Kanye West turned 45

Today rapper, producer, designer, billionaire, ex-spouse of Kim Kardashian and just a genius Kanye West turned 45 years old!

You can love or hate Kanye West, but it is impossible to deny his contribution to the music and fashion industry. Today, every move the rap artist makes is newsworthy. Mr. Ye’s talent, boldness, and defiant demeanor have led him to his status as one of hip-hop’s top (and talked about) artists and a fashion icon. Yes, Kanye is not a genius rapper or businessman, nor has he ever referred to himself. He calls himself modestly a “genius,” being the king of the media space.

1. Kanye West’s biography is not much different from the life of an average middle-class American, but it is considerably different from the history of the average rapper. West was born in Atlanta (yes, yes, the same one that’s teeming with rappers today) to a family of a photojournalist and an English professor. His parents divorced when Kanye was only three, after which he and his mother moved to Chicago.

Kanye started rapping not because he wanted to make money, but because his nature demanded it. His aptitude for creativity was apparent from his childhood – he wrote poems, drew, and as a teenager he was already making samples. He even dropped out of college because he felt his study load interfered with his music.

“I’ve been hammered into my head all my life that college was the ticket to a good life… But some careers don’t require a college education. Kanye, in order to create the College Dropout album, it was necessary to have willpower and not follow the path suggested by society,” his mother Donda West said of her son’s decision.

But the secret to Kanye’s success doesn’t just lie in his talent for sped-up soul compositions. Mr. Ye’s work is distinguished by the idea and the way the artist manages to present it.

2. Kanye has a good flair for visuals. Each of West’s music projects is accompanied by a grand presentation, visuals, and a stunning show. Of course, each project Kanye is assisted by a huge team, led for many years by Vanessa Beecroft. It was she who helped West in the organization of concert tours and presentations of Yeezy Season.

West’s fifth studio album “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” was even accompanied by a short film “Runaway”, which became a classic and a proof of Kanye’s love for all areas of his art: music, lyrics, visuals, fashion…

3. Fit with Kanye is fraught with success. Ye has provided industry breakthroughs to rappers like: Desiigner, Kid Cudi, Chief Kief, Pusha-T, Big Sean, Taylor Swift and many others (the list could go on and on). This “fame effect” is possible not only because of West’s pre-existing status, but also because of his meticulous attitude towards his work.

“I want you to know. I’ve already redone the album three times. [Kanye] comes in, tweaks new beats, and then dries them up and throws them away and says, ‘I can do better.’ This is the third time he’s done it,” Pusha T said of working with Ye on the ‘King Push’ album.

4. Kanye is a perfectionist. The famous “Stronger” was mixed 50 times before he saw the light of day! The song was based on the already hit song by Daft Punk. However, Kanye drowned out that record as well. West’s “Stronger”, released back in 2007, is still a regular on compilations like “Hip-Hop Workout”.

5. Kanye West ranks 10th on the list of Grammy records. The rap artist is on the same line with Stevie Wonder and Vince Gill in the number of awards earned by the main music award (22 awards), behind his colleague Jay-Z with 23 statuettes.

6. Kanye has no self-esteem issues. From the very beginning of his career, the rapper calls himself a genius and compares his own persona to Jesus Christ. Ye not only declares it in interviews, but also releases corresponding compositions – just look at the track “I am a God” from the album “Yeezus”. Kanye’s statements that he (like Jesus) has to “fight for recognition” and “suffer for his success”, that “the media crucify me like they crucified Christ” were many times the cause for mockery from the public. But that hasn’t shaken Kanye’s faith in himself for a split second.

“I’m a messenger of God. And the biggest pain of my life is not being able to be a spectator at my own concert.”

7. Kanye West was (is) going to run for president. If a TV host could become president of the United States, why can’t Kanye? In 2020, West declared his intention to lead the White House. Kanye planned to start his campaign under the banner of Birthday Party. And his intentions were supported by Elon Musk.

“Like everything I’ve ever done in my life, I’m doing it to win,” West told Forbes.

8. Kanye West has turned the fashion industry upside down. Ye burst into hip-hop, revolutionizing the perception of rapper style. In 2004, when the entire rap community wore oversized pants, tank tops, sneepbacks and chains, Kanye showed up to events looking like a high school kid from a wealthy family: a teddy bear sweatshirt and a Louis Vuitton backpack. After that, he surprised the industry with velvet jackets, suits a la P.Diddy and sunglasses (yes, yes, designed specifically for the rapper). This was followed by leather pants, camouflage jackets, “izikas” and finally the masks he loves today.

Surprisingly, any (even the craziest) outing of the rapper did not cause the prefix “too much”. Every fashion innovation by West almost always became a hit, and fans bought up similar things with incredible speed. Even Michael Jackson once called West to find out what jacket he was wearing in the “Stronger” music video.

9. West transfers his sense of taste and style to everything around him and everyone close to him. The fact that the rapper’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian is today’s icon, Ye has a lot to do with it. Before meeting West, Kim’s closet was limited to knit dresses, low-rise jeans, chiffon blouses and stilettos. Kanye could not tolerate such tastelessness, so he “updated” the closet of his beloved right on the air of reality show “The Kardashian Family”.

10. Kanye is not officially Kanye. Last year, West filed paperwork for a name change, which was approved in a Los Angeles court. So as of October 2022, the rapper is officially called “Ye” without his last name or middle name.