Kanye West Case Study

Kanye West

Kanye West, also referred to as Yeezus, is one of the most successful artists of all time having sold over 21 million albums and 100 million digital downloads. In this blog I'll be looking into what has caused his large success.

After dropping out of Chicago State University to pursue his dream of becoming a producer and rapper in 1998, it took a few years for Kanye to establish himself on the music scene, only doing minor producing work (for example Beanie Sigel's song, The Truth). However, in 2001 Kanye produced 6 songs for Jay-Z's album Blueprint and it was this that set Kanye going, with him being signed to Roc-A-Fella Records by Jay-Z and Damon Dash the following year. 

In 2003 we saw the first of many rants that would occur in Kanye's career, after he defended himself as a rapper and not just a producer. And following on from this he released his first album The College Dropout in 2004. It debuted #2 in the charts and with bit hits such as Jesus Walks and All Falls Down, Kanye became a well known as a hip-hop artist in the music industry. However, he continued to produce and in the same year founded G.O.O.D. Music with Common & John Legend being the first 2 artists signed.

His following 3 albums: Late Registration, Graduation and 808s and Heartbreak were all successful, furthering his achievement in the music industry; however, following this Kanye seemed to intensify his sound. These past four albums, though part of the rap genre, had a much pop-ier sound than his next solo album Yeezus, which featured very little of this up-beat style. This slight tweak in style led to the album achieving number one in over 40 countries and is representative of the Kanye West we see currently; the parallel being the much more intense sound showing a man happy to cause controversy and with strong views.

Throughout his career he has caused controversy with strong views in both the music industry and on global issues: two examples being when he claimed "George Bush doesn't care about black people"

Or when he stormed the stage at the 2009 VMA's claiming Beyonce should have won the award not Taylor Swift. And during this years VMA's he's announced he'll run for presidency in the 2020 elections, furthering fuelling his large egotistical nature.

He has always had a fiery relationship with the media, lashing out at paparazzi on several occasions. But despite all his outbursts, which one would argue could end a career, Kanye has utilized them to get himself noticed, in a way that has allowed for huge success.

Fashion has a large influence on Kanye's career. He has no particular style that he adheres to; however, he usually avoids the stereotypical rapper attire of sleeveless shirts and jeans. For example, in Runaway he's sporting a tux, whereas in Mercy he's in much darker clothing.

What is noticeable though is, as his music has subtly changed so has his styling, with his clothing moving from less hip-hop (for example the 'shutter shade' sunglasses he made infamous in Stronger) to more unique, somewhat 'rough and ready' attire.

In total Kanye West has won 89 awards (21 of these being from the Grammy's) and had 352 nominations. Though not always popular for his seemingly spontaneous outbursts, his music continues to receive massive praise, with him now one of the most influential music artists of our time.

Such is the influence of Kanye that you can see many artists pick up traits from his successful career. In fact, many big hits of recent times have either been produced by Kanye or have been inspired by Kanye in some way (E.g. Beyonce, The Game, Ludacris, John Legend, Jay-Z etc).