controversy when he appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in the image of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns.

• On 2 November 2006, when his video "Touch the Sky" failed to win Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards, West went onto the stage as the award was being presented to Justice and Simian for "We Are Your Friends" and argued that he should have won the award instead.

• On 9 September 2007, West suggested that his race had to do with him being overlooked for opening the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) in favor of Britney Spears; he claimed, "Maybe my skin’s not right.” That night of the awards he lost all 5 awards that he was nominated for, after the show he was visibly upset that he had lost at the VMAs two years in a row, stating that he would not come back to MTV ever again.
• On 13th September 2009, during the 2009 VMA’s while Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video, Kanye went on stage and grabbed the microphone to declare that Beyonce’s video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time". He was later removed from the remainder of the show for his actions. In September of this year Kanye wrote tweets apologising to Taylor Swift, he also revealed that he had written a song for her, and if she didn’t accept it she would perform it herself.