Ye (born Kanye Omari West on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia), profession… Read Full Bio ↴Ye (born Kanye Omari West on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia), professionally known as Kanye West, is a Grammy award-winning American rapper, producer, singer, author, director, performance artist and fashion designer.

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.

Crack Music
kanye west Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

That's that crack music nigga
That real black music nigga (la la la la la la la la, la la la la la la)
(That's that crack music nigga)
(That real black music nigga) (la la la la la la la la, la la la la la la)

How we stop the Black Panthers?
Ronald Reagan cooked up an answer
You hear that?

What Gil Scott was hearing
When our heroes and heroines got hooked on heroin
Crack raised the murder rate in DC and Maryland
We invested in that it's like we got Merrill lynched
And we been hanging from the same tree ever since
Sometimes I feel the music is the only medicine
So we cook it, cut it, measure it, bag it, sell it
The fiends cop it
Nowadays they can't tell if that's that good shit
We ain't sure man
Put the CD on your tongue yeah, that's pure man

That's that crack music nigga
That real black music nigga (la la la la la la la la, la la la la la la)
(That's that crack music nigga)
(That real black music nigga) (la la la la la la la la, la la la la la la)

From the place where the fathers gone
The mothers is hardly home
And the maricons lock us up in the Audy Home
How the Mexicans say we just trying to party homes
They want to pack us all in a box like Styrofoam
Who gave Saddam anthrax?
George Bush got the answers
Back in the hood it's a different type of chemical
Arm and Hammer baking soda raised they own quota
Right when our soldiers ran for the stove 'cause
'Cause dreams of being Hova went from being a broke man to a being a dope man
To being a president look there's hope man
This that inspiration for the Moes and the Folks man
Shorty come and see his mama straight overdosing
And this is the soundtrack
This the type of music you make when you 'round that

Crack music nigga
That real black music nigga (la la la la la la la la, la la la la la la)
(That's that crack music nigga)
(That real black music nigga) (la la la la la la la la, la la la la la la)

God-how could you let this happen, happen, happen, happen, happen, happen?

That's that crack music, crack music
That real black music, black music (la la la la la la la la, la la la la la la)

That's that crack music nigga
That real black music nigga (la la la la la la la la, la la la la la la)

That's that crack music, crack music, that real black music, black music

Our father, give us this day our daily bread
Before the feds give us these days and take our daily bread
See I done did all this old bullshit
And to atone I throw a little something, something on the pulpit
We took that shit, measured it and then cooked that shit
And what we gave back was crack music
And now we ooze it through they nooks and crannies
So our mammas ain't got to be they cooks and nannies
And we gonna repo everything they ever took from granny
Now the former slaves trade hooks for Grammy's
This dark dixon has become America's addiction

Those who ain't even Black use it
We gon' keep baggin' up this here crack music

Overall Meaning

In "Crack Music," Kanye West and The Game explore the dark realities of inner-city life and the role of drugs in perpetuating cycles of violence and poverty. They use the metaphor of "crack music" to describe the ways in which music can both reflect and perpetuate urban suffering. The lyrics reference the government's efforts to dismantle the Black Panthers, the impact of crack on neighborhoods in Washington D.C. and Maryland, and the political origins of the war on drugs. The song also highlights the way in which the pursuit of fame and success can lead to the exploitation of others and perpetuate cycles of addiction and poverty.

Line by Line Meaning

That's that crack music nigga
This music represents the destructive nature of crack cocaine on the black community

That real black music nigga (la la la la la la la la, la la la la la la)
This is not just any music, it's music that represents the true black experience

How we stop the Black Panthers?
This line refers to how the government dismantled the Black Panthers organization

Ronald Reagan cooked up an answer
Ronald Reagan's administration created policies that contributed to the destruction of black communities

What Gil Scott was hearing
The artist Gil Scott-Heron spoke out against social injustice and inspired artists like Kanye West

When our heroes and heroines got hooked on heroin
The black community has been plagued by drug addiction for decades, with little support or help

Crack raised the murder rate in DC and Maryland
The crack epidemic led to violent crime sprees in major cities, particularly in the East Coast

