Kanye West

Ye ( YAY; born Kanye Omari West KAHN-yay oh-MAH-ree, June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and businessman. He has been listed among the greatest rappers of all time and referred to as one of the most prominent figures in hip-hop. His music, characterised by frequent stylistic shifts, has been credited with facilitating the emergence of rappers who did not conform to gangsta rap conventions. He is also known for his controversial public persona, including his polarising cultural and political commentary.

West was born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago. After dropping out of college to pursue a music career, he became a producer for Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records and garnered recognition for his "chipmunk soul" production style before signing with the label as a recording artist. His debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004), received acclaim, and his second album, Late Registration (2005), became his first of eleven US Billboard 200 number-one albums. He has five US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles―"Slow Jamz" (2003), "Gold Digger" (2005), "Stronger" (2007), "E.T." (2011, as a featured artist), and "Carnival" (2024)―and was the first rapper to top the chart across three decades. Beyond his musical career, he has collaborated with Nike, Louis Vuitton, and Gap on clothing and footwear, and led the Yeezy collaboration with Adidas.

West's life has been the subject of significant media coverage. He has been a frequent source of controversy due to his conduct on social media, at award shows, and in public settings, as well as his comments on the music and fashion industries, U.S. politics, race, and slavery. His Christian faith, relationships, feuds with other celebrities, and mental health have also been topics of media attention. From 2014 to 2022, he was married to Kim Kardashian, with whom he has four children. In 2020, West ran an unsuccessful independent presidential campaign. From 2022 to 2025, West drew widespread condemnation—and lost sponsors and partnerships—for expressing antisemitic views and sympathising with Nazi ideology, before issuing an official apology in 2026.

West is one of the best-selling music artists, with 160 million records sold. He has 24 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists at the award show. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015. Rolling Stone listed six of West's albums―The College Dropout, Late Registration, Graduation (2007), 808s & Heartbreak (2008), My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), and Yeezus (2013)—in its "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list and named him one of the "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time".

Early life

Kanye Omari West was born on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia. After his parents divorced when he was three years old, he moved with his mother to Chicago, Illinois. His father, Ray West, is a former Black Panther and was one of the first black photojournalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ray later became a Christian counsellor and, in 2006, opened the Good Water Store and Café in Lexington Park, Maryland, with startup capital from his son. West's mother, Donda C. West (née Williams), was an English professor at Clark Atlanta University and the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University before retiring to serve as his manager.

West was raised in a middle-class environment, attending Polaris School for Individual Education in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois, after living in Chicago. At the age of 10, West moved with his mother to Nanjing, China, where she was teaching at Nanjing University as a Fulbright Scholar. According to his mother, West was the only foreigner in his class, but he settled in well and quickly picked up the language, although he has since forgotten most of it. When asked about his grades in high school, West replied, "I got A's and B's."

West demonstrated an affinity for the arts at an early age; he began writing poetry when he was five years old. West started rapping in the third grade and began making musical compositions in the seventh grade, eventually selling them to other artists. West crossed paths with producer No I.D., who became West's friend and mentor. After graduating from high school, West received a scholarship to attend Chicago's American Academy of Art in 1997 and began taking painting classes. Shortly after, he transferred to Chicago State University to study English. At age 20, he dropped out to pursue his musical career. This greatly displeased his mother, who was also a professor at the university, although she would later accept the decision.

Musical career

1996–2002: Early work and Roc-A-Fella

West began his early production career in the mid-1990s, creating beats primarily for burgeoning local artists in the Chicago area. He received his first official production credits at age nineteen, when he produced eight tracks on Down to Earth, the 1996 debut album of Chicago-based underground rapper Grav. In 1998, West was the first producer signed to the management-production company Hip Hop Since 1978, founded by Gee Roberson and Kyambo "Hip-Hop" Joshua. For a time, West acted as a ghost producer for Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie. Due to his association with Angelettie, West was not able to release a solo album, so he formed the Go-Getters, a hip-hop group composed of him and fellow Chicago natives GLC, Timmy G, and Arrowstar. The Go-Getters independently released their first and only studio album, World Record Holders, in 1999, through West's company, Konman Productions. West spent much of the late 1990s further producing for several musical acts. He produced "My Life" on Foxy Brown's second studio album Chyna Doll (1999), which became the second hip-hop album by a female rapper to peak atop the US Billboard 200 chart.

