  Kanye West, hailing from Chicago
and born June 8, 1977, spent several years in
the background of rap music helping out with
producing tracks for other rappers before
hitting big as a solo rap artist.
Kanye was injured in a car
accident in LA.
 Kanye appeared
on Jay-Z's LP The
Blueprint 2: The Gift And The Curse with the track
"The Bounce."
 # 33
Singles Artist of the Year
Kanye hit the
Top 40 helping out Twista
and Jamie Foxx with "Slow Jamz."
 Kanye released
his debut LP The
College Dropout.
Kanye hit the Top 10 with Twista
and Jamie Foxx with "Slow Jamz."
Kanye hit the
Top 40 "Through The Wire."
Kanye appeared
on Janet Jackson's LP Damita
Jo
with the track "My Baby."
 The
College Dropout was certified platinum.
Kanye hit the Top 40 with Syleena
Johnson with "All Falls Down."
 Kanye was nominated for 6 MTV Video Music
Awards including Best Male Video, Best Hip-Hop Video, Best New Artist, Breakthrough Video
("All Falls Down" with Syleena
Johnson), Best R&B Video
("Talk
About Our Love" with Brandy), and the MTV2 Award
("Slow Jamz" with Twista
and Jamie Foxx). Kanye also
performed at the ceremony.
Kanye began touring as the
opening act for Usher's tour.
 Kanye won 3 Source Awards for
Album of the Year, Video of the Year ("Through The Wire"), and
Breakthrough Artist.
Kanye was nominated for 3 American Music
Awards including Favorite Breakthrough Artist, Favorite Rap Male Artist, and Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album. Kanye also performed
at the ceremony.
Kanye's The
College Dropout was chosen by Rolling
Stone magazine's critics as the best
album of the year.
Kanye topped the Billboard
Year-End Charts as the Top New Pop
Artist, Top New R&B/Hip-Hop Artist, and
Top Hot Rap Artist.
 # 20
Singles Artist of the Year
 Kanye could be heard on the
soundtrack to Coach
Carter with "Wouldn't
You Like To Ride."
Kanye won 3 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Song
(awarded to the songwriter) ("You Don't
Know My Name" with Alicia
Keys and Harold Lilly),
Best Rap Song (awarded to the songwriter)
("Jesus Walks" with C. Smith), and Best Rap Album (The
College Dropout), and was nominated for Album of the Year (The
College Dropout), Song of the Year
(awarded to the songwriter) ("Jesus
Walks" with C. Smith), Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Slow Jamz"
with Twista and Jamie
Foxx and "All Falls Down"
with Syleena Johnson), Best Rap Solo Performance ("Through The Wire"), and Best New Artist. Kanye performed at
the ceremony.
 Kanye won a
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding New Artist.
The single "Jesus
Walks" was certified gold.
The single "All Falls Down" was certified
gold.
 On July 2nd, Kanye performed in
Philadelphia as part of the worldwide Live
8 concerts. The mission of the
concerts was to raise awareness of the
on-going poverty in Africa and to pressure
the G8 leaders to take action by doubling
aid, canceling debt, and delivering trade
justice for Africa.
Kanye announced that he felt
hip-hop music and rap was getting too
comfortable with using 'gay' as a negative
and as the opposite of hip-hop, and wanted
this to be stopped: "It was kind of like
a turning point when (my cousin came out). I
was like 'Yo, this is my cousin, I love him,
and I been discriminating against gays.' But
everybody in hip-hop discriminates against
gay people... the exact opposite word of
hip-hop, I think is gay... and I wanna just
come on TV and just tell my rappers, just
tell my friends, 'Yo, stop it.'"
 The video for "Jesus Walks" won a
MTV Video Music
Award for Best Male Video and was nominated for Video of the Year and Best Hip-Hop Video. Kanye performed at
the ceremony.
Kanye released
his next LP Late
Registration.
Kanye appeared on a live NBC
benefit show to help the victims of Hurricane
Katrina, and went off-script to give his
feelings about the slow response by President
Bush; "George Bush doesn't care about
black people." West also targeted the
media: "I hate the way they portray us
in the media. If you see a black family, it
says they're looting. See a white family, it
says they're looking for food."
