West began making beats and rapping in the early 90s in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, when he formed the rap group Go Getters with Chicago natives GLC and Really Doe. He later gained nationwide popularity through his work in New York, where he began producing tracks for artists such as Jay-Z, Twista, Mase, Talib Kweli and Alicia Keys.
West's style of production often utilizes pitched-up vocal samples, usually from soul songs, with his drums and instruments. The first major label song he produced was The Truth by Beanie Sigel, and his first major release featuring his trademark vocal sampling style was This Can’t Be Life, a track from Jay-Z’s The Dynasty: Roc La Familia. West said he sped up the drum beat of Dr. Dre’s Xxplosive to use as a replacement for his drums on This Can’t Be Life.
West has said that Wu-Tang Clan producer RZA influenced him in his style, and has said on numerous occasions that Wu-Tang rappers Ghostface Killah and Ol’ Dirty Bastard were some of his all-time favorites. Said Kanye West: “Wu-Tang? Me and my friends talk about this all the time… We think Wu-Tang had one of the biggest impacts as far as a movement. From slang to style of dress, skits, the samples. Similar to the [production] style I use, RZA has been doing that.”
In 2004 (after being pushed aside by many record companies who felt he wasn't a marketable hip-hop artist), he managed to release his debut solo album, The College Dropout on Roc-A-Fella Records. The album received critical acclaim, including 10 Grammy nominations and the awards for Album of the Year and Best Rap Album, as well as defining the style for which West would become known: "wordplay" and heavy sampling of the 70s soul and RnB tracks.
Not content to rest on his laurels, West invested two million dollars and hired a string orchestra to help with his latest effort, Late Registration (2005). West collaborated with Jon Brion to help develop the sound of the album, despite his lack of experience in hip hop production. The album received widespread acclaim like its predecessor and again claimed the Best Rap Album award at the Grammys.
West was no stranger to controversy, such as storming out at the 2004 American Music Awards after not receiving Best New Artist, but just days after the release of his second studio album, West began embroiled in a major controversy after going off-script during Hurricane Katrina broadcast, proclaiming "George Bush doesn't care about black people", which Bush claimed was "one the most disgusting moments of my presidency". In January 2006, West posed on the cover of Rolling Stone wearing a crown of thorns, once again attracting controversy.
For his third release, West was keen to produce songs that could be used more effectively when performing in arenas. For Graduation, the third and ultimately final entry into his 'Dropout Bear' series, West drew musical inspiration from The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. In the lead up to the album he became involved in a friendly rivalry with 50 Cent over which of the two artists' upcoming albums would sell more, as they were both released on the same day. West ultimately sold 957,000 copies in the first week of release, outselling Curtis by a large margin. The albums lead single "Stronger" sampled Daft Punk, and was West's third number one on Billboard 200. Many proclaim West's 'victory' over 50 Cent to be the 'death' of gangster rap as the dominant hip hop subgenre.
Following the death of his mother, Donda West, and the end of his engagement to long term partner Alexis Phifer, West abandoned his initial plan to release a fourth album entitled Good Ass Job, and shocked his fans by releasing 808s and Heartbreak, which was full of autotune singing, extensive use of the TR-808 drum machine, themes of love, loss and loneliness and very little rapping. It received slightly more mixed reviews than his previous efforts, but many critics cite 808s and Heartbreak as the catalyst for a new wave of rappers, most prominently Drake, due to its themes which were uncommon in mainstream hip-hop.
West's grief seemed to lead to a spiral out of control which culminated in him storming on stage at the 2009 VMAs to interrupt Taylor Swift's award acceptance speech to proclaim that Beyoncé deserved the award instead, in a move that is infamous in pop culture and was vilified by the entire world in the aftermath. West disappeared from the public eye following this, and his upcoming tour with Lady Gaga was cancelled. The disgraced West, who was described as a 'jackass' by President Obama, seemed to have much work to do to return to the his former glory, but he was about to embark on what some critics consider to be the best run of his career.
West holed up in Hawaii for a few months and worked tirelessly to produce what many consider to be his magnum opus. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, West's fifth studio album, was released in November 2010 to rave reviews from critics, which solidified his comeback. In stark contrast to his previous effort, which featured a minimalist sound, Dark Fantasy adopts a maximalist philosophy and deals with themes of celebrity and excess. The record included the international hit All of the Lights, and Billboard hits Power, Monster, and Runaway, the latter of which accompanied a 35-minute film of the same name. During this time, West initiated the free music program G.O.O.D. Fridays through his website, offering a free download of previously unreleased songs each Friday of the week, a portion of which were included on the album. Dark Fantasy went on to go platinum in the United States, but its omission as a contender for Album of the Year at the 54th Grammy Awards was viewed as a "snub" by several media outlets.
