The many faces of Kanye West: producer-turned-hit rapper takes hip-hop in new direction

Ebony, June, 2004 by Kimberly Davis

KANYE West is just what you'd expect him to be. Lounging on the bed in a room on the 20th floor of a luxury lakefront Chicago hotel, the new hip-hop phenomenon is sporting a look he calls "ghetto-preppy'--trainers with lime green laces, white pants, a lime green Polo shirt and a sport jacket with a darker green-and-white-checked pattern (the clothes are "preppy," the colors are, he says, "ghetto"). He is relaxed and expressive, and a little worried about the rhymes that won't come.

He's hit a bit of a dry spell, it seems, and is worried that his first album, The College Dropout, will be his last.

"I've definitely got less rhymes than I had this time last year," West says. "I can't think of nothing right now, as a matter of fact."

Except for that flash of doubt, the 26-year-old has a confidence and self-esteem that, at times, border on arrogance. It's as if, given a second chance at life, he has to live it all out--at full speed--picking up success and holding onto it for all it's worth.

Lots of folks talk about the nine lives of 50 Cent, but West is on his second life. In October 2002, he was in a car accident in Los Angeles that shattered his face and nearly cost him his life. With his jaw wired shut from surgery, and with a sample from Chaka Khan's "Through the Fire," West recorded the vocals for "Through the Wire," an innovative and intensely personal song that helped lay the foundation for his well-received debut.

"I was expressing what I was going through," West says. "All the better artists--I don't want to use the word 'great' because it'll come off as arrogant or whatever--all the better artists in history have expressed what they were going through."

The success of that single, along with "Slow Jamz" (which he wrote, produced and recorded with fellow Chicago rapper Twista and comedian Jamie Foxx), helped propel the disc to platinum status. And West, who found early success making beats for performers such as Jay-Z, Ludacris, Talib Kweli, Alicia Keys and Mos Def, was on his way--finally, he could say--as an artist.

West took a winding road to the top of hip-hop. Raised on Chicago's South Side in a decidedly middle-class environment, West lived with his mother, Dr. Donda West, an English professor at Chicago State University, and spent summers with his father, Ray West, a former Black Panther who became an award-winning photographer and is now a pastoral counselor. His parents divorced when he was 3.

After graduating from Polaris High School, West dropped out of art school and then left Chicago State University to pursue music full-time. All the while, he was rapping and making beats for other local artists. He moved to the East Coast in 2001. And when it came time for him to shop his demo around, no one returned his calls. But then Roc-A-Fella took a chance on him (he had already proved himself a hitmaker for Jay-Z), and things moved pretty quickly. And while the disc has gotten repeated positive reviews, West says that's not enough; he is striving for perfection.

"Did I get any perfect scores?" he asks with a bit of flame in his eyes. "Yes. I would say that the album isn't a perfect album, but it's way past what any magazine could rate it."

West's College Dropout has been called one of the best albums of the year, one that signals a new direction in hip-hop--one with sarcastic lyrics ("Workout Plan"), gospel choirs, brave lyrics that talk of trying to walk with God and be "in the life" at the same time ("Jesus Walks"), and politicized statements about hustling and working retail.

"What's so great about Kanye is that he doesn't fit into the hiphop/R&B landscape, as we've known it," says Quddus Phillippe, host of MTV's hit show, TRL.

"Instead, he's expanding hip-hop lyrically by being more topical. He doesn't just dwell on 'money, girls and rims,' but he's also not too righteous--he's able to express his contradictions as a human being."

Those contradictions can be seen even in the title of the CD itself. The College Dropout? From the son of an educator? Some have criticized West for lyrics that may encourage young people to leave school.

"It's entertainment. It's my past. I dropped out of school because I wasn't learning fast enough ... I learned from real life better."

Everyone, West says, should figure out what he or she wants to do for himself or herself. He's just putting his life out there.

"I talked to some girl and she was like, 'You don't know how bad I want to drop out of college,'"

West recalls. "And I said, 'What do you want to do?' She said, 'I don't know.' I was like, 'Well, you better stay yo' a--in school.'"

And what about those girls? The ones who come up to him on the road and backstage and ask him all sorts of questions. West says he is faithful to his "steady girlfriend," but won't reveal her name or how long they've been together.

"She's got everything on her own," says West, who likes to watch movies and shop when he has a rare free moment. "She's got her own ideas, she's very creative, she loves God, and she likes clothes--just like me."