 Kanye hit the Top 40 with
"Gold Digger."
Kanye topped
the Billboard 200 LP chart, Top
R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for 3 weeks, and
Top Rap Albums chart with Late
Registration selling over 860,000 copies in
the US its first week of release. The LP also
topped the charts in Canada.
Kanye topped the Billboard Hot
100 Singes chart, Pop 100 chart, Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, and Hot
Digital Tracks chart with "Gold Digger."
Kanye performed on Shelter
From The Storm: A Concert For The Gulf Coast
- a benefit program shown on all the major
networks simultaneously to raise money for
those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Kanye performed on ReAct
Now: Music & Relief - a benefit
program shown on music video channels to
raise money for those affected by Hurricane
Katrina.
Late
Registration was certified 2x platinum.
 Kanye performed on Saturday
Night Live.
Kanye hit the Top 10 and #1 for 2 weeks with
"Gold Digger."
Kanye topped the Billboard Pop
100 Airplay chart, Hot 100 Airplay chart, and
Rhythmic Airplay chart with "Gold Digger."
Kanye hit the Top 40 with
"Heard 'Em Say."
 Kanye topped the Billboard
Digital Songs chart with "Gold Digger."
Kanye could be heard on the Hurricane
Relief: Come Together Now compilation
with "We Can Make It Better."
Kanye had the #9 selling LP of
2005 with Late
Registration selling over 2.4
million copies during the year.
 # 75
Singles Artist of the Year
 Kanye won 3 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Solo Performance ("Gold Digger"), Best
Rap Song (songwriting with D. Harris)
("Diamonds From Sierra Leone") and Best Rap Album (Late
Registration), and was nominated for Album of the Year (Late
Registration), Record of the Year ("Gold Digger"), Best R&B Song
(writing Alicia Keys' "Unbreakable"
with Garry Glenn, Keys, and Harold Lily), and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("They Say"
with Common and John Legend from Common's
LP, Be). Kanye was also
nominated a second time in the Album of the Year for his production
work on Mariah
Carey's The
Emancipation Of Mimi. Kanye also performed
at the ceremony.
 Kanye appeared on the cover of Rolling
Stone.
Kanye hit the Top 40 with
"Touch The Sky."
The single "Heard 'Em Say" was certified
gold.
Late
Registration was certified 3x platinum.
Kanye won a Brit Award for Best
International Male Solo Artist.
Kanye won a Soul Train Music
Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap Video
("Gold Digger").
 Kanye won a BET Award for Best
Duet/Collaboration and Video of the Year
("Gold Digger").
The video for "Gold Digger" was nominated
for 2 MTV Video Music
Awards including Best Male Video and Best Hip-Hop Video.
Kanye won 2 Billboard
R&B/Hip-Hop Award for Top Rap Album (Late
Registration) and Hot Rap Track ("Gold Digger").
 Kanye was nominated for 2 American Music
Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist and Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Male Artist.
 # 15
Singles Artist of the Year
Kanye topped the UK singles
chart with "Stronger."
 On July 7th, Kanye performed at
the Live
Earth
concert in the US. The 7-continent concert
organized by Al Gore brought together over
100 artists to perform and raise the world's
awareness about the climate crisis and how to
make a difference to help the environment and
the world.
Kanye hit the Top 40 with "Stronger."
 Kanye topped the Billboard Hot
Digital Songs chart with "Stronger."
Kanye hit the Top 10 with "Stronger."
Kanye was nominated for 4 MTV Video Music
Awards including Video of the Year and Best Editing (Peter Johnson and
Corey Weisz) ("Stronger"), Male Artist of the Year, and Quadruple Threat
of the Year. Kanye also performed at the
ceremony.
Kanye released his next LP Graduation.
Kanye topped the Billboard Hot
100 chart, Pop 100 chart, and Hot Digital
Songs chart with "Stronger."
 Kanye topped the Canadian
singles chart with "Stronger."
