In 1977, there was a legendary occurrence. June 8th, 1977 marks the birth of Kanye Omari West, one of the most influential people in the world today.
Despite being born in Atlanta Georgia, West represents the Windy City of Chicago, Illinois. West was talented as a young rapper, and was eventually discovered by rapper; Jay Z. West then produced many tracks for Jay Z up until his debut and arguably most popular album, The College Dropout in 2004. West’s album shook the rap industry as the young emcee burst onto the scene and won Best Rap Album for The College Dropout. This album is how senior Ally Harris-Zeballos first found out about Mr. West.
“My favorite song is ‘All Falls Down,’” Harris-Zeballos said.
West did not bask in the glory of his first award-winning album for long, as he dropped Late Registration a year later, and then Graduation in 2007. It was Graduation that caught the attention of juniors Josh Baines and Stephen Fike.
“I found out about Graduation and it introduced me to him,” Baines said.
Graduation included hit songs like “Stronger,” “Good Morning, and “Good Life.” This album was also extremely popular and made Kanye West a household name.
That same year, West’s mother died which left him devastated. A year later, West released the emotional album, 808’s and Heartbreaks. This is the album which led senior, Lauren Ball to recognize the great talent that West possesses.
“I found out about him through 808’s and Heartbreaks because my brother loved that album,” Ball said.
West’s next two solo albums were My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which dropped in 2010, and Yeezus, which was released in 2012. The public approved of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but they viewed Yeezus as West’s worst work to date.
The public is also extremely critical of West’s brash and arrogant attitude.
“He’s a great artist, he has talent, but sometimes it goes to his head. He’s kind of full of himself,” Fike said.
This point of view is very critical, as West is everything that he says he is. Harris-Zeballos also has a very cavillous opinion of West.
“I like his old stuff, but now he’s not original. I prefer Drake over him.”
Drake? Really? Harris-Zeballos prefers a man named Aubrey over Yeezy himself. As outlandish as her statements of West are, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion.
Despite thinking of West as a cool guy, Ball has an extremely critical opinion of Yeezy the Great.
“I hate his music – it all sounds the same, and I hate his clothes. I could make his clothes in my basement,” Ball said.
Ball does, however, love West’s wife Kim Kardashian, saying that she just really loves Kim.
The only person with an accepting opinion of Kanye is Fike.
“He inspires me to be myself, but if I could say anything to him, I would tell him that [he’s] a baller, but [he’s] gotta chill.