He’d start out in Atlanta, but at 3 years old he and his mother would move to Chicago. Kanye Omari West would be taken in by Chicago and would later compare his influence on the city to Queen Latifah’s. He was born the son of a Black Panther and English Professor. Half of Kanye’s lineage told him to stay in school and learn the world from it. His father’s side would tell him to go out there and create the change you want to see in the world. Kanye took both sides and built a multimedia monster versed in both artistic intelligence and braggadocious swagger. Kanye West is nothing like Earth has seen or will ever see again. Kanye West is a renaissance man in the term’s truest fashion. As a young boy, he was heralded as not only a musical prodigy but an artistic one. He would meet his future mentor No I.D. at a young age and begin to work his craft on 808 machines and synthesizers. He would break into the game during the late 90's as a producer for Jay-Z and his Roc-A-Fella Records. He was offered a solo recording deal by Capitol Records’ A&R but it was pulled away at the last second. He really only got his break because Damon Dash couldn’t live with letting Kanye go to another record company. Before his career even got started though, he wrecked his car in LA on a late night trip home from the studio in 2002. He would record arguably his greatest single, “Through the Wire” with his jaw wired shut. His first album, The College Dropout, would go triple platinum and his next two would drop nearly a million in a week. He will without a doubt go down as one of history’s top 10 maybe even top 5 artists. That’s alright (it ain’t Ralph, though,) but there is a whole other side of Kanye that surfaced around 2008. Kanye as a genius, Kanye as an innovator, Kanye making up for lost time.
Kanye is the most underrated genius the Modern Era of History has ever seen. Kanye is an artist in the word’s purest form. Kanye West is a musician, Kanye West is a designer, Kanye West is a painter, Kanye West is an international icon, Kanye West is a god. In 2007, Kanye went through emotional rollercoasters as his idol, hero, and mother passed away. He broke off his engagement to his longtime fiancée and love interest and moved to Hawaii. There he started an 8 year run of innovation in rap music, fashion, and entertainment. Since that time we have seen Kanye be more and more vocal of his beliefs and care less about what other people think of him. With all that has happened in his 14 years of stardom, he’s obviously got some very vocal and influential haters. Every Kanye hater has a point where they fell off the boat. Most people fall somewhere between the George Bush incident and the Taylor Swift VMA incident. Sadly, there are people who stopped listening to Kanye after “Graduation” and those people should probably never listen to music again. Kanye has more detractors than anyone of his genius should ever have. Kanye is also the closest thing the world has to greatness right now. Kanye has never been perfect and he never will be. He is his era personified in the fact that he is misunderstood beyond his greatness. Millennials get the whole rep about being spoiled or enabled and Kanye fought every stereotype of not only a rapper but a celebrity. He overcame the idea that rappers had to be hard and dark and rap about killing or drugs. He beat the system that was undeniably against him from the beginning. Look back on Kanye West’s career and find me one time the system got to him and beat him down. The belief that Kanye is a terrible person based on his strong willed temperament couldn’t be more of a ridiculous thought. Consider the lives of his peers and how they wound up making their way in the game. Kanye was blessed with talent and his only opposition was the system trying to hold him back. He broke the system and his string of records left behind are proof of that undeniable gift of innovation. Kanye West’s success and consistency in music and fashion are what set him on the path to god status. His ideals, beliefs, and brash self-association with his role models are what cemented his iconic legacy with the gods of modern innovation.
Kanye West is such a god that despite your old, white dad hating him, you grew up to love Kanye West. You read about his mother dying and his life moving so fast and you felt something for him. He took different directions on almost every album he put out and you went to Target and bought up everyone of them. Kanye West can do what he wants because he is living, breathing proof that whatever you believe in doing, you can do and you can do well. Kanye is a lesson in mistakes and in triumphs and in adversity. Kanye is a lesson in perseverance and bravery. Kanye West will never be a lesson in failure. Kanye’s lack of fear in failure is what drives him to create and innovate and make life better for people living in this century. Until the day he dies, he will be the closest thing Earth has to Einstein, Jobs, Disney. Innovation and courage to do more than what is expected is what we expect from Kanye West. All of this and like I said, he’s not even close to done. Look to Kanye’s past and you see the gospel in his discography and his struggles in the media. Look to Kanye West’s future and you’ll likely see him change his music and change his style. Look in Kanye West’s soul and you’ll find an undying love for every human being living today. One day, despite all the changes over 39 years of Kanye West, we will see a man who changed the world. One day, we will see him for the true god he is.
