Accurate Kanye West Lyrics

Kanye West

West was born in Atlanta, Georgia, where he lived with both of his parents. When he was three years old his parents divorced, and he and his mother moved to Chicago, Illinois. His father was Ray West, a former Black Panther is now a Christian counselor. Kanye's mother, Dr. Donda West, worked as the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University before retiring to serve as Kanye's manager. He was raised in an upper middle class background, attending Polaris High School in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois.

After attending The American Academy of Art, a Chicago art school, West attended Chicago State University but eventually dropped out in order to continue working on his music career. While attending school, West produced for local artists. He later gained fame by producing hit singles for major hip hop/R&B artists, including Jay-Z, Cam'ron, Paul Wall, Common, Mobb Deep, Jermaine Dupri, The Game, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Eminem and John Legend among others. Wests style of production often utilizes pitched-up vocal samples, usually from soul songs, with his own drums and instruments. West has said that Wu-Tang Clan producer RZA influenced him in his style, and has said on numerous occasions that Wu-Tang rappers Ghostface and Ol' Dirty Bastard were some of his all-time favorites. Said by Kanye West: "Wu-Tang? Me and my friends talk about this all the time… We think Wu-Tang had one of the biggest impacts as far as a movement. From slang to style of dress, skits, the samples. Similar to the [production] style I use, RZA has been doing that."

In 2001 West’s sound was featured heavily on Jay-Z's critically-acclaimed album The Blueprint, released on September 11, 2001. West soon became a major name in hip hop production following the release of the album, but struggled to find a way to get a record deal. Jay-Z admitted that Roc-A-Fella was initially reluctant to support West as a rapper, claiming that he saw him as a producer first and foremost. Multiple record companies pushed him aside apparently because he was not the stereotypical hip hop artist and may not been as easily marketable.

On October 23, 2002, West was involved in a car crash after falling asleep at the wheel while driving home from the recording studio. The crash provided inspiration for West's first single, "Through the Wire".

Roughly during this time West was involved in a financial dispute over Royce Da 5'9"'s song "Heartbeat," produced by West and released on Build & Destroy: The Lost Sessions. West maintains that Royce never paid for the beat, but recorded to it and released it anyway, West has vowed to never work with Royce again.

On August 30, 2005, Kanye West released his second album, Late Registration. Reviews were mostly favorable: "Late Registration is an undeniable triumph" (Rolling Stone), "As ornate and bloated as West's ego." (Spin September 2005). The album earned him eight Grammy Award nominations including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for the song "Gold Digger."

In January 2006, West suggested in Playboy that if a bible were written in the present day, he is famous and important enough to be included in it. "I throw up historical subjects in a way that makes kids want to learn about them", West claimed. "[I'm] definitely in the history books already."

On November 2, 2006, when "Touch the Sky" failed to win Best Video at the 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 criticized the outburst. On November 7, 2006, West apologized for this outburst publicly during his performance as a support act for U2 for their Vertigo concert in Brisbane, Australia.

In 2007, it was announced that West would be starring in a series directed by Larry Charles. He has been working on the pilot episode for the past two years with Larry Charles and Rick Rubin. He also had this to say on January 14: "I wouldn't do something as cliché as a reality show. At least give me the credit for being more creative than that. It's a situational half-hour comedy. It's fictional, and loosely based on my life."

On Sept 9, 2007, West performed at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. On that night, he lost all 5 awards that he was nominated for, including Best Male Artist and Video of the Year. After the show, he was visibly upset that he had lost at the VMAS 2 years in a row, stating that he would not come back to MTV ever again.

September 11-18, 2007 was the week that finally saw the much hyped 50 Cent vs. Kanye West sales battle face off. Kanye West won, falling a little short of 1 million records while 50 Cent sold about a quarter million less. No word yet on 50 Cent keeping his promise to retire if outsold by Kanye West.

Below are accurate Kanye West lyrics to some of his most requested songs. If you have any requests for accurate lyrics to a Kanye West song please feel free to email
Lyrics @ Thestateofhiphop.com.