In 2000, West began producing for artists on Roc-A-Fella Records as an in-house producer. West is often credited with revitalising Jay-Z's career with extensive contributions to his 2001 album The Blueprint, which Rolling Stone ranked among their list of greatest hip-hop albums. West produced songs for label cohorts such as Beanie Sigel and Freeway, but also produced beats which were used by artists on other labels, including Ludacris, Alicia Keys, and Janet Jackson. Meanwhile, West struggled to attain a record deal as a rapper. Multiple record companies, including Capitol Records, denied or ignored him because he did not portray the gangsta image prominent in mainstream hip-hop at the time. Desperate to keep West from defecting to another label, then-label head Damon Dash reluctantly signed West to Roc-A-Fella as a recording artist.

After a 2002 car accident shattered his jaw, West was inspired; two weeks after being admitted to the hospital, he recorded "Through the Wire" at the Record Plant Studios with his jaw still wired shut. The song was first included on West's debut mixtape Get Well Soon, which was released in December 2002. At the same time, West announced that he was working on an album titled The College Dropout, whose overall theme was to "make your own decisions. Don't let society tell you, 'This is what you have to do.'"

2003–2006: The College Dropout and Late Registration

West recorded the remainder of The College Dropout in Los Angeles while recovering from the car accident. It was leaked months before its release date, and West used the opportunity to remix, remaster, and revise the album before its release; West added new verses, string arrangements, gospel choirs, and improved drum programming. The album was postponed three times from its initial date in August 2003, and was eventually released in February 2004, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 as his debut single, "Through the Wire" peaked at No. 15 while on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for five weeks. "Slow Jamz", his second single, featuring Twista and Jamie Foxx, became the three musicians' first No. 1 hit. The College Dropout received critical acclaim, was nominated for the top album of the year by American Music Awards and Billboard, and has consistently been ranked among the great hip-hop works and debut albums by artists.

"Jesus Walks", the album's fourth single, reached the top 20 of the Billboard pop charts, despite industry executives' predictions that a song containing such blatant declarations of faith would never make it to the radio. The College Dropout was certified triple platinum in the U.S., and garnered West 10 Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year, and Best Rap Album (which it received). During this period, West founded GOOD Music, a record label and management company that housed affiliate artists and producers, such as No I.D. and John Legend, and produced singles for Brandy, Common, Legend, and Slum Village.

West invested $2 million and took over a year to make his second album. West was inspired by Roseland NYC Live, a 1998 live album by English trip hop group Portishead, produced with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, incorporating string arrangements into his hip-hop production. Though West had not been able to afford many live instruments around the time of his debut album, the money from his commercial success enabled him to hire a string orchestra for his second album Late Registration. West collaborated with American film score composer Jon Brion, who served as the album's co-executive producer for several tracks. Late Registration sold over 2.3 million units in the United States alone by the end of 2005 and was considered by industry observers as the only successful major album release of the fall season, which had been plagued by steadily declining CD sales.

When his song "Touch the Sky" failed to win Best Video at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards, West went onto the stage as the award was being presented to Justice and Simian for "We Are Your Friends" and argued that he should have won the award instead. Hundreds of news outlets worldwide criticised the outburst. On November 7, 2006, West apologised for this outburst publicly during his performance as support act for U2 for their Vertigo concert in Brisbane. He later spoofed the incident on the 33rd-season premiere of Saturday Night Live in September 2007.

2007–2009: Graduation, 808s & Heartbreak, and VMAs incident

West's third studio album, Graduation, was released in September 2007. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and sold 957,000 copies in its first week. Graduation continued the string of critical and commercial successes by West, and the album's lead single, "Stronger", garnered his third number-one hit. "Stronger", which samples French house duo Daft Punk, has been credited with not only encouraging other hip-hop artists to incorporate house and electronica elements into their music, but also for playing a part in the revival of disco and electro-infused music in the late 2000s. His mother's death in November 2007 and the end of his engagement to Alexis Phifer profoundly affected West, who set off for his 2008 Glow in the Dark Tour shortly thereafter.

