Kanye West

“It's hard being a Lupe fan, go to Harvard to be a Lupe stan.”This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia.The original article was at Kanye West. The list of authors can be seen in the page history.Category

## **Kanye West**

### **Born**

Kanye Omari West
June 8, 1977 (age 46)
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.

### **Other names**

* Yeezus
* Ye
* Saint Pablo
* Yeezy

### **Occupations**

* Rapper
* singer
* songwriter
* record producer
* fashion designer

## **Musical career**

### **Genres**

* Hip hop
* progressive rap
* pop
* art pop

### **Labels**

* GOOD
* Def Jam
* Rock-A-Fella
* Mercury

### **Website**

kanyewest.com

**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

> Kanye always had something. He always had a drive and his music always had energy. He was working on an album prior to *College Dropout*, and that was the album he was shopping. He had all these amazing records. Kanye's music always had this certain quality where you knew it was going to be something someday. It really wasn't a surprise, it was just a matter of him getting the attention. And when he got it, he took off.
>
> Lupe Fiasco to *Verbicide* in 2006

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." 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."

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." 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.'"

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*.

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.

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".

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."

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."

## Discography

### Music videos

 "Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom) (Remix)"(N.E.R.D. featuring Kanye West, Pusha T and Lupe Fiasco) | 2008

## References

1. ↑ Mitra, Avir (November 7, 2006). "Interview: Lupe Fiasco". *Verbicide*.
2. ↑ Balfour, Jay (July 3, 2014). "Lupe Fiasco Says He Didn't Want to Appear on Kanye West's "Touch the Sky"". *HipHop DX*.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Espinoza, Joshua (September 17, 2020). "Lupe Fiasco Says His Ferrari Deal Fell Through Because He Called Obama a 'Terrorist'". *Complex*.
4. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco". *DUBCNN*. June 2006.
5. ↑ Ahmed, Insanul (February 19, 2021). "Lupe Fiasco Recalls How L.A. Reid Once Trashed Kanye West's Rapping". *Genius*.
6. ↑ "Kanye's Surprise Guest: Lupe Fiasco". *Spin*. September 4, 2006.
7. ↑ "Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Common Perform at Turned-Around Farragut Career Academy (Video)". *Huffpost'*. June 9, 2010.
8. ↑ Pimentel, Julia (April 25, 2018). "Lupe Fiasco Responds to Fan Who Brought Up Kanye: 'Y'all Gotta Figure That Out'". *Complex*.
9. ↑ Findlay, Mitch (May 2, 2018). "Lupe Fiasco Drops Some Historical Knowledge On Kanye West". *HotNewHipHop"].*
10. ↑ Virk, Kameron (July 26, 2020). "Lupe Fiasco: America's influence in the world is 'dwindling'". *BBC*.