We invested in that it's like we got Merrill lynched
The black community invested in the drug trade, which led to negative consequences and a form of self-destruction

And we been hanging from the same tree ever since
The black community has been oppressed for centuries and continues to suffer the same struggles

Sometimes I feel the music is the only medicine
Music is a source of comfort and healing for many people, particularly in difficult times

So we cook it, cut it, measure it, bag it, sell it
Drug dealers go through a process of preparing and packaging drugs for sale

The fiends cop it
Drug addicts purchase the drugs

Nowadays they can't tell if that's that good shit
The quality of drugs on the market is unreliable and often laced with other harmful substances

We ain't sure man
Drug dealers themselves are uncertain about the quality of their product

Put the CD on your tongue yeah, that's pure man
This line suggests that the purity and authenticity of music is undeniable and cannot be tampered with

From the place where the fathers gone
This line speaks to the absence of fathers in many black families due to systemic oppression and racism

The mothers is hardly home
Mothers are forced to work long hours and often aren't home to provide for their families

And the maricons lock us up in the Audy Home
The prison-industrial complex disproportionately affects people of color, leading to a cycle of incarceration and oppression

How the Mexicans say we just trying to party homes
This line suggests that marginalized communities are often unjustly accused of wrongdoing and criminal behavior

They want to pack us all in a box like Styrofoam
Black individuals are often dehumanized and treated as expendable and disposable

Who gave Saddam anthrax?
This line questions the United States' role in providing weapons to Saddam Hussein

George Bush got the answers
The Bush administration was responsible for the Iraq War and the deaths of many innocent individuals

Back in the hood it's a different type of chemical
The drug trade is a form of chemical warfare in impoverished communities

Arm and Hammer baking soda raised they own quota
This line refers to the process of using baking soda to create crack cocaine and the mass production and sale of the drug

Right when our soldiers ran for the stove 'cause
This line suggests that people turn to drug dealing as a means of survival to escape poverty and unemployment

'Cause dreams of being Hova went from being a broke man to a being a dope man
Individuals turn to drug dealing in hopes of achieving financial success and status

To being a president look there's hope man
The 'dream' of becoming a president is held by many and represents a glimmer of hope for a better future

This that inspiration for the Moes and the Folks man
This line speaks to the idea that music is a form of inspiration and motivation for those in impoverished communities

Shorty come and see his mama straight overdosing
Drug addiction affects entire families, leading to tragic and preventable deaths

And this is the soundtrack
This music represents the harsh realities facing the black community

This the type of music you make when you 'round that
This music is created while surrounded by the harsh realities of the drug trade and its impact on the community

God-how could you let this happen, happen, happen, happen, happen, happen?
This line questions the role of a higher power in the suffering and oppression of marginalized communities

Our father, give us this day our daily bread
This line is a reference to the Lord's Prayer, asking for basic necessities to survive

Before the feds give us these days and take our daily bread
The government has the power to take away basic necessities through oppressive policies and practices

See I done did all this old bullshit
The artist has experienced and learned from past mistakes and failures

And to atone I throw a little something, something on the pulpit
This line is a reference to making amends for past behavior and using music as a form of repentance

We took that shit, measured it and then cooked that shit
The artist speaks to the process of creating music and refining their craft

And what we gave back was crack music
This music represents the harsh realities and struggles of the black community

And now we ooze it through they nooks and crannies
This music is spread throughout society, penetrating even the smallest of spaces

So our mammas ain't got to be they cooks and nannies
This music represents a form of hope and progress for the black community, allowing for more opportunities and choices

And we gonna repo everything they ever took from granny
This music represents a form of reparations for the harm and destruction inflicted upon the black community

Now the former slaves trade hooks for Grammy's
This line speaks to the idea that black individuals have turned to the music industry as a means of reclaiming their voice and finding success

This dark dixon has become America's addiction
The drug trade and its impact on the black community has become ingrained in America's history and culture

Those who ain't even Black use it
Other individuals and races have appropriated and profited off of black culture and music

We gon' keep baggin' up this here crack music
This music represents a form of resistance and empowerment for the black community, despite its painful subject matter

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Williard Lawrence Jr Meeks, Kanye West, Kanye Omari West

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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