Recorded mostly in Honolulu, Hawaii, in three weeks, West announced his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak, at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, where he performed its lead single, "Love Lockdown". Music audiences were taken aback by the uncharacteristic production style and the presence of AutoTune, which typified the pre-release response to the record. 808s & Heartbreak was released by Island Def Jam in November 2008. Upon its release, the lead single "Love Lockdown" debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, while the follow-up single "Heartless" debuted at number four. While it was criticised prior to release, 808s & Heartbreak is considered to have had a significant effect on hip-hop music, encouraging other rappers to take more creative risks with their productions.

While Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, West went on stage and grabbed the microphone from her to proclaim that Beyoncé deserved the award instead. He was subsequently removed from the remainder of the show for his actions. West was criticised by various celebrities for the outburst, and by President Barack Obama, who called West a "jackass". The incident sparked a large influx of Internet photo memes. West subsequently apologised, including personally to Swift. However, in a November 2010 interview, he seemed to recant his past apologies, describing the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless".

2010–2012: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Watch the Throne, and Cruel Summer

Following the highly publicised incident, West took a brief break from music and threw himself into fashion, then returned to Hawaii for a few months, writing and recording his next album. Importing his favourite producers and artists to work on and inspire his recording, West kept engineers behind the boards 24 hours a day and slept only in increments. Noah Callahan-Bever, a writer for Complex, was present during the sessions and described the "communal" atmosphere as thus: "With the right songs and the right album, he can overcome any and all controversy, and we are here to contribute, challenge, and inspire." A variety of artists contributed to the project, including close friends Jay-Z, Kid Cudi and Pusha T, as well as collaborations with artists including Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Gil Scott Heron.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, West's fifth studio album, was released in November 2010 to widespread acclaim from critics, many of whom considered it his best work and said it solidified his comeback. In stark contrast to his previous effort, which featured a minimalist sound, Dark Fantasy adopts a maximalist philosophy and deals with themes of celebrity and excess. The record included the international hit "All of the Lights", and Billboard hits "Power", "Monster", and "Runaway", the latter of which accompanied a 35-minute titular film directed by and starring West. During this time, West initiated the free music program GOOD Fridays through his website, offering a free download of previously unreleased songs each Friday, a portion of which were included on the album. This promotion ran from August to December 2010. Dark Fantasy went on to go platinum in the United States, but its omission as a contender for Album of the Year at the 54th Grammy Awards was viewed as a "snub" by several media outlets.

In 2011, West went on a festival tour to commemorate the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, performing and headlining at numerous festivals, including: SWU Music & Arts, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Oya Festival, Flow Festival, Live Music Festival, The Big Chill, Essence Music Festival, Lollapalooza, and Coachella, which was described by The Hollywood Reporter as "one of greatest hip-hop sets of all time". West released the collaborative album Watch the Throne with Jay-Z in August 2011. By employing a sales strategy that released the album digitally weeks before its physical counterpart, Watch the Throne became one of the few major label albums in the Internet age to avoid a leak. "Niggas in Paris" became the record's highest-charting single, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. The co-headlining Watch the Throne Tour kicked off in October 2011 and concluded in June 2012. In 2012, West released the compilation album Cruel Summer, a collection of tracks by artists from West's record label GOOD Music.

2013–2015: Yeezus and The Yeezus Tour

Sessions for West's sixth solo effort begin to take shape in early 2013 in his own personal loft's living room at a Paris hotel. Determined to "undermine the commercial", he once again brought together close collaborators and attempted to incorporate Chicago drill, dancehall, acid house, and industrial music. Primarily inspired by architecture, West's perfectionist tendencies led him to contact producer Rick Rubin fifteen days shy of its due date to strip down the record's sound in favor of a more minimalist approach. Initial promotion of his sixth album included worldwide video projections of the album's music and live television performances. Yeezus, West's sixth album, was released June 18, 2013, to rave reviews from critics. It became his sixth consecutive number one debut, but also marked his lowest solo opening week sales.

