Kanye West – American rapper

Kanye West is an American rapper, producer and designer.
In the late 1990s – early 2000s, he gained fame as a producer. He took part in in creating hits for Jay-Z, Ludacris, Talib Kweli and Alicia Keys. In 2004 he released his debut album The College Dropout, then Late Registration in 2005, Graduation in 2007, 808s & Heartbreak in 2008, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010, Watch the Throne in 2011 together with Jay-Z, Yeezus in 2013 and The Life of Pablo in 2016.
As a designer he has worked with companies such as Nike and Louis Vuitton, and in 2013 launched clothing line YEEZY with Adidas. He also founded GOOD Music record label and creative agency DONDA. In 2014 he married TV star and model Kim Kardashian.
Kanye West has been repeatedly named one of the greatest artists of the XXI century. He was among the best-selling artists and has won 21 Grammy awards. His albums have been included in various lists of the best albums, including the list of the 500 greatest albums of all time according to Rolling Stone magazine.

Kanye Omari West was born on June 8, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up in Chicago and since childhood was fond of music. His parents divorced when he was three years old and then Kanye with his mother moved to Chicago, Illinois.
His father Ray West was in the party Black Panther and was one of the first African-American photojournalists in the daily newspaper The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His mother Donda C. West was an English professor at Clark Atlanta University and the dean of Chicago State University, but completed her career to become her son’s manager.
Kanye studied at Polaris High School. At the age of ten West and his mother moved to Nanjing in China and later they returned to the United States.

Since childhood West was interested in music. At the age of thirteen he wrote a song Green Eggs and Ham. Soon West met producer No I.D. who became his mentor. Kanye began his musical career in the mid-1990s, creating instrumentals for local musicians. For some time West worked with producer, manager and rapper D-Dot.
In the late 1990s West founded Go-Getters together with GLC, Timmy G, Really Doe and Arrowstar. The group recorded several songs, performed on radio and took part in a photo shoot. In 1999, Go-Getters recorded their only album, World Record Holders, which, however, had not been officially released.
In 2000 success came to West when he began working with the musicians of Roc-A-Fella Records. He became best known as a producer after the work on Jay-Z’s album The Blueprint. Jay-Z called West a genius and the album was called classic of hip-hop and was included in many lists of the best albums.
His debut album The College Dropout was released in February 2004. It was certified platinum in the US and brought 10 Grammy nominations.
His second album Late Registration was released in August 2005 and received 8 Grammy nominations.
The album Graduation was released on September 11, 2007, was certified double platinum and received eight Grammy nominations.
In 2008 he presented his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak.

The album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was released on November 22, 2010. The New York Times called it “a phenomenal album”, The Washington Post – “masterpiece” and The Independent – “the brightest, most ambitious album in the genre of pop music for recent years”.
His sixth album Yeezus was released on July 18, 2013 and received positive reviews from critics.
In June 2013 the first child of Kanye West and the star of television shows and model Kim Kardashian was born. In October, West and Kardashian announced their engagement. In May 2014 they got married in Florence.
On December 31, 2014 West released a single Only One performed with Paul McCartney.
In 2015 West presented his joint with Adidas clothing line called Yeezy Season 1 and in September he presented his independent collection Yeezy Season 2.
His album The Life of Pablo was presented on February 11, 2016 at Madison Square Garden at the same time with his new collection of clothes Yeezy Season 3.
Kanye West is one of the bestselling artists. As at 2016 West received 57 Grammy nominations and won 21 of them. So, he is the champion among the hip-hop musicians, as well as artists of his age. In 2010, MTV named Kanye Man of the Year. Billboard put him in third place in the list of the top 10 hip-hop producers of the 2000s. He was one of the hundred most influential people in the world in 2005, 2011 and 2015. West has also been included in the annual Forbes Lists.

Personal life
In 2002 West began dating designer Alexis Phifer. In August 2006, they became engaged, but after 18 months, they broke up.

From 2008 until the summer of 2010 the rapper had a love affair with model Amber Rose.

In 2012 West began his relationship with the star of reality shows and model Kim Kardashian. On May 24, 2014 the couple got married in Florence, Italy. They have two children: their daughter was born on June 15, 2013 and their son was born on December 5, 2015.

Kanye West – American rapper