C. F. Earl - Kanye West

Kanye West

by C.F. Earl

In Books

Baker, Soren. The History of Rap and Hip Hop. San Diego, Calif.: Lucent, 2006.

Comissiong, Solomon W. F. How Jamal Discovered Hip-Hop Culture. New York: Xlibris, 2008.

Cornish, Melanie. The History of Hip Hop. New York: Crabtree, 2009.

Czekaj, Jef. Hip and Hop, Dont Stop! New York: Hyperion, 2010.

Haskins, Jim. One Nation Under a Groove: Rap Music and Its Roots. New York: Jump at the Sun, 2000.

Hatch, Thomas. A History of Hip-Hop: The Roots of Rap. Portsmouth, N.H.: Red Bricklearning, 2005.

Websites

Kanye Fast Site

www.kanyelive.com

Myspace: Kanye West

www.myspace.com/kanyewest

Official Kanye West

www.kanyewest.com

Kanye West

by C.F. Earl

Mason Crest

Kanye West

Mason Crest 370 Reed Road Broomall, Pennsylvania 19008 www.masoncrest.com

Copyright 2013 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

First printing
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Earl, C. F.

Kanye West / by C.F. Earl.

p. cm. (Superstars of hip-hop)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-4222-2533-2 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4222-2508-0 (series hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4222-2559-2 (softcover) ISBN 978-1-4222-9235-8 (ebook)

1. West, Kanye-Juvenile literature. 2. Rap musicians-United States-Biography-Juvenile literature. I. Title.

ML3930.W42E27 2012

782.421649092dc22

[B]

2011005808

Produced by Harding House Publishing Services, Inc.

www.hardinghousepages.com

Interior Design by MK Bassett-Harvey.

Cover design by Torque Advertising & Design.

Publishers notes:

All quotations in this book come from original sources and contain the spelling and grammatical inconsistencies of the original text.

The Web sites mentioned in this book were active at the time of publication. The publisher is not responsible for Web sites that have changed their addresses or discontinued operation since the date of publication. The publisher will review and update the Web site addresses each time the book is reprinted.

DISCLAIMER: The following story has been thoroughly researched, and to the best of our knowledge, represents a true story. While every possible effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the publisher will not assume liability for damages caused by inaccuracies in the data, and makes no warranty on the accuracy of the information contained herein. This story has not been authorized nor endorsed by Kanye West.

Contents

Hip-Hop lingo

A recording is a sound or video that has been saved on a computer or a CD.

A producer is the person in charge of putting together songs. A producer makes the big decisions about the music.

Beats are the basic rhythms or pulse of a piece of music.

An album is a group of songs collected together on a CD.

Today, Kanye West is one of raps biggest stars. His music has touched millions of people. His songs can be heard on the radio and on TV. You can see his face in magazines and on websites.

Few artists are as loved and hated as Kanye West. Hes reached great heights with his music. But hes also made people angry about the things hes said in public. Like him or not, Kanye West seems to be everywhere.

Kanyes life wasnt always so amazing. He was just like a lot of other kids growing up. He had big dreams, though. He didnt just want to become a rapper. He wanted to be the biggest, best rapper that ever lived.

Dreaming Big

Kanye Omari West was born on June 8, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia. His mother, Dr. Donda West, was an English professor. In Atlanta, she taught English at Clark Atlanta University. Kanyes father, Ray West, was a photographer for a newspaper.

Kanyes father, Ray was a member of the Black Panthers. Active from the late 1960s to early 1970s, the Black Panthers was a controversial African American political group. Its goal was to end white domination and better the lives of African Americans.

Kanye was three years old when his parents split up. Kanye and his mom moved to Chicago. Donda started teaching at Chicago State University. Kanye spent summers with his dad in Atlanta.

Kanye loved to entertain people. When he was ten, he and his mother moved to China for a year. Donda worked at Nanjing University. When he lived in China, Kanye would entertain people on the street. Hed try to earn some money for ice cream. Hed show off his martial arts moves to anyone who wanted to watch.

After he moved back to the United States, kids teased Kanye for having lived in China. They called him names like China Boy. But Kanye didnt care. By then, his love for entertaining people had focused on music.

Kanye was thirteen when he recorded his first song. It was called Green Eggs and Ham. To make the , he had to convince his mom to give him $25.

Then, Kanye talked his mom into lending him money for a keyboard. He was making more and more music. He started to go to concerts and clubs to see hip-hop artists perform.

When Kanye was fourteen, Donda met another teacher whose son was making music. Donda asked the other woman to introduce her son to Kanye. Donda knew Kanye was really getting into music. She thought he could use some help and advice. The other teachers son was No I.D. No I.D. was known for working with Chicago rapper Common.

When Kanye met No I.D., he was excited to learn everything he could about producing. No I.D. was older than Kanye. He thought maybe the younger boy was going to be trouble for him. But after a while, No I.D. saw that Kanye was learning a lot. He was becoming very good at making music.

No I.D. kept teaching Kanye things about producing songs. Kanye learned more and more. He used what he learned to make music.

Kanye dreamed of being a great rapper. He dreamed of being the next big thing in hip-hop. Kanye knew he wanted to make music. He just had to make it happen.

Run-DMC was one of hip-hops earliest and biggest success stories. Shown in this 2001 photo are (left to right) Darryl (DMC) McDaniel, Joseph (Run) Simmons, and Jason (Jam Master Jay) Mizell. Jam Master Jay was murdered in a shooting outside a recording studio in 2002.

Kanye Drops Out

Kanye graduated from Polaris High School. He did well in school, too. Education was very important to his mother and father. His mom had been a university professor all Kanyes life. His father had two degrees and also taught Kanye about the importance of education.