In September 2013, West announced he would be headlining his first solo tour in five years to support Yeezus, with fellow American rapper Kendrick Lamar accompanying him as a supporting act. The tour was met with rave reviews from critics. Rolling Stone described it as "crazily entertaining, hugely ambitious, emotionally affecting (really!) and, most importantly, totally bonkers". Zack O'Malley Greenburg of Forbes praised West for "taking risks that few pop stars, if any, are willing to take in today's hyper-exposed world of pop", describing the show as "overwrought and uncomfortable at times, but [it] excels at challenging norms and provoking thought in a way that just isn't common for mainstream musical acts of late". West subsequently released a number of singles featuring Paul McCartney, including "Only One" and "FourFiveSeconds", also featuring Rihanna.

In November 2013, West stated that he was beginning work on his next studio album, hoping to release it by mid-2014, with production by Rick Rubin and Q-Tip. Having initially announced a new album entitled Yeezus II slated for a 2014 release, West announced in March 2015 that the album would instead be tentatively called So Help Me God. In May 2015, West was awarded an honorary doctorate by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for his contributions to music, fashion, and popular culture. The next month, West headlined at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK, despite a petition signed by almost 135,000 people against his appearance. Another petition aimed to block West from headlining the 2015 Pan American Games, garnering 50,000 supporters.

2016–2017: The Life of Pablo and tour cancellation

West announced in January 2016 that Swish would be released on February 11, and later that month, released new songs "Real Friends" and a snippet of "No More Parties in LA" with Kendrick Lamar. On January 26, 2016, West revealed he had renamed the album from Swish to Waves. In the weeks leading up to the album's release, West became embroiled in several Twitter controversies. Several days ahead of its release, West again changed the title, this time to The Life of Pablo. On February 11, West premiered the album at Madison Square Garden as part of the presentation of his Yeezy Season 3 clothing line. Following the preview, West announced that he would be modifying the tracklist once more before its release to the public. He released the album exclusively on Tidal on February 14, 2016, following a performance on Saturday Night Live. Following its release, West continued to tinker with mixes of several tracks, describing the work as "a living, breathing, changing creative expression" and proclaiming the end of the album as a dominant release form. Despite West's earlier comments, in addition to Tidal, the album was released through several other competing services starting in April.

In February 2016, West stated on Twitter that he was planning to release another album in the summer of 2016, tentatively called Turbo Grafx 16 in reference to the 1990s video game console of the same name. In June 2016, West released the collaborative lead single "Champions" off the GOOD Music album Cruel Winter, which has yet to be released. Later that month, West released a controversial video for "Famous", which depicted wax figures of several celebrities (including West, Kardashian, Taylor Swift, businessman and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, comedian Bill Cosby, and former president George W. Bush) sleeping nude in a shared bed.

In August 2016, West embarked on the Saint Pablo Tour in support of The Life of Pablo. The performances featured a mobile stage suspended from the ceiling. West postponed several dates in October following the Paris robbery of several of his wife's effects. On November 21, 2016, West cancelled the remaining 21 dates on the Saint Pablo Tour, following a week of no-shows, curtailed concerts and rants about politics. He was later admitted for psychiatric observation at UCLA Medical Center. He stayed hospitalised over the Thanksgiving weekend because of a temporary psychosis stemming from sleep deprivation and extreme dehydration. Following this episode, West took an 11-month break from posting on Twitter and from the public in general.

2017–2019: Ye and the Wyoming Sessions

It was reported in May 2017 that West was recording new music in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with a wide range of collaborators. In April 2018, West announced plans to write a philosophy book entitled Break the Simulation, later clarifying that he was sharing the book "in real time" on Twitter and began posting content that was likened to "life coaching". Later that month, he also announced two new albums, a solo album and self-titled collaboration with Kid Cudi under the name Kids See Ghosts, both of which would be released in June. Additionally, he revealed he would produce upcoming albums by GOOD Music label-mates Pusha T and Teyana Taylor, as well as Nas. Shortly thereafter, West released the non-album singles "Lift Yourself" and "Ye vs. the People", in which he and T.I. discuss West's support of Donald Trump.

Pusha T's Daytona, the first album released from the Wyoming Sessions, was released in May to critical acclaim. Although the album's artwork—a photograph of deceased singer Whitney Houston's bathroom that West paid $85,000 to license—attracted controversy. The following week, West released his eighth studio album, Ye. West has suggested that he scrapped the original recordings of the album and re-recorded it within a month. The week after, West released a collaborative album with Kid Cudi as Kids See Ghosts, titled Kids See Ghosts. West also completed production work on Nas' Nasir and Teyana Taylor's K.T.S.E., which were released in the same month.

