Kanye West Research Papers

Kanye West is widely considered to be one of the most gifted musical talents within modern times. His influence on hip-hop and music as a whole is unimaginable. Over the past 20 years, West has released countless number of albums, and he has had just as many (if not more) controversies. Although West might be one of the most controversial musicians to ever live, his skills and influence is undeniable.

Kanye Omari West was born on June 8th, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia. West was originally known for his production work and for being partially responsible for the formation of the rap with GLC and Really Doe group known as Go Getters. West eventually began producing for Roc-A-Fella Records and artists like Jay-Z, Twista, Talib Kweli, Alicia Keys,

In the coming years, West would release Graduation (2007) and 808s and Heartbreak (2008). 808s and Heartbreak in particular would be viewed as a very strange move by West, taking the use of autotune and the TR-808 drum machine to a new level. This album’s theme was very different than others, deciding to talk about “…love, loss, and loneliness and very little rapping” (“Kanye West”). Later, he would release albums such as My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), Watch The Throne with Jay-Z (2011), Cruel Summer (2012), Yeezus (2013), The Life of Pablo (2016), Ye (2018), Kids See Ghosts (2018), Jesus Is King (2019), and Donda (2021), with a continuation titled “Donda 2” that only released on West’s Stem Player hardware in 2022 (“Kanye West”). Despite the countless number of albums that West has released, many continue to go back his debut album, titled “The College Dropout”. The themes found within this album are typically what drive people to go back and relisten to many of the songs found on the album. The first of these themes found on the album is the idea of racism within America. For example, West says on his track “We Don’t Care”:

We never had nothin’

In his classic song “All Falls Down,” there are constant reminders to the listener about this struggle. The first verse of the song is a critique of the modern state of schooling and materialism that plagues a Black woman (West). For example, West says, “She like, ‘Fuck it, I’ll just stay down hurr and do hair’ / ‘Cause that’s enough money to buy her a few pairs / Of new Airs, ‘cause her baby daddy don’t really care” (West 2004). To run it down, a Black woman decides that school is not for her, so she becomes a hairdresser. She then uses this money to buy herself shoes, rather than saving it and investing in herself. Although Kanye does not believe that you need upper education to be successful, he does believe that making good economic choices is important. As explained by Lee J. Koo and Marc Luzietti, “The philosophy of Marxism is materialism. Throughout the modern history of Europe… materialism has proved to be the only philosophy that is consistent, true to all the teachings of natural science and hostile to superstition, can’t and so forth” (1). Essentially, materialism is only natural. Marxism argues that materialism is not always bad; every object in existence is material. However, this example of materialism is negative. It shows a pledge to a system in which it is difficult for most to reap the benefits. Kanye continues: the entirety of the second verse is