Kanye topped the Billboard 200
LP chart, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart,
Top Rap Albums, and Top Digital Albums chart
with Graduation - the set sold over
956,000 copies its first week of release in
the US.
Kanye topped the UK and Canadian
LP charts with Graduation.
Kanye hit the Top 40 with T-Pain with "Good Life."
Kanye performed on Saturday
Night Live.
Kanye appeared on the cover of Rolling
Stone.
Kanye topped the Billboard Hot
100 Airplay chart with "Stronger."
Kanye topped the Billboard Top
Digital Albums chart with Graduation.
Kanye hit #1 for 3 weeks with "Stronger."
Graduation was certified 2x
platinum.
The single "Gold Digger" was certified 2x
platinum
 Kanye topped the Billboard Hot
Rap Tracks chart with T-Pain with "Good Life."
Kanye could be heard on the Chris Brown LP Exclusive on the track
"Down" and the Jay-Z LP American
Gangster on the track "Roc
Boys."
Kanye had devsting news when his
mom died at the age of 58 from complications
from surgery. His mom, Donda West, helped
manage Kanye's businesses and educational
foundation. Donda West was the inspiration
for Kanye's song "Hey Mama" and
wrote Raising
Kanye: Life Lessions From The Mother Of A
Hip-Hop Superstar.
The single "Stronger" was certified
platinum.
Kanye had the
#10 selling LP of 2007 with Graduation selling over 1,8
million copies in the US.
 # 10
Singles Artist of the Year
 Kanye hit the Top 40 with the
help of Dwele with "Flashing Lights."
Kanye could be heard on the Michael Jackson LP 25th
Anniversary Of Thriller.
 Kanye won 4 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Solo Performance ("Stronger"), and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or
Group
("Southside" with Common),
and Best Rap Song (awarded to the
songwriter)
("Good Life' with A. Davis and F. Najm), and Best Rap Album (Graduation), and was nominated
for Album of the Year (Graduation), Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Good Life" with T-Pain), Best Rap Performance by a Duo or
Group
("Better Than I've Ever Been" with Nas & KRS-One)
and Best Rap Song (awarded to the
songwriter)
("Can't Tell Me Nothing" with A.
Davis). Kanye performed at the ceremony.
 Kanye won a Brit Award for Best
International Male Solo Artist.
Kanye hit the Top 40 helping out
Estelle with "American Boy."
Entertainment Weekly:
100 Best Albums of the Last 25 Years included The
College Dropout at # 4.
 Kanye won 2 BET Awards for Best
Male Hip-Hop Artist and Best Single ("Good Life").
The single "Good Life" was certified
gold.
The video for "Good Life" won a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Special Effects (SoMe and Jonas &
Francois), and "Homecoming." Kanye
performed at the ceremony.
Kanye hit the Top 10 helping out Estelle
with "American Boy."
Kanye was arrested in L.A. for
reportedly vandalizing a paparazzo's camera.
 Kanye hit the Top 40 helping out
Jay-Z, T.I., and Lil Wayne with "Swagga Like Us" (available at iTunes).
Kanye hit the Top 40 with "Love Lockdown."
Kanye could be heard on the John Legend LP Evolver on the track
"It's Over."
 Kanye could be heard on the T-Pain LP Thr33
Ringz on the track
"Therapy."
Kanye topped the Billboard Hot
Digital Songs chart and Hot Digital Tracks
chart with "Heartless."
Kanye hit the Top 40 with "Heartless."
Kanye won 2 American Music
Awards for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album and Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Male Artist.
Kanye released 808's
And Heartbreak.
 Kanye topped the Billboard 200
LP chart, Top R&B Hip-Hop Albums chart,
and Top Digital Albums chart with 808's
And Heartbreak. The LP sold over 450,000
copies its first week of release in the U.S.
Kanye performed on Saturday
Night Live.
Kanye hit the Top 10 with "Love Lockdown."
Kanye topped the Rolling
Stone 'Readers Poll' for Best Hip-Hop
Artist of 2008.
Kanye hit the Top 10 with "Heartless."
Kanye topped the Billboard
Rhythmic chart with "Heartless."
