A man once said, “For me, money is not my definition of success. Inspiring people is a definition of success.” This man was Kanye West.
Kanye West, or Ye, is an American producer, rapper, and designer. He is one of, if not the most, influential and most recognizable figures in today’s media for his incredible music, amazing style, unique personality, beautifully crafted albums, and more. Although some do not believe this, many do.
Porter High School’s Principal, Dr. Condarco himself expressed some of his opinions on him. “I remember Kanye West when I was in college,” he said. “He’s been around for a while and I know he’s had an impact on the music industry, specifically hip-hop, but not only that however just in general.”
Over the years Kanye has had a lot of impact on the music industry. He grew up in Chicago and even went to Chicago State University for a year before dropping out to pursue music. When he started he moved to New York City and worked for Roc-A-Fella Records and helped with production on Jay-Z’s album Blueprint. At first he struggled with making his own recordings due to him coming from a middle class background, but finally did it releasing his debut solo album, The College Dropout in 2004. It was very successful for its clever wordplay, which was a mix of humor, faith, and political awareness.
Later on he made songs from multiple genres of music and was still known for his powerful lyrics. Mr. Condarco’s favorite Kanye song, “Heartless” for example came out during this time as well as Coach Jackson’s favorite, “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”. Many popular artists such as Big Sean, Chance the Rapper, Logic, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake have expressed that they are influenced by Ye. “At the end of the day, I look up to Ye,” Drake said. “… He’s a major influence if not the biggest influence in my career. Kanye has mentored me through his decisions and I study the game overall, but him very closely.”
Aside from his musical ability, Ye gained fame for his comment, “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people” on live news during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. George Bush later characterized this as one of the worst moments of his presidency. He also rushed on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards, preempting popular artist Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for best female video, declaring it should have been Beyonce’s. Video footage of this went viral and had a lot of negative feedback. He later made a series of apologetic videos. He spent much of 2009 trying to rehabilitate his image after these mishaps, however after he did he dropped multiple albums of music that people seemed to love. Overtime he won 24 Grammys and was nominated for 75.
In the spring of 2012 Kanye became romantically involved with Kim Kardashian, a reality-television star. In May 2014 the two would get married only lasting until March of 2022. They do however share four kids: North West (10), Saint West (7), Chicago West (5), and Psalm West (4). The separation was said to be “amicable.” Kim wanted joint legal and physical custody of their four children, which Kanye has agreed to and are now maintaining a friendly relationship while successfully co-parenting their children. Ye still, however, talks about how he loves and misses the beautiful wife of his children, Kim.
In 2015 he released a collection with Adidas, Yeezy, starting his long-waited fashion line. This features men’s and women’s street-wear, including oversize sweaters, military and surplus inspired jackets, sneakers, boots, and more. “…he has had the greatest impact on modern fashion because of his distinct aesthetic from other rappers’ aesthetics, his real effect on sneaker culture, and how rappers define masculinity as a whole. Rapper Kanye West stood out among others for his sense of style.” L’utopia Magazine exclaims.
Andrew Romero, a student at Porter High School said, “His older outfits are the best of all time, but his new clothes are crazy. I personally also believe this, however I myself am more into street-wear rather than more creative clothing. Mr. Condarco also mentioned his very know impact on the fashion industry.
Others such as Complex say, “Ye has changed the fashion industry on a business level, but he also shifted the way people dressed and established the dominating silhouette and color palette with each of his eras, whether that was making everyone consider elongated tops, skinny denim, and suede chelsea boots in the 2010s or introducing earth-toned tops with boxy, cropped fits as part of his Yeezy Season 1 line in 2015. For close to two decades, Kanye has changed how we all approach fashion and get dressed.” Micheal Jackson was a super-fan of Kanye and had serious style envy for the rapper. In fact, the legend himself apparently called Kanye to ask about the jacket that he wore in his Stronger music video.
Many teachers and students of Porter High School expressed their overall opinion on Kanye as well. “He’s the goat bruh,” Andrew Romero exclaimed. “He changed the game. He has been through so much and he just makes beautiful music; there’s just so many pieces to his music.” Romero’s favorite album is “Late Registration” or “Yeezus” because, “…it’s beautiful and crazy. There’s a whole other vibe to it; he completely changed the music industry. Another student, Aiden Guttiere’s opinions were not exactly the same. When asked what his opinion on Kanye West was he answered, “Not that great. He was good but nowhere near top ten.” He then compares him to JayZ and states that, “any Kanye song that is good, Jayz made it and he was just a feature.” He said music aside, Kanye in general is horrible.
Teachers in Porter High School gave up their opinions as well. “ I think he is an individual who has some troubles and maybe should seek some help. I think he has had a lot of good music over the years. I think some of the things he has said outside of music has taken away from what he has done,” Mr.Fortenberry said. “The songs that I can remember best, probably because they came out at a very formative part of my life, were “Gold Digger” and “Jesus Walks.” Coach Jackson said, “He’s obviously had a huge impact and he’s sold millions of albums people love: “808 and Heartbreaks.” When asked what his favorite song is he said, “‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing”, that’s the best one.”
All in all Kanye West is definitely talented to say the least. No matter if you like or do not like him, you have definitely heard his name before. You know who he is, whether that be from his music that you love, or his music that you hate, or even just his fashion. He has had a big impact on the world around us. He has had his mistakes and has changed a lot over the course of the last few years, but he still is one of the most recognizable figures in today’s society.
