While attending school, West produced for local artists, including on rapper Grav's debut album ?Down to Earth'. He was later raised in an upper middle class background, attending Polaris High School in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois after living in Chicago.Īfter attending The American Academy of Art, a Chicago art school, West attended Chicago State University but eventually dropped out due to poor grades and in order to continue working on his music career. Donda West, worked as a Professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, and the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University before retiring to serve as Kanye's manager. His father, Ray West, was a former Black Panther one of the first black photojournalists at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is now a Christian counselor. When he was three years old (as mentioned in Hey Mama) his parents divorced, and he moved with his mother to Chicago, Illinois.
KANYE WEST GRADUATION ZIP MEDIA FIRE REGISTRATION
Late Registration (2005) Graduation (2007) 808s & Heartbreak (2008) and his current album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010). He has since released four more albums, all of which have received numerous awards, high commercial success and critical acclaim. He is also known for his politically-charged rhymes and controversial behavior both inside and outside the realms of music. The album received critical acclaim, defining the style for which West would become known: 'wordplay' and heavy sampling of 70s soul and rnb tracks. In 2004 (after being pushed aside by many record companies who felt he wasn't a marketable hip hop artist), he managed to release his debut solo album, The College Dropout on Roc-a-Fella Records. He later gained nationwide popularity in New York when he began producing tracks for artists such as Jay-Z, Twista, Mase, Talib Kweli and Alicia Keys. He began making beats and rapping in the early 90s in Chicago, IL, United States when he formed the rap group Go Getters with Chicago natives GLC and Really Doe.