Rapper. Fashionista. Icon. Entrepreneur. The list goes on, but one thing is for sure: Ye is a revolutionary, and someone our generation will speak of for years. Born in Atlanta and raised in the Windy City, the famous Trump supporter grew up breaking trends.
As a producer in the early 2000’s, he began his career producing for artists the likes of Jay-Z and Ludacris, and even Alicia Keys. He founded GOOD Records, which has artists such as John Legend, Big Sean, Pusha T, Travis Scott, and Pusha T. Among other ventures, he had an exploratory brand named DONDA that would “carry on where Steve Jobs left off”, a food company called KW Foods LLC, which owns the rights to 9 Fatburger restaurants. From there, his vision as a creative, his marriage to tv personality Kim Kardashian, and his outspoken political views skyrocketed him to the top.
Building his brand as he went, Ye’s fashion sense led to a partnership with Adidas, and from there, the brand Yeezy was born. Selling shpoes for over $800 a pair in some circumstances, the rare and elite shoes draw crowds from around the world to wait for their releases like the diligent fans they are.
West also founded the Kanye West Foundation, combating school dropout rates in Chicago. In addition, “West has additionally appeared and participated in many fundraisers, benefit concerts, and has done community work for Hurricane Katrina relief, the Kanye West Foundation, the Milllions More Movement, 100 Black MEn of America, a Live Earth concert benefit, World War Day rally and march, Nike runs, a Hurricane Sandy benefit concert, and an MTV special helping young Iraq War veterans who struggle through debt and PTSD a second chance after returning home. ”
With an album about to release (fingers crossed), the momentum for the man who realized that your attitude determines your latitude is only climbing. How refreshing it is that an artist as mainstream as Ye publishes an album entitled “Jesus is King” in 2019. He has no handlers. He only fears God.
Ye is one of the greatest artists of all time. I did not realize how successful he was with his adidas brand though. The fact that he can sell a pair of shoes for $800 is astonishing to me. Great piece Justin, keep up the good work.
Ye is truly so much more than an artist. Thank you for giving a summary of all the amazing and variety of things Kanye has done in his life. Its amazing how many different markets from Clothing to food, he is successful in. Mr West’s music will always be at the top of my list and i hope his new album is an absolute banger.
I did not know where Yeezy’s got their name so this article was fascinating. It was so cool to see someone in so many different industries who is successful in all of them. It is also cool that he is christian and values God in a very secular age. I might need to check out some of the new music on that album.
Its crazy how much of an impact one person can have on a market. He has created such a high value on his shoes, before they were even popular, which makes them as expensive as they are today. I honestly didn’t know the backstory to this which was pretty cool!
Kanye’s career has really shifted throughout the years and he has become a huge role model to a lot of people. Before his political stance and new profound Christianity, people just thought of him as another Hollywood millionaire, but he uses his celebrity platform for good. I also did not know about his Kanye West Foundation and all the people he helps with that, and that is super cool.