Kanye West Tickets

About Kanye West

West graduated from Polaris High School and attended the American Academy of Art and Chicago State University. Kanye worked with local artists, producing tracks for them and found that he enjoyed working with music far more than attending college. A lackluster effort caused him to dropout of college and pursue music full time.

Kanye West found work as a producer and was noted for his style that sampled pitched-up vocals from soul songs with beats from his own instruments. He attributes this style to the influence producer RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan. That style got him work with Jay=Z’s record label, Roc-A-Fella.

West produced hit singles for major artists like Jay-Z, Common, Mobb Deep, The Game, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, and John Legend. Kanye wanted to come out from behind the music board though, and be a star artist himself. Jay-Z had signed as a producer and was hesitant to try him as an artist, but after his work on Jay-Z’s The Blueprint he was given a shot.

Finding inspiration from his own experience and a recent car crash, West recorded his first album, The College Dropout. Kanye’s tracks featured the sampling and wordplay that have characterized his work over this career. The singles “Jesus Walks”, “All Falls Down”, and “Through the Wire” were all top 20 successes on the U.S. Hot 100 and the album sold over four million copies worldwide.

He still produced hit singles while his first album was released, notably “I Changed My Mind” by Keyshia Cole, “Overnight Celebrity” by Twista, and “Talk About Our Love” by Brandy.

Kanye West returned with a new album in 2005, Late Registration. The album continued the success of the first release and sold 3.5 million copies worldwide and included the single “Gold Digger”. The album again featured his well-established style and included guest appearances by Janie Foxx, Adam Levine, Paul Wall, Brandy, The Game, and Jay-Z.

His success saw him launch his own clothing line, Pastelle Clothing, and saw him get himself into trouble. West was already known fro speaking his mind without much of a filter, but n 2006 he appeared in the cover of Rolling Stone posed on a cross with a crown of thorns. The artist had already stated that he believed he was important enough to be mentioned in the Bible if it was written in modern times, and the image brought his ego into the forefront again.

Kanye continued to give the media something to talk about when he walked onto the stage during the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards while Justice and Simian were being presented with the award for Best Video and proceeded to argue that he should have won.

2007 saw the release of his last album, Graduation. Again the album topped the charts in the U.S. and sold millions of copies worldwide. The record included singles like “Stronger” that topped the singles charts. Again, the release featured numerous samples and guest artists from different musical backgrounds, and again the Kanye West was nominated for numerous awards. After failing to win any of the five categories for which he was nominated for at the MTV Video Music Awards, he won four Grammy’s.

The year was also filled with grief, as West’s mother passed away while receiving cosmetic surgery. Kanye began to sing “Hey Momma” in honor of her at concerts after her funeral.