Following a headlining set at Coachella 2011 that was described by The Hollywood Reporter as "one of greatest hip-hop sets of all time," West released the collaborative album Watch the Throne with Jay-Z. By employing a sales strategy that released the album digitally weeks before its physical counterpart, Watch the Throne became one of the few major label albums in the Internet age to avoid a leak. Niggas in Paris became the record's highest charting single, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2012, West released the compilation album Cruel Summer, a collection of tracks by artists from West's record label GOOD Music. Cruel Summer produced four singles, two of which charted within the top twenty of the Hot 100: Mercy and Clique. West also directed a film of the same name that premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in custom pyramid-shaped screening pavilion featuring seven screens.
Sessions for West's sixth solo effort begin to take shape in early 2013 in his own personal loft's living room at a Paris hotel. Determined to "undermine the commercial," he once again brought together close collaborators and attempted to incorporate Chicago drill, dancehall, acid house, and industrial music. Primarily inspired by architecture, West's perfectionist tendencies led him to contact producer Rick Rubin fifteen days shy of its due date to strip down the record's sound in favor of a more minimalist approach. Initial promotion of his sixth album included worldwide video projections of the album's music and live television performances.
Yeezus, West's sixth album, was released June 18, 2013 to rave reviews from critics. It became the rapper's sixth consecutive number one debut. Def Jam issued "Black Skinhead" to radio in July 2013 as the album's lead single. On September 6, 2013, Kanye West announced he would be headlining his first solo tour in five years, to support Yeezus, with fellow American rapper Kendrick Lamar, accompanying him along the way.
In November 2013, West stated that he was working on and recording his next studio album. The album was to be produced by Rick Rubin and Q-Tip.. Kanye released a single entitled "Only One", on December 31, 2014 featuring Paul McCartney, as well as collaborating with McCartney on the Rihanna track " FourFiveSeconds", released in January 2015. West appeared on the SNL 40th Anniversary Special on February 15th 2015 to debut a new song Wolves, featuring Sia Furler and Vic Mensa. Another single, entitled "All Day" was released on March 2, 2015, again featuring McCartney as well as Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom. In June of the same year, Kanye headlined the Glastonbury Festival in the UK, which garnered much outrage including a petition with 135,000 signatures against his appearance, leading to West declaring he was "the greatest living rock star on the planet" towards the end of his set, and the performance receiving a mixed reaction among fans and critics, due to its controversy. In September 2015, West performed {album artist kanye west]808s and Heartbreak in its entirety at the Hollywood Bowl over two nights, which received rave reviews a featured a 60 person orchestra, guests such as Kid Cudi and Mr Hudson, and over 70 dancers. West released "Facts" at the turn of the new year.
West had originally stated that his upcoming album would be called 'So Help Me God' before changing the title to 'SWISH' and announcing that it would be released on February 11th. In January 2016 he released "Real Friends" and "No More Parties in LA", featuring Kendrick Lamar. As well as renaming the album once again to "Waves", West became involved in several twitter controversies in the lead up to the album, including with rapper Wiz Khalifa after he suggested that West had stolen the idea of the wave from other artists and seemingly dissed Kim Kardashian, which later turned out to be a misunderstanding over the use of "KK". West again changed the name of the album just days before it's release, this time to "{album artist=kanye west]The Life of Pablo", and debuted it at Madison Square Garden on February 11, but delayed it's release for a few days. On February 14, West released the album are a performance on SNL. West initially claimed the album was to be a Tidal exclusive, but it was later released on other streaming platforms, although it is yet to receive a physical release. West continued to tinker with the mixing and production of the album even after it was released, and it was updated several times, including the final song "Saint Pablo" in June 2016. West had also made public his plans to release an album in the summer of 2016, entitled "Turbo Grafx 16", based on the 1990s games console, which never surfaced, although he did release a single thought to be from the upcoming G.O.O.D. Music album "Cruel Winter", called Champions. In the same month, a video for "Famous" was released, including nude wax figures of celebrities such as West, Kim Kardashian, Taylor Swift, Donald Trump, Chris Brown, Rihanna, Bill Cosby and George W. Bush.
In August 2016, West embarked on the ambitious Saint Pablo Tour, which included a mobile stage suspended from the ceiling. After the violent robbery of Kim's jewellery in Paris in October, West had to end a show early and postpone shows following it. In the following performances, West cancelled shows early and went on long winded rants against fellow artists such as Jay Z and Beyoncé among others, as well as making controversial political statements including implying his support for Donald Trump. On November 21st 2016, West cancelled the rest of the tour and was hospitalised due to sleep deprivation and extreme dehydration. Following this, West disappeared from social media, and only resurfaced 11 months later with a series of tweets which included many philosophical thoughts and the announcements two albums in June 2018, a solo album which would include 7 tracks on June 1, and a collaboration with Kid Cudi to be released on June 8.
