Yeezy Season Approaching [Day 32- Kanye West]

Kanye Omari West is an American hip hop recording artist, songwriter, record producer, film director, entrepreneur and fashion designer from Chicago, Illinois. West first gained prominence as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records; he achieved recognition for his work on rapper Jay-Z's The Blueprint (2001), as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and Janet Jackson. His style of production originally used high-pitched vocal samples from soul songs incorporated with his own drums and instruments. He later broadened his influences to include 1970s R&B, baroque pop, trip hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronica, synthpop, industrial, and classical music.

West was raised in a middle-class household in Chicago, Illinois, and began rapping in the third grade, becoming involved in the city's hip hop scene. West attended art school for one semester before dropping out to pursue music entirely in the late 1990s. Although his real desire was to become a rapper, record executives did not take West seriously, viewing him as a producer first and foremost. After being signed to Roc-A-Fella in 2002, West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004 to commercial and critical acclaim. The baroque-inspired Late Registration followed in 2005, and Graduation in 2007. West switched rapping for singing on his emotive 2008 effort 808's & Heartbreak, and embraced maximalism on 2010's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Following several collaborations, West released his sixth album, Yeezus, in 2013.

West is one of the best-selling and among the most awarded artists in popular music. West has won a total of 21 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all-time and the most awarded artist of anyone his age. Time has also named West one of the 100 most influential people in the world as well as being listed in a number of Forbes annual lists. Three of his albums rank on Rolling Stone's 2012 "the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. West's background and style, from his debut album, deviated from the then-dominant "gangsta" persona in hip hop, and he would later alter the genre stylistically as rappers adopted his alternative aesthetic. An outspoken and controversial celebrity, West has often been the source of incidents at award shows, and his flamboyant fashion sense has also attracted media attention and set West apart from other rappers. West runs his own record label GOOD Music and has directed several short films.


Number of Grammys:




Discography:


The College Dropout:


His acclaimed debut, the College Dropout was the result of people telling him he would never make it as a rapper, and that he should stick to producing. Self-produced, and great lyrics. A real game changer in hip hop.


Late Registration:


My personal favorite Kanye album. Features from Adam Levine, Jame Foxx, Lupe Fiasco (Before he sucked), Common, Nas, and others. Beats have orchestration to them, thoughtful lyrics, just an overall beautiful album.


Graduation:


Kanye's take on "stadium music" After he toured with U2, he wanted to make hip hop anthems, and was very successful in doing so. Very, very influential in terms of the impact it had on the culture of hip hop. When Graduation outsold the album 50 Cent was releasing the same week, it made it very clear that "Gangster hip hop" was no longer the dominant form of lyricism and production. The song 'Stronger' also popularized the use of EDM in sampling within hip hop.


808's and Heartbreak

An electropop album with no rapping from Ye. Arguably his most influential album, paving the way for artists such as Drake and Kid Cudi to breakthrough.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

This album is considered by many to be his opus. Met with widespread critical acclaim, and topped almost every Album of the Year lists in 2010. My favorite part of the album is how well it brought out the talents in other artists, especially Nicki Manaj, Rick Ross, and Pusha T. Top of the line production, clever lyrics, brilliant hooks, and some of the best features in hip hop history. Kanye considers this to be his best album, and also thought his verse on Lost in the World was his best, until he recorded New Slaves.
Yeezus:

Features production from Inforoo favorites Daft Punk, Kanye's take on an electronic album, with influence from Death Grips and Nine Inch Nails evident.


Essential Tracks:



















(DO NOT WATCH IF EPILEPTIC!!!!)





I included one song from each album for everyone to see the variety of sounds Kanye has explored throughout the years, he has also performed all of these songs on his recent tour, the critically acclaimed YEEZUS tour.

My two favorite Kanye Songs:





Live Shows:

I have seen Kanye once back in November. Not only did he play a career spanning setlist, as well as playing his newest album, Yeezus, in it's entirety, it is a visual and artistic spectacle that anyone who appreciates art would rave over. His current stage set up features a mountain which Kanye performs on, as well as a rising platform that reaches into the audience. The show is divided into four parts: Rising, Falling, Searching, and Finding, with songs that correspond with themes of the show. He also has dancers on stage performing artistic routines that will leave you in awe.

This transition is in my top three musical moments of my life, (With singing Hey Jude on the farm, and watching Jim James, Jeff Tweedy, and Bob Dylan perform a song together, to give you an idea of how awesome it was) Two of his most iconic songs, connected by a transition that only an artist as passionate as he is could come up with.




Kanye is also no stranger to festivals, he delivered one of the most iconic sets in Coachella history in 2011, watch the full thing here:




Personal Notes:

I owe it to Kanye West for changing the way I think about music, and in a way, culture. I never really took hip hop seriously until I listened to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy for the first time, since then, he has consistently been one of my favorite artists, and always will be. For those who are still bitter about the 2008 fiasco, you should really give him a chance. Put your biases aside and attend his show, you will witness a spectacle from one of the, if not THE greatest artist of this generation.