808's
And Heartbreak was certified platinum.
 Kanye topped the Billboard Hot
Rap Tracks chart and Hot 100 Airplay chart
with "Heartless."
Kanye won 2 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or
Group
("Swagga Like Us" with Jay-Z, T.I., and Lil Wayne) and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("American Boy" with Estelle),
and was nominated for Song of the Year
(awarded to the songwriter) ("American Boy"
with William
Adams, Keith Harris, Josh Lopez, Caleb Speir,
John Stephens, and Estelle Swaray), Best Rap Performance by a Duo or
Group
("Mr. Carter" with Jay-Z), and Best
Rap Song (awarded to the songwriter) ("Swagga Like Us" with Jay-Z, T.I., and Lil Wayne). Kanye performed at
the ceremony.
 Kanye won a
Brit Award for Best International Male Solo
Artist.
Kanye hit the
Top 40 with "Paranoid."
Kanye hit the Top 40 helping out
Keri Hilson and Ne-Yo with
"Knock You Down."
 Kanye topped the Billboard Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart helping out Keri
Hilson and Ne-Yo with
"Knock You Down."
Kanye could be heard on the Beyoncé DVD/CD Above
And Beyonce Dance Mixes on the remix of
"Ego."
 |
The College Dropout
Released: February, 2004
US: 2x Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 2
Rolling Stone:  - Entertainment
Weekly: A-
Tracks: "We Don't
Dare" - "Graduation Day" -
"All Falls Down" - "I'll
Fly Away" - "Spaceship" -
"Jesus Walks" - "Never Let
Me Down" - "Get Em High" -
"Workout Plan" - "The New
Workout Plan" - "Slow Jamz" -
"Breathe In Breathe Out" -
"School Spirit" - "Two
Words" - "Through The Wire" -
"Family Business" - "Last
Call" |
|
Late Registration
Released: August, 2005
US: 3x Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 1
Rolling Stone:  - Entertainment
Weekly: B+
Tracks: "Wake Up Mr.
West" - "Heard 'Em Say" (with Adam
Levine) - "Touch The Sky" (with Lupe
Fiasco) - "Gold Digger" (with Jamie
Foxx) - "Skit #1" - "Drive
Slow" (with Paul Wall & GLC) -
"My Way Home" (with Common) -
"Crack Music" (with The Game) -
"Roses" - "Bring Me
Down" (with Brandy) -
"Addiction" - "Skit
#2" - "Diamonds From Sierra
Leone" (Remix with Jay-Z) - "We
Major" (with Nas & Really Doe) -
"Skit #3" - "Hey
Mama" - "Celebration" -
"Skit #4" - "Gone"
(with Consequence & Cam'ron) -
"Diamonds From Sierra Leone" -
"Late" |
|
Graduation
Released: September, 2007
US: 2x Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 1
Rolling Stone:  - Entertainment
Weekly: B-
Tracks: "Good
Morning" - "Champion" -
"Stronger" - "I
Wonder" - "Good Life" (with
T-Pain) - "Can't Tell Me
Nothing" - "Barry Bonds" -
"Drunk And Hot Girls" (with Mos
Def) - "Flashing Lights" (with Dwele)
- "Everthing I Am" (with DJ
Premier) - "The Glory" -
"Homecoming" (with Chris
Martin) - "Big Brother" |
|
808's And Heartbreak
Released: November, 2008
US: Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 1
Rolling Stone:  - Entertainment
Weekly: A-
Tracks: "Say You
Will" - "Welcome To
Heartbreak" (featuring Kid Cudi) -
"Heartless" -
"Amazing" (featuring Young
Jeezy) - "Love Lockdown" - "Paranoid" (featuring
Mr Hudson) - "RoboCop" -
"Street Lights" - "Bad
News" - "See You In My
Nightmares" (featuring Lil Wayne) -
"Coldest Winter" -
"Pinocchio Story" |
| Note: Song title and
position links lead you to the song's Top
40 chart run (from the ARC Weekly Top
40)
and LP links take you to Amazon.com for that LP (often
including track listings and sound
samples). |
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