Kanye West

Kanye Omari West (born June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American record producer and rapper based in Chicago, Illinois.

• I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, 'They're looting.' You see a white family, it says, 'They're looking for food.' And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help -- with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way -- and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us! [...] George Bush doesn't care about black people.
  • during a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina relief on NBC

• I still think I am a gayfish.
  • accepting the Billboard Music Award for Artist of the Year

• Ya'll might as well get the music ready 'cause this is gonna take a while. When I had my accident, I found out at that moment, nothing in life is promised except death. If you have the opportunity to play this game called life, you have to appreciate every moment. A lot of people don't appreciate their moment until it's passed. And then you got to tell those Al Bundy stories: 'You remember when I...' Right now, it's my time and my moment, thanks to the fans, thanks to the accident, thanks to God, thanks to Roc-A-Fella, Jay-Z, Dame Dash, G, my mother, Rhymefest, everyone that's helped me. And I plan to celebrate and scream and pop champagne every chance I get, 'cause I'm at the Grammy's baby! I know everybody asked me the question, they wanted to know, 'What, Kan, I know he's gonna wile out, I know he's gonna do something crazy.' Everybody wanted to know what I would do, if I didn't win... I guess we'll never know!
  • 2005 Grammy acceptance speech

• First beat I did, was in seventh grade, on my computer. I got into doing beats for the video games I used to try to make. My game was very sexual. The main character was, like, a giant penis. It was like Mario Brothers, but the ghosts were, like, vaginas. Mind you, I'm 12 years old, and this is stuff 30-year-olds are programming. You'd have to draw in and program every little step-it literally took me all night to do a step, 'cause the penis, y'know, had little feet and eyes.
  • Interview with Style.com

• Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!
  • MTV

Lyrics

• " Excuse me but, this verse has not been Russell Simmons approved uh-uh / you wont see it on Run's House"
  • "Buy U A Drank",Buy U A Drank Remix

• "If I fall in love a girl goin to live on Rodeo / Until that day though she take the monorail / And I dont want no girl thats say n's to the eyo / make it more harder make me put some work in / you gets to flirtin / play it just perfect / fuck a drink imma buy the bar if your worth it'
  • "Buy U A Drank",Buy U A Drank Remix

• "Aint nobody expect kanye to end up on top / they expected that college drop out to drop in and flop / then maybe he stop savin all the good beats for himself / Rockefellers only niggas that helped"
  • "Last Call", The College Dropout, 2004

• "Now is Kanye the most overlooked, yes sir / now is Kanye the most overbooked, yes sir / the fans want the feeling of A Tribe Called Quest / But all they got left is this guy called West"
  • "Last Call", The College Dropout, 2004

• "Im the GAP like Banana Republic and Old Navy / and ooh it come out sweeter than old sadie"
  • "Last Call", The College Dropout, 2004

• "And I was almost famous / Everybody loves Kanye / Im almost Raymond"
  • "Last Call", The College Dropout, 2004

• "Now I can let these dream killers kill my selfesttem / or use my arrogance as a steam to power my dreams / I use it as my gas so they say that im gassed / but without it id be last so I ought to laugh / So i dont listen to the suits behind the desks no more / you niggas wear suits cause you cant dress no more / you cant say shit to Kanye West no more / I rock twenty thousand people i was just on tour nigga"
  • "Last Call", The College Dropout, 2004

• "I Kan a Louis Vouiton don / Bought my mom purse now she Louis Vuiton mom / I didnt play the hand I was dealt I changed my cards / I prayed to the skies and I changed my starts / I went to the malls and I balled too hard / Oh My God is that a Black card / I turned around and replied why yes but I prefer the term African American Express"
  • "Last Call", The College Dropout, 2004

• "Brains, power and muscle like Dame Puffy and Russel / Your boy back on the sussel you know what Ive been up to / killing y'all niggas on tha lyrical shit / Mayonnaise, Color Blends, I push Miracle Whips"
  • "Last Call", The College Dropout, 2004

• "Man, I promise I'm so self conscious/Thats why you always see me with at least one of my watches"
  • "All Falls Down", The College Dropout, 2004

• "And I can't even go to the grocery store without some ones that's clean and a shirt with a team/It seems we living the American dream but people highest up got the lowest self esteem/The prettiest people do the ugliest things for the road to riches and diamond rings."
  • "All Falls Down", The College Dropout, 2004

• "We'll buy a lot of clothes when we don't really need 'em/Things we buy to cover up what's inside/Cause they make us hate ourself and love they wealth."
  • "All Falls Down", The College Dropout, 2004

• "I get down for my Grandfather who took my momma/Made her sit in that seat where white folks ain't wanna us to eat/At the tender age of 6 she was arrested for the sit-ins/And with that in my blood I was born to be different/Now niggas can't make it to the ballots to choose leadership/But we can make it to Jacob and to the dealership/That's why I hear new music and I just don't be feelin' it/Racism still alive they just be concealin' it/But I know they don't want me in the damn club/They even make me show ID to get inside of Sam's Club/I done did dirt and went to Church to get my hands scrubbed/Swear I been baptized at least three or four times/But in a land where niggas praise Yukon's and gettin' paid/It's gonna take a lot more than coupons to get us saved/Like it take a lot more than du-rags to get you waves/Nothing as sad as that day my girl's father passed away/So I promise to Mr. Rainey I'm going to marry your daughter/And you know I gotta thank you for the way that she was brought up"
  • "Never Let Me Down", The College Dropout, 2004

