Kanye West: American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer (born 1977)

In 2020, West ran for President of the United States, under his own political party, the Birthday Party. He changed his name to Ye in late 2021.

Kanye West
Kanye in 2019.
Born	Kanye Omari West (1977-06-08) June 8, 1977 (age 46) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Other names	Ye Saint Pablo Yeezus Yeezy Kanye West
Education	Chicago State University (no degree)
Occupations	Rapper singer songwriter record producer fashion designer
Years active	1996-present
Organizations	Donda Yeezy
Political party	Independent / Birthday Party
Personal details
Other political affiliations	Republican
Spouse(s)	Kim Kardashian (m. 2014; div. 2022)
Partner	Bianca Censori (2023–present)
Children	4
Parent	Donda West (mother)
Relatives	Tony Williams (cousin)
Family	West
Awards	Full list
Musical career
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop R&B electronica gospel
Instruments	Vocals sampler keyboards drum machine
Labels	GOOD Def Jam Roc-A-Fella Mercury (Late Orchestration)
Member of	Child Rebel Soldier Kids See Ghosts Sunday Service Choir
Website	kanyewest.com

He rose to fame in the mid 2000s. His first three albums, The College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation received many awards, critical acclaim, and commercial success. In 2008, he released his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak. In 2010, he released his fifth album, titled My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. In 2013, he released his sixth album, Yeezus. Yeezus obtained great reviews from many music critics. In 2016, he released his seventh album, The Life of Pablo. In 2018, he released his eighth album, Ye. West explored Christian and gospel music on his 2019 album Jesus Is King. His tenth album Donda was released in 2021. West's discography also includes the two full-length collaborative albums Watch the Throne (2011) (with Jay-Z) and Kids See Ghosts (2018) (with Kid Cudi).

Kanye Omari West was born at Grady Memorial Hospital; in Atlanta, Georgia. He was from a middle-class African-American family. He moved with his mother to Chicago, Illinois when he was three years old. During the same time, his mother and father divorced. He started writing poetry at the age of five. Kanye moved with his mother to Nanjing, China when he was 10. In 1997 West started taking painting classes at Chicago's American Academy of Art. After a short time he changed to Chicago State University to major in English. When he was 20 he left college to focus on music.

West started his music career as a producer creating beats for local Chicago artists. He was well known in these beats to take samples of old and popular soul songs, speed them up, raise the pitch and put these samples in his beats to enhance the sound. This is called Chipmunk Soul. In the late 1990s, West became a member of the amateur rap group called Go-Getters with GLC, Timmy G, and Really Doe. In 1999 they released their only album, World Record Holders.

In 2003 West released his first mixtape, Get Well Soon.... In Get Well Soon.... He rapped on an instrumental from Twista's single "Slow Jamz". In 2004. West's first album The College Dropout was released by Roc-A-Fella. It entered the Billboard 200 at number two. Five singles were released from the album. That year West started a record label called GOOD Music. John Legend is signed to the label. West was nominated for three American Music Awards.

In 2005 West's second album Late Registration was released. Five singles were released from the album. The second single "Gold Digger" was nominated for Record of the Year at the 2006 Grammy Awards. West was also nominated for Best New Artists. Other rappers on the album included Jay-Z, Ludacris, and Mos Def. In 2005 West released his first fashion line. West's third album Graduation was released in 2007. The album was nominated for eight Grammy Awards. Five singles were released from the album. The album's first single "Stronger" won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance.

In 2008, West's fourth studio album 808s & Heartbreak was released. The album was sung instead of rapped by West. It sold 450,145 copies in its first week. West acted in the 2008 movie The Love Guru.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was released on Roc-A-Fella Records in 2010. Music critics gave it great reviews. Pitchfork gave the album a score of 10/10. Pitchfork rarely gives a 10/10 rating, so this was a big achievement. Rolling Stone gave it five out of five stars. Four singles were released from the album.

In 2011 West released an album with Jay-Z called Watch the Throne. In 2011 "All of the Lights" was released as the fourth single from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Rihanna sang in it.

On May 23, 2012 a short movie made by West called Cruel Summer was shown for the first time at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. The movie was given good reviews. The movie's name came from an album West released called Cruel Summer on his record label GOOD Music.

On June 18, 2013 West's sixth studio album Yeezus was released. The album got very good reviews from music critics. In November 2013 West gave a lecture at Harvard University. On November 15, 2013 Busta Rhymes' single "Thank You" was released. West rapped on it with Lil Wayne and Q-Tip. On November 24, 2013, West said in an interview that he is making his seventh album. "New Slaves" was nominated for Best Rap Song at the 2014 Grammy Awards. On June 27, 2015, West headlined Glastonbury Festival 2015 to much controversy.

On February 14, 2016, West released The Life of Pablo on Tidal, Jay-Z's online music service. On April 1, 2016, West released The Life Of Pablo on other music services, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Google Play.

On June 1, 2018, West released Ye, an album about his mental health struggles.

In 2018 West released a collaboration album with Kid Cudi called Kids See Ghosts.

On October 25, 2019, West released Jesus is King, a religious hip-hop album. It became the first to top the Billboard 200, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Top Rap Albums, Top Christian Albums and Top Gospel Albums charts at the same time.

West released a single called "Wash Us in the Blood" on June 30, 2020, featuring rapper and singer Travis Scott. "Wash Us in the Blood" serves as the first single from West's tenth studio album Donda.

On August 29, 2021, after a long roll out, West released Donda.

In 2022, West released Donda 2 only on a music listening device known as the Stem Player.

West married Kim Kardashian in 2014. They have a daughter, North "Nori" West, who was born on June 15, 2013. They also have a son, Saint West, who was born on December 5, 2015. Their third child, daughter Chicago West, was born on January 15, 2018. They had their fourth child on May 9, 2019, a son named Psalm West. In January 2021, CNN reported that the couple were discussing divorce. On February 19, 2021, the couple officially filed for divorce. The divorce became official in 2022.

In January 2023, it was reported that West had informally married Australian architectural designer Bianca Censori in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills, California. The ceremony had no legal standing; the couple did not file for a marriage license. West said Censori is his muse.

In August 2015 during MTV Video Music Award, West announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2020 election.

In September 2015, West announced that he intends to run for President of the United States in 2020. He later implied on Twitter that he intends to run for President in 2024 due to Donald Trump's win in the 2016 election. On December 13, 2016, West met with President-elect Trump to discuss (according to West) "bullying, supporting teachers, modernizing curriculums, and violence in Chicago."

On July 4, 2020, West announced on Twitter that he would be running in the 2020 presidential election, although it's unclear if he has filed official paperwork to appear on ballots.

Studio albums

Kanye West has released 10 studio albums:

Collaborative albums

Demo album

On October 9, 2022, West said on Twitter that he would be “going death con 3 [sic] On JEWISH PEOPLE", seemingly a misspelling of DEFCON 3. This suggested he was anti-semitic. He also said he supported Adolf Hitler and denied the existence of the Holocaust.

• List of poets from the United States