In September, West announced his ninth studio album Yandhi to be released by the end of the month, and another collaborative album with fellow Chicagoan rapper Chance the Rapper, titled Good Ass Job. That same month, West announced that he would be changing his stage name to "Ye". Yandhi was originally set for release in September 2018 but was postponed multiple times. In January 2019, West pulled out of headlining that year's Coachella festival after negotiations broke down due to discord regarding stage design. In July, it was reported that songs from West's unreleased album Yandhi were leaked online. The following month, West's then-wife Kim Kardashian announced that his next album would be titled Jesus Is King, effectively scrapping Yandhi. By October, the entire unfinished album was available for a short time on streaming services Spotify and Tidal.

2019–2022: Jesus Is King, Donda, and Donda 2

On January 6, 2019, West started his weekly "Sunday Service" events, which included soul variations of both West's and others' songs and were attended by multiple celebrities, including the Kardashians, Charlie Wilson, and Kid Cudi. West previewed a new song, "Water" at his "Sunday Service" orchestration performance at Coachella 2019, which was later revealed to feature on his upcoming album Jesus Is King; West released the album on October 25, 2019. It became the first to ever top the Billboard 200, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Top Rap Albums, Top Christian Albums and Top Gospel Albums at the same time. On December 25, 2019, West and Sunday Service released Jesus Is Born, containing 19 songs, including several re-workings of older West songs.

West released a single titled "Wash Us in the Blood" on June 30, 2020, featuring fellow American rapper and singer Travis Scott, along with the music video, which was set to serve as the lead single from his tenth studio album Donda. However, in September 2020, West stated that he would not be releasing any further music until he is "done with [his] contract with Sony and Universal". On October 16, he released the single "Nah Nah Nah". West held several listening parties at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for his upcoming album Donda in the summer of 2021, where he had taken up temporary residence in one of the stadium's locker rooms, converting it into a recording studio to finish the recording. After multiple delays, Donda was released on August 29, 2021. West claimed the album was released early without his approval and alleged that Universal had altered the tracklist. He released a deluxe edition of Donda, including five new songs, to streaming services on November 14, 2021. On November 20, days after ending their long-running feud, West and rapper Drake confirmed that they would stage the "Free Larry Hoover" benefit concert on December 9 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

On January 5, 2022, West was announced as one of the 2022 headliners of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Later that month, on January 15, West released the first single for his upcoming album Donda 2, "Eazy" featuring The Game, to be executive produced by American rapper Future. West hosted a listening event for the album at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, on February 22. In April, shortly before Coachella, West pulled out as the headlining act, then proceeded to pull out of headlining Rolling Loud. West and The Game performed the single on July 22, marking West's first performance in five months following the low profile he had been keeping since Donda 2 remained unfinished. A day later, despite cancelling as headliner, he appeared at Rolling Loud during Lil Durk's set. In December 2022, after weeks of controversial antisemitic statements, West released a new song, "Someday We'll All Be Free", on his Instagram.

2023–2025: Vultures and Bully V1

On August 25, 2023, West was reported to be in the process of recording his eleventh studio album, with two sources close to him stating that the release of new music was "imminent". On October 13, Billboard reported that West had finished recording a collaborative studio album with Ty Dolla Sign and was in the process of shipping the album to distributors, adding that the album was originally intended for an official release that day but was ultimately pushed back for unknown reasons and expected to drop within the coming weeks. The eponymous lead single for the album, "Vultures" featuring Bump J, was released on November 22, 2023.

Throughout late 2023 and early 2024, West and Ty Dolla Sign held several concerts previewing songs from the album. In a trailer, West announced that Vultures would be released as a trilogy of albums, with three volumes set to be released on February 9, March 6, and April 5, 2024. In January 2024, West co-signed 4Batz and called him his favourite new artist. On February 8, 2024, West released the first volume's second single, "Talking / Once Again" featuring his eldest daughter, North. A day later, producer Erick Sermon revealed in an interview that West's upcoming eleventh studio album was titled Y3, while also stating that he had contributed to the album in 2023. West has since denied working on an album titled Y3.

