Media Genre research and planning

1. Kanye West

2. Kanye West’s success
• Kanye West is an American rapper, record producer, fashion designer, head of the
record label GOOD Music, and founder of creative content company DONDA. He is
among the most successful and acclaimed popular artists of the 21st century, and has
attracted both praise and controversy for his outspoken celebrity persona.
• West was raised in a middle-class household in Chicago, Illinois, and began rapping in
the third grade, becoming involved in the city's hip hop scene. He attended art school
for one semester before dropping out to pursue music entirely in the late 1990s. West
first became known as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, producing hit singles for
musical artists including Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and Janet Jackson with a distinctive
style of production that utilized high-pitched vocal samples from soul songs. Intent on
pursuing his own career as a rapper, he released his debut album The College Dropout
in 2004 to commercial and critical acclaim. His background and style deviated from the
then-dominant "gangsta" persona in hip hop, and he would later alter the genre
stylistically as rappers adopted his alternative aesthetic. He followed his debut with the
baroque-inspired Late Registration in 2005, and the electronic-tinged Graduation in
2007. West abandoned rapping for singing on his emotive 2008 effort 808s &
Heartbreak, and embraced maximalism on 2010s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Following several collaborations, West released his abrasive sixth album, Yeezus, in
2013.

3. More About Kanye
• As mentioned before, Kanye is also a fashion designer and has his own clothing
line. He has created trainers with the two large trainer companies, Adidas and Nike
and has called the trainers Yeezy’s. These have been sold for a retail price,
however as they are limited edition they also have a resale price which is normally
more than double or even triple the retail price. This is due to the limited amount
of these shoes available as well as the hype for the shoes.
• Kanye is also a very influential figure to the fashion industry as he wears very
unique clothing and he often influences the changes in fashion and the trends in
fashion due to the fact that he is a very famous artist who has a very iconic look-
which is idolized by many worldwide and is seen on concerts and on social media.

4. Kanye’s lyrical content
• Kanye west’s lyrical content has
been criticised in many different
ways on different songs and albums.
Here is an example:
This analysis of Kanye’s lyrical
content is a good way to
understand the different
themes present within his
songs and it helps to show that
Kanye west is a contemporary
artist within the genre of hip-
hop. It also shows that not all
of his songs are the same and
they do not all feature the
same themes or ideas or
portray the same ideas.