On August 29th, 2021, Kanye released his 10th highly anticipated studio release Donda via GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings after a series of three listening parties.
Personal life:
West was born in Atlanta, Georgia. When he was three years old (as mentioned in Hey Mama) his parents divorced, and he moved with his mother to Chicago, Illinois. His father, Ray West, was a former Black Panther; one of the first black photojournalists at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; and is now a Christian counselor. Kanye’s late mother, Dr. Donda West, worked as a Professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, and the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University before retiring to serve as Kanye’s manager. He was later raised in an upper middle class background, attending Polaris High School in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois after living in Chicago.
After attending The American Academy of Art, a Chicago art school, West attended Chicago State University but eventually dropped out due to poor grades and to continue working on his music career. While attending school, West produced for local artists, including on rapper Grav’s debut album Down to Earth. He later gained fame by producing hit singles for major hip hop/R&B artists, including Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Cam’ron, Paul Wall, Common, Mobb Deep, Jermaine Dupri, Scarface, The Game, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson and John Legend among others. He also “ghost-produced” for his once mentor Deric Angelettie according to his song Last Call and the credits of Nas’ Poppa Was a Playa.
West was married to Kim Kardashian. Together they had four children: daughters named North (*2013) and Chicago (*2018); and sons named Saint (*2015) and Psalm (*2019). In 2021, Kardashian filed for divorce.
In 2020, West launched an unsuccessful independent presidential campaign that primarily advocated for a consistent life ethic. In 2022, he faced backlash and lost a number of sponsors and partnerships—including his collaborations with Adidas, Gap, and Balenciaga—after making antisemitic statements.
The Food
Kanye West Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Got two kids
And my baby mamma late
Uh oh uh oh uh oh
And so I to did what I had to did
Cuz I had the kid
Duh oh duh oh duh oh
Up all night, gettin' my money right
Po po po po po po
Now the money comin' slow
But at least a nigga know slow motion better then
No No No
You love to hear the story again and again
About these young brothers from the City of Wind
Like juice and gin in the city we blend
Amongst the hustle Titties and skin 50's and rims
Y'all know the Sprewell's and trucks with detail
Heartless females that wanna ride in 'em
Felt the southside venom with rawhides and denim
Bent minds collide with 'em in a system that tries victims
We livin' it my man in the fast lane pivotin'
On the block yo they sellin' like Eminem
On the block get jumped off like him and them
On the block is hot you can feel it in your skinenen
Shorties get the game with no instructions supersymbolin'
Eyes right it seems like the fight is dimmin' 'em
Come my man kuzzle like I'm kin' to him
He tryin' to stay straight, the streets is bendin' him
I walked in the crib
Got two kids
And my baby mamma late
Uh oh uh oh uh oh
And so I to did what I had to did
Cuz I had the kid
Duh oh duh oh duh oh
I'm up all night, gettin' my money right
until the blue and white's
Po po po po po po
Now the money comin' slow
But at least a nigga know slow motion better then
No No No
It's all good in the hood like
Rags and Timbs
Throwbacks and Timbs
Blacks and Rims
Whether on ball courts and tires of all sorts
We never fall short
With us, it's all force
Like And 1's someway some hand guns
The days the fam one is all over for
Cash is colder than fobolobo
But self I go toe to toe
Wonderin' if it's for the art of for the dough
Though I know to grow a nigga gotta learn to let go
Though I know the dough I gotta bring back to the ghetto
Arrows on tarot cards pointing to the grind
More livin in more prisons
Pointing to my mind
Shine the light up
Clench my fist tight holdin' the right up
Freedom fightin dark year for the years to get brighter
Situations that jaws get tighter
My man tried to get his way...
I walked in the crib
Got two kids
And my baby mamma late
Uh oh uh oh uh oh
And so I had to did what I had to did
Cuz I had the kid
Duh oh duh oh duh oh
Up all night, gettin' my money right
until the blue and white's
Po po po po po po
Now the money comin' slow
But at least a nigga know slow motion better then
No No No
Hey yo I, I know I could make it right
If I could just swallow my pride
But I can't run away
You put my gun away
You can't front on me
I, no I can't let it ride
No no not tonight
No I can't run away
You put my gun away
You can't front on me
The song "The Food" by Kanye West featuring Common is a tribute to their hometown, Chicago. The chorus talks about the struggles of being a father to two kids with a "baby mama late," and the pressure of having to provide for his family. Kanye emphasizes the importance of making money, even if it means working all night, and acknowledges that the money may come slowly, but it's better than having no income at all.
Common's verses detail the harsh realities of living in Chicago's inner city. He raps about the lure of money, women, and material possessions that often leads young men astray. He also describes the oppressive nature of the criminal justice system and the struggles of those trying to make an honest living despite limited opportunities. The repeated phrase "you can't front on me" represents a defiant refusal to allow external pressures to dictate one's life.
