Kanye West is the most honoured rapper in Grammy history and the top selling male digital artist of all time. He didn’t start out in front of the microphone, though. He paid his dues behind dials and equalisers, learning and experiencing how to craft a song. By 2001, West was producing for artists on Roc-a-Fella Records, eventually doing it for the big man himself, Jay-Z, and the critically acclaimed album The Blueprint.
West quickly
became a sought after producer in the hip-hop industry, and produced tracks for
artists such as Naz, Scarface, Mos Def, Ludacris, T. I. and DMX. But after
becoming a successful producer, West now wanted to pursue a career as a rapper
and solo artist.
The College Dropout, his debut album, was released in 2004, followed by Late Registration in ‘05 and Graduation in ’07. They all featured West’s trademark ‘dropout bear’ on their front covers, working its way through University. All three were critically acclaimed and featured West’s production style of sampling from an eclectic range of songs. His talents as a rapper significantly progressed over the trilogy.
In 2008, West released his fourth album 808s & Heartbreak, following the death of his mother, to whom he was very close, and separating from his fiancée Alexis Phifer. West’s sound had changed too. The autotune had reared its mechanical head, allowing West to primarily sing rather than rap over the album’s tracks.
808s was very successful - his third consecutive number one album - but West’s public profile was going a tad loopy. At a music video award ceremony in 2009, West “jumped the shark”. As Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video, West hopped up on stage, grabbed the microphone and declared “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you and I’mma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time.” It was a tad premature as Beyonce later won the more prestigious award for Best Video of the Year. West was removed from the remainder of the show.
Bizarre, but geniuses often are. In 2010, West released My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, with a far more ambitious scope than anything he had previously released. It addresses, and to an extent accepts, the darker aspects of his personality and those impulses that court such controversy. Naturally, it went straight in at number one.