On February 10, 2024, hours after West held a listening party at UBS Arena, the first volume of the Vultures trilogy, entitled Vultures 1, was officially released. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming West's eleventh consecutive and Ty Dolla Sign's first number one album, respectively. Vultures 2 released later that year on August 3. On September 28, during a concert in Haikou, China at the Wuyuan River Stadium, West announced his eleventh solo album Bully, debuting the track "Beauty and the Beast". On March 15, 2025, he shared a song on his X account, "Lonely Roads Still Go to Sunshine", featuring his daughter North and vocals credited to Sean Combs, resulting in legal action from Kim Kardashian. On March 18, he shared links on X to three versions of Bully, all of which were accompanied by a short film starring his son Saint. He stated that the album was "not finished and half of the vocals [are] AI", and added that he did not intend to release it on streaming services because of "French and Jewish record labels". Bully would later be released as the "screening version" on YouTube for a temporary time.

2025–present: Cuck and Bully

On March 26, 2025, West released "WW3" under the name Ye onto streaming services, after having previously teased the song by Dave Blunts and Adin Ross. A week later, DJ Akademiks announced that West was working on WW3, a collaborative album with Blunts, a few days after they held an interview where West wore a black Ku Klux Klan-inspired outfit and said further controversial remarks. West changed the album's title to Cuck on April 21, and in the following weeks released the singles "Cousins" and "Heil Hitler". After Cuck leaked on May 18, 2025, West stated that he was "done with antisemitism" and asked God to "forgive me for the pain I've caused". West removed pro-Nazi and antisemitic lyrics from the Cuck singles, and on June 22, announced he was changing the album's title to In a Perfect World; the album was ultimately scrapped.

On April 29, West released Donda 2 on streaming services. On May 21, he released the single "Alive", featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again, as the theme song for his upcoming YZY SZN 10 fashion collection. On June 20, West released a three-track extended play (EP) preview of Bully on streaming services. On June 27, West released Never Stop, an EP by Sean Combs' son Christian "King" Combs. West served as Never Stop's executive producer, and North appears on the song "Lonely Roads". The EP's release coincided with the closing arguments of Sean Combs' criminal trial, in which he was charged with racketeering and sex trafficking; West has been an outspoken defender of Combs.

On January 3, 2026, after multiple delays, Yeezy updated its website with pre-orders to Bully, including multi-colored vinyl, cassette, CD, bundles, and digital download. West's team announced that the album would no longer feature AI-generated vocals. Bully was released digitally on March 28, following West's deal to sign with American media company Gamma. Following performances at Shanghai in July 2025 and Mexico in January 2026, on April 1 and 3, West performed two concerts at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, selling $33 million in ticket sales and marking his first performance in the city since 2021.

Musical style

West's musical career is defined by frequent stylistic shifts and different musical approaches. In the subsequent years since his debut, West has both musically and lyrically taken an increasingly experimental approach to crafting progressive hip-hop music while maintaining accessible pop sensibilities. Ed Ledsham of PopMatters said that "West's melding of multiple genres into the hip-hop fold is a complex act that challenges the dominant white notions of what constitutes true 'art' music." West's rhymes have been described as funny, provocative and articulate, capable of seamlessly segueing from shrewd commentary to comical braggadocio to introspective sensitivity. West imparts that he strives to speak in an inclusive manner so groups from different racial and gender backgrounds can comprehend his lyrics, saying he desired to sound "just as ill as Jadakiss and just as understandable as Will Smith". Early in his career, West pioneered a style of hip-hop production dubbed "chipmunk-soul", a sampling technique involving the manipulation of tempo in order to chop and stretch pitched-up samples from vintage soul songs.