Overall, "The Food" is a powerful commentary on the difficulties of surviving in a city plagued by poverty, violence, and systemic injustice. Kanye and Common's lyrics paint a vivid picture of life in Chicago, while also highlighting the resilience and determination of those who refuse to be defeated by their circumstances.
Line by Line Meaning
I walked in the crib, got two kids
And my baby mama late (uh oh! uh oh! uh oh!)
So I had to did, what I had to did
Cause I had to get (duh-ough! duh-ough! duh-ough!)
Kanye West is a father who just arrived home to take care of his two children because their mother is running late. He has to do what he needs to do to provide for them and make sure they are taken care of.
I'm up all night, getting my money right
Until the blue and white (po po! po po! po po!)
Now the money coming slow, but a least a nigga know
Slow motion better than (no-oh! no-oh! no-oh!)
Kanye West is working tirelessly throughout the night to ensure his financial stability. Despite the slow pace, he's grateful that he is making progress, even if it is slow. He thinks it's better than not making any progress at all.
You love to hear the story, again and again
About these young brothers, from the City of Wind
Like juice and gin, in the city we blend
Amongst the hustle, titties and skin, fifties and rims
Y'all know the Sprewells and trucks that's detailed
Heartless females that wanna ride in em
Felt the southside venom in raw hides and denim
Pimp minds collide wit em, a system that tries victims
We living in, my man in the fast lane pivoting
On the block white is selling like Eminem
On the block it "Jump Off" like Kim and them
On the block it's hot, you can feel it, in your skin and then
Shorties get the game but no instructions to assembling
Eyes bright, it seems like the fight is dimming them
Call my man cuzo, like I'm kin to him
He trying to stay straight, the streets is bending him
Common is telling a story about young men living in the City of Wind, Chicago, where there is a mix of deprivation and materialism, and a system that preys on its victims. It's a place where young people learn street smarts but don't learn how to assemble a successful future. The fast pace and life of the streets is sometimes too difficult to handle for one of Common's friends.
It's all good in the hood, like raps and gems
Throwbacks and Timbs, blacks and rims
Whether on ball courts, attires of all sorts
We never fall short, wit us it's our Force like And 1's
Some waves, some air guns, the days of the fair one is over for
Cats is colder than four below, wit self I go toe to toe
Wondering if it's for the art or for the doe
Though I know to grow a nigga gotta learn to let go
Though I know the doe I got to bring back to the ghetto
Arrows on Terot cards pointing to the grind
Po' livin in more prisons, pointing to my mind, shine the light up
Clench my fists tight, holding the right up
Freedom fight in dark gear for the years to get brighter
Situations, and jobs get tighter
My man trying to get his weight and height up, c'mon!
Common reflects on the lives of those in the hood except rappers and drug dealers who are living a satisfying life. There is a sense of growing despair among the youth, who no longer live in the world of the 'fair one' but in a more brutal reality of criminality. Common sees himself as an example of someone who has learned to let go of the past and is searching for ways of building a better future for himself and the poorer minority communities.
I - I know I could make it right
If I could just swallow my pride
But I can't run away or put my gun away
You can't front on me
I - no I can't let it ride
No no not tonight
See I can't run away or put my gun away
You can't front on me
Kanye West feels frustrated by his current situation and believes he could make it right if he swallowed his pride. But, he can't let go of his beliefs or leave his weapon behind, as he feels that others would take advantage of him if he did.
I break bread wit thieves and pastors, OG's and masters
Emcees and actors that seize and capture
Moments like the camcorder
You ain't killin it, yo that's man-slaughter
Though paper can't change a man's aura
It can feed a man's daughter
I stand for the blue collar, on the side making a few dollars
Like Sam Jack they maneuver through drama like
Common describes his interactions with a wide range of people, from thieves and pastors to artists and professionals. These experiences allow Common to see the world through different lenses and capture important moments, like capturing video on a camcorder. Despite the belief that money doesn't change a person's underlying personality, it can make a significant difference in the quality of life.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@hankscorpio3917
Chapelle introduced me to Common , Talib and Tribe Called Quest. Salute
@brentcampbell6788
He put me on to yasin bey
@bosssavage7768
I miss the Dave Chappelle show I'm watching it rn
@Duzz14
I used to love that mos def car freestyle. Black Star and the GZA performance
@twinktoiletsbestfriendsmomscan
I was already into them, but being on Chappelle made me love them even more!
@matta1528
Amen.
@ceosantanagloc1714
i remember when i was a kid watching this on Dave chapelle
@frankthetank2284
PrettyBoy Flizzy same bro
@johnjohn-we6eb
same glad i watched it because i got introduced to awesome stuff like this
@MrKOOLGUY818
PrettyBoy Flizzy haha just finished watching that episode!! you know I had to go on YouTube and bump it!!