Kanye West

Ye (/jeɪ/ YAY; born Kanye Omari West; June 8, 1977), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential hip hop musicians of all time, as well as one of the greatest musicians of the 21st century.
== Background ==
Lupe Fiasco met Kanye shortly after West produced Beanie Sigel's "The Truth" (2000), though they never met through Chicago connections, but rather, in "the streets world." He noted, "We were more over here. But in Chicago it's a very small city. Doing different events you bump into people. We never really clicked up tough until maybe 'Touch the Sky.' That was even through my partner. I didn't even wanna do 'Touch the Sky.' [...] It was like, 'I'm over here, I don't do that.' My partner was like, 'Nah, you gotta trust me. You gotta do this.' Then from there on we kind of clicked up and kept it moving up until this day."Balfour, Jay (July 3, 2014). "Lupe Fiasco Says He Didn't Want to Appear on Kanye West's "Touch the Sky"". HipHop DX. He added to Complex, "It was one of the best decisions my manager ever made, because I was dead set on not doing that shit. [...] Me and Kanye go back very far. We weren't boys, we weren't homies, y'know? But he's always been Kanye. He's always been that dude to call you in the middle of the night, and be like, 'Yo what do you think of this verse?' And he was honest about that shit. I always respected Kanye because of that."Espinoza, Joshua (September 17, 2020). "Lupe Fiasco Says His Ferrari Deal Fell Through Because He Called Obama a 'Terrorist'". Complex.
According to Pound magazine, West made the decision to feature Fiasco because he wanted "people that put fear in my heart, that scare me." When Fiasco created a freestyle to his "Diamonds from Sierra Leone," West said, "Lupe is so ill that me and Jay had to tell him to hold back a little, don't give 'em too much information."
In another interview, Fiasco said, "[W]e didn't meet like on 'oh let's do some songs together' it was me like 'yo what's up' and that was that. Then over the years we started to like link up and do different things together. Actually, before he was signed to Roc-A-Fella I was signed to Arista. And we were actually trying to get Kanye signed to Arista so it's a relationship that goes back and forth.""Lupe Fiasco". DUBCNN. June 2006. Fiasco recalled a memory of West's career beginnings, "We brought 'Ye into Arista to showcase for L.A. Reid before Roc-A-Fella. [...] When [Kanye] stopped [rapping], L.A. was like, 'You should stick to making music, stick to making beats.'"Ahmed, Insanul (February 19, 2021). "Lupe Fiasco Recalls How L.A. Reid Once Trashed Kanye West's Rapping". Genius.
In 2006, West appeared onstage with Fiasco for his concert at SOB's.
On September 3, 2006, West performed at Bumbershoot in Seattle, Washington. Mid-show, he declared, "You know, there's no bigger thrill in my life than to help out up-and-coming emcees," before Fiasco came onstage as a surprise for the audience, and performed two songs from Food & Liquor."Kanye's Surprise Guest: Lupe Fiasco". Spin. September 4, 2006.
Both were part of the hip hop supergroup, Child Rebel Soldier, along with Pharrell Williams, where all three went on West's Glow in the Dark Tour in 2008.
On June 8, 2010, Fiasco, West, and Common performed at Farragut Career Academy in Chicago, Illinois, which also happened to coincide with West's 33rd birthday. The concert was an award for the school winning the distinction by Culture of Change's contest for "most reformed" school in the district."Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Common Perform at Turned-Around Farragut Career Academy (Video)". Huffpost'. June 9, 2010.
West has faced criticism for his public support of at-the-time U.S. president Donald Trump. In April 2018, a fan called out to Fiasco, stating he was their only hope. Fiasco responded for them to turn to Kendrick Lamar or J. Cole instead. Fiasco also expressed his opinion of Trump, "Trump is a terrible human being. Period point blank...All that caping and copping pleas is cool because we in a free country and do what you want??! 🤷🏾‍♂️ but based on universal laws of goodness dude is a fucking demon who makes all of the world a worse off place to be." When a fan asked for him to contact Kanye, he responded, "I love Ye...however the only reason I'd talk to him is so that I could tell him to give Cudi the phone." He continued, "No ill will to Ye in any way...all things reciprocated etc..seen his trials and tribulations and can't take anything away from his journey...remember this the same dude that when he speaks US Presidents respond. Don't forget about Katrina cuz you don't like his tweets." This referred to the time when West spoke on how black people were treated, with the accusation, "George Bush doesn't care about black people".Pimentel, Julia (April 25, 2018). "Lupe Fiasco Responds to Fan Who Brought Up Kanye: 'Y'all Gotta Figure That Out'". Complex.
In May 2018, when West faced backlash for his comment of slavery being a choice, Fiasco posted a three-part video over Twitter that added context to this remark. Fiasco shared some history, "Slavery was a choice. Because you either had the choice of death or work. Understand that slaves were humans. They were subject to all type of torture. It wasn't as simple as when you got to America now you got the choice to either be this or be that."Findlay, Mitch (May 2, 2018). "Lupe Fiasco Drops Some Historical Knowledge On Kanye West". HotNewHipHop"].
In 2020, he said of West, "I got my first deal in 2000, I didn't meet Kanye until 2003-4, some shit like that ... Everybody was helping Kanye. Everybody. Well, not everybody, but it was a bunch of motherfuckers helping Kanye, which I think is something that doesn't get told a lot. Whether it was n***as helping him write his raps, n***as helping him with music, n***as helping him with deals—all kinds of shit. So Kanye is a product of a bunch of n***as, everybody in the city has helped everybody else." He acknowledged West as "one of the greatest artists of all-time" though disagreed on the political views, stating, "You validated Trump. N***a, that shit's not cool." Concerning West's desire to run for president, he responded, "He's already achieved enough in music. There's nothing more you can do. He's made his billion. It just becomes like, what do you want to do next? And if he chooses to do it, and he can pull it off? I won't vote for him. But I support his right to want to do that. And I will hope that he just has a better way of explaining some of the stuff that he says."Virk, Kameron (July 26, 2020). "Lupe Fiasco: America's influence in the world is 'dwindling'". BBC.
== Discography ==
=== Singles ===
Title 	Year	Album
"Touch the Sky" 	2006	Late Registration
"Black Skinhead"	2013	Yeezus
=== Guest appearances ===
Title 	Year 	Other artist(s)	Album
"Touch the Sky (Remix)" 	Lupe Fiasco, The LOX 	2006 	RBK Artist Spotlight Vol.1
"Touch the Sky" (Live) 	Lupe Fiasco 	2006 	Late Orchestration
"This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race (Remix)" 	Fall Out Boy, Lupe Fiasco, Travis McCoy, Paul Wall, Skinhead Rob, Tyga, Lil Wayne	2007 	Infinity on High
"Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom) (Remix)"	N.E.R.D., Lupe Fiasco, Pusha T 	2008 	Seeing Sounds
"Don't Look Down" 	Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def, Big Sean 	2010 	G.O.O.D. Fridays
=== Music videos ===
Title 	Year	Director(s)
"Touch the Sky" 	2006	Chris Milk
"Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom) (Remix)"	2008	Hype Williams
== References ==
Category:Collaborators
Category:People
Category:Producers
Category:Songwriters
Category:Rappers