On his debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004), West formed the constitutive elements of his style, described as intricate hip-hop beats, topical subject matter, and clumsy rapping laced with inventive wordplay. The record saw West diverge from the then-dominant gangster persona in hip-hop in favour of more diverse, topical lyrical subjects, including higher education, materialism, self-consciousness, minimum-wage labour, institutional prejudice, class struggle, family, sexuality, his struggles in the music industry, and middle-class upbringing. Over time, West has explored a variety of music genres, encompassing and taking inspiration from chamber pop on his second studio album, Late Registration (2005), arena rock and europop on his third album, Graduation (2007), synth-driven electropop on his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak (2008), acid-house, drill, industrial rap and trap on Yeezus (2013), gospel and Christian rap on The Life of Pablo (2016), Jesus Is King (2019) and Donda (2021), and psychedelic music on Kids See Ghosts (2018).

Musical influence

West is among the most critically acclaimed popular music artists of the 21st century, earning praise from music critics, industry peers, and cultural figures. In 2014, NME named him the third most influential artist in music. Billboard senior editor Alex Gale declared West "absolutely one of the best, and you could make the argument for the best artist of the 21st century." Sharing similar sentiments, Dave Bry of Complex Magazine called West the twenty-first century's "most important artist of any art form, of any genre." The Atlantic writer David Samuels commented, "Kanye's power resides in his wild creativity and expressiveness, his mastery of form, and his deep and uncompromising attachment to a self-made aesthetic that he expresses through means that are entirely of the moment: rap music, digital downloads, fashion, Twitter, blogs, live streaming video." Joe Muggs of The Guardian argued that "there is nobody else who can sell as many records as West does [...] while remaining so resolutely experimental and capable of stirring things up culturally and politically."

Rolling Stone credited West with transforming hip-hop's mainstream, "establishing a style of introspective yet glossy rap" while deeming him "a producer who created a signature sound and then abandoned it to his imitators, a flashy, free-spending sybarite with insightful things to say about college, culture, and economics, an egomaniac with more than enough artistic firepower to back it up." Writing for Highsnobiety, Shahzaib Hussain stated that West's first three albums "cemented his role as a progressive rap progenitor". AllMusic editor Jason Birchmeier described West as "[shattering] certain stereotypes about rappers, becoming a superstar on his own terms without adapting his appearance, his rhetoric, or his music to fit any one musical mold". Lawrence Burney of Noisey has credited West with the commercial decline of the gangsta rap genre that once dominated mainstream hip-hop. The release of his third studio album, Graduation, has been described as a turning point in the music industry, and is considered to have helped pave the way for new rappers who did not follow the hardcore-gangster mold to find wider mainstream acceptance.

Hip-hop artists like Drake, Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, and Chance the Rapper have acknowledged being influenced by West. Several other artists and music groups of various genres have named West as an influence on their work.

Achievements

West is the fourth-highest certified artist in the U.S. by digital singles (69 million). He had the most RIAA digital song certifications by a male artist in the 2000s (19), and was the fourth best-selling digital songs artist of the 2000s in the U.S. In Spotify's first ten years from 2008 to 2018, West was the sixth most-streamed artist, and the fourth fastest artist to reach one billion streams. West has the joint-most consecutive studio albums to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 (9) and was the first rapper to top the Billboard Hot 100 in three distinct decades (2000s, 2010s, 2020s). He ranked third on Billboard's 2000s decade-end list of top producers and has topped the annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll the joint-most times (four albums) with Bob Dylan.

West has been nominated for 75 Grammys, of which he has won 24. He has been the most nominated act at five ceremonies, and has received the fourth-most wins overall in the 2000s. In 2008, West became the first solo artist to have his first three albums receive nominations for Album of the Year. West has won a Webby Award for Artist of the Year, an Accessories Council Excellence Award for being a stylemaker, International Man of the Year at the GQ Awards, a Clio Award for The Life of Pablo Album Experience, and an honour by The Recording Academy. West is one of eight acts to have won the Billboard Artist Achievement Award. In 2015, he became the third rap act to win the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

West's first six solo studio albums were included on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Entertainment Weekly named The College Dropout the best album of the 2000s, Complex named Graduation the best album released between 2002 and 2012, 808s & Heartbreak was named by Rolling Stone as one of the 40 most groundbreaking albums of all time, The A.V. Club named My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy the best album of the 2010s, Yeezus was the most critically acclaimed album of 2013 according to Metacritic, and The Life of Pablo was the first album to top the Billboard 200, go platinum in the U.S., and go gold in the UK via streaming alone.