• "My freshman year I was goin through hell, a problem/Still I, built up the nerve to drop my ass up outta collllllll-ege/My teacher said I’se a loser, I told her why don’t you kill me/I give a fuck if you fail me, I’m gonna folllllllllll-ow/My heart, and if you follow the charts, to the plaques or the stacks/You ain’t gotta guess who’s back"
  • "Get Em High", The College Dropout, 2004

• "Told 'em I finished school, and I started my own business/They say, 'Oh you graduated?'/No, I decided I was finished/ Chasin' y'all dreams and what you've got planned/Now I spit it so hot you got tanned"
  • "School Spirit", The College Dropout, 2004

• "Roc-A-Fella chain, yeah that's my rapper style/Rosary piece, yeah that's my Catholic style/Red and white One's, yeah that's my Kappa style/And I ain't even pledge/Crack my head on the steering wheel and I ain't even dead/If I could go through all that and still be breathing/Bitch bend over, I'm here for a reason"
  • "School Spirit", The College Dropout, 2004

• "That's why I spit it in my songs so sweet/ Like a photo of your granny's picture/ Now that you're gone it hit us/ Super hard on Thankgiving and Christmas, this can't be right"
  • "Family Business", "The College Dropout", 2004

• "I woke up early this mornin' with a new state of mind/ A creative way to rhyme without usin' knives and guns"
  • "Family Business", "The College Dropout", 2004

• "And I'm a big tipper, I don't even be trippin'. This my first real Rolex, it don't even be tickin'. This my first pair of earings I can can wear in the shower, without 'em clouding up in a half an hour!"
  • "My Baby", Damita Jo, 2004

• "You don't remember when you was my sweetest? You don't remember I called you Reese's Pieces? 'Cause there's no wrong way to do you know what!"
  • "Talk About Our Love", Afrodisiac, 2004

• "Make black history every day, I don't need a month."
  • "Brand New", 2005

• "Ralph Lauren was borin' before I worn him"
  • "Brand New", 2005

• "I know it's past visitin hours, but can I please give her these flowers?"
  • "Roses", Late Registration, 2005

• "You know the best medicine go to people thats payed/If Magic Johnson got a cure for AIDS and all the broke motherfuckers passed away/ You tellin me if my grandma's in the NBA, right now she would be ok?/ But since she was just a secretary workin' for the church for thirty-five years/things supposed to stop right here?"
  • "Roses", Late Registration, 2005

• "Jay's favorite line, 'Dog, in due time.' Now he look at me like, 'Damn, dog, you're where I am,' a hip-hop legend. I think I died in that accident, 'cause this must be heaven."
  • "Touch the Sky", Late Registration, 2005

• "It don't have to be mother's day or your birthday, for me to just call and say, hey mama."
  • "Hey Mama" , Late Registration, 2005

• "Who gave Saddam anthrax, George Bush's got an answer/How to stop the Black Panthers, Ronald Regan cooked up an answer..."
  • "Crack Music", Late Registration, 2005

• "Over here is the drug trade we die for drugs/ Over there they die from what we buy from drugs"
  • "Dimonds From Sierra Leone [Remix]"

• "Little is know of Sierra Lione/And how it connects to the diamonds we own/When I speak of diamonds in this song I ain't about the ones that be glowin'/I'm talkin' bout Roc-a-Fella my home..."
  • "Diamonds From Sierra Leone [Remix]"

• "And the weather so breezy/Man why can't life always be this easy?"
  • "Flashing Lights", Graduation, 2007

• "Last night I saw you in my dreams/Now I can't wait to go to sleep/And this life is all a dream/So my real life starts when I go to sleep."
  • "Hey Mama", Live Grammy Performance, February 2008

• "You spoiled little LA girl/you just an LA girl..."
  • "Robocop", 808s & Heartbreak, 2008

• "I'd give all the Grammy plaques just to have my Granny back/You know she had that bad hip like a fanny pack."
  • "Forever", Music from 'More Than A Game', 2009

• "I had dreams of the game/Someday I'd play Kobe/I'd walk up to Puff and he don't really know me"
  • "Ego", Above and Beyonce: Dance Mixes, 2009

Bible References

"I walk through the valley of the Chi where death is,

Top floor, the view alone will leave ya breathless."

- "Jesus Walks," "The College Dropout"

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me." --Psalms 23:4

"We still, pull up in Spreewells,

The ice sends me chills, like Gold Member, I love gold,

but what's the point to gain the world if ya lose ya soul?"

- "Fly Away", off Miri Ben-Ari's "The Hip Hop Violinist"

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with angels." --Mark 8:35-37

"I wanna fly, I wanna fly

I said I want my chariot to pick me up

And take me brother for a ride"

- "Spaceship," off "The College Dropout"

"And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." --2 Kings 2:11

About West

• "With Kanye, the arrogant thing always comes up, but think about what that does for your ability to make art. He doesn't even question himself as to whether he can do it or not. He does it fast and good, and he doesn't stop on the side of the road to wonder if he can do it." - John Mayer (From MTV.com)

• "The one thing I fear for [Kanye] the most is if you keep talking about being the greatest, people eventually are going to want to watch you fail." - John Mayer (From MTV.com)

• "It’s alright to say ‘bitch’ and ‘motherfucker' on the corner, but when you start operating on a different level you can’t talk like that. Fine, you’re trying to get some street acceptance. Now that you got that, get back to your roots. You know that’s not where you came from. You know that’s not how you were raised." - Ray West (Kanye's father) on Rolling Stone magazine

• "He's a jackass" - Barack Obama commenting privately on West interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards (From the Associated Press)