Kanye West (now Ye), born in Atlanta in 1977 and raised in Chicago, went from producing Jay-Z's The Blueprint to reshaping hip hop album by album. The College Dropout (2004) and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) are the usual starting points in a catalog full of left turns. Explore Kanye West vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Kanye Omari West was born in Atlanta, Georgia on June 8, 1977 and raised primarily in Chicago, Illinois. After his college years he became established as a producer in the early 2000s, with extensive production credits including Jay-Z's The Blueprint (2001), Talib Kweli's Quality (2002), and dozens of others. He signed with Roc-A-Fella Records as a rapper in 2002, releasing his solo debut The College Dropout (2004). His catalog has progressively explored hip hop, soul, electronic, gospel, and rock traditions across multiple stylistic shifts. He officially changed his name to Ye in October 2021. He has won 24 Grammy Awards and has been one of the most commercially successful and culturally influential rappers in history. His public statements and political alignments from approximately 2016 onward, particularly antisemitic comments from 2022 onward, have generated controversy and resulted in being dropped by Adidas (Yeezy partnership), Gap, Balenciaga, and others. He has been open about his bipolar disorder diagnosis. He was married to Kim Kardashian from 2014 to 2022.
Kanye West's sound combines hip hop, alternative hip hop, conscious hip hop, electro hip hop, gospel rap, industrial hip hop, and contemporary R&B with his distinctive production approach (chipmunk soul sampling, electronic production, gospel arrangements) and extensive sonic experimentation across multiple albums. His foundational influence on contemporary hip hop is widely cited as one of the most important contributions to the form.
Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam, GOOD Music, and YZY pressings of the Kanye West catalog have been issued in extensive color variant editions and elaborate limited deluxe pressings.
Listeners new to Kanye West typically start with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) or The College Dropout (2004).
