Kanye West | Before They Were Famous | Epic Biography

i've been blessed to know kanye west before he became the kanye west he definitely gave me that confidence to follow my heart and follow my creative path certain songs that he did people scared to even do so monster did a whole show with a man i'm he loves comparing himself to people i am warhol kanye west unveiled his new clothing line i am shakespeare in the flesh people just can't seem to stop talking about kanye west i am the most impactful artist of our generation were inspired by off the property every single headline on the news today is about something that kanye said something he did something he tweeted something he ranted about george bush doesn't care about black people when you hear about slavery for 400 years for 400 years that sounds like a choice everybody says who does he think he is beyonce have one of the best videos of all time this you're crazy i just told you who i thought i was a guy you could tell that he was going to be a star i love i think he's like the best he's like a prophet he's like you push it he makes people want to be better kanye is adopting and endorsing our platform kanye paying that fine off essentially removed any barrier from me being able to make the ballot you ain't got the answers you ain't got the answer sway hey good morning kanye if you guys like that epic intro let us know by hitting that like button right now now kanye west is undoubtedly one of the most influential artists of his generation from his genre defying bodies of work to his signature fashion lines there's no denying mr west's creative impact on the world now everything he said his mind to accomplish well kanye's done it he originally wanted to be the biggest producer in the world he did that next he wanted to be the biggest rapper in the world he did that too then he wanted to be one of the biggest names in the world of fashion he checked that off the list as well and then he wanted for himself a kardashian and that just seemed easy as pie she dumped the last guy i got with him and they're madly in love but kanye's career has been one of the most polarizing journeys that we've ever witnessed now the name kanye west it's been synonymous with controversy basically since he started out in the game but one thing is for sure whether you love him or you hate him you feel something about him and not many people have that impact on the world quite like kanye west what's going on guys it's your boy michael mcgregor and in this video we're gonna take you through the life and career of kanye west one last time we're gonna go into his early years he spent in china with his mom to the car accident that almost took his life in los angeles because this year is our epic version of before they're famous of course we've done other videos here on this channel we recently dropped one on drake we did want to post malone we've done ariana grande beyonce and cardi b in the past but you guys got to let us know who deserves an epic in the comments down below all right without further ado let's get into good old kanye west [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] kanye omari west was born on june 8 1977 in atlanta georgia to donda and ray west now the two they met at spelman college in atlanta where rey was hired as a freelance photographer by a director of public relations and donned it while she was working in the public relations department while studying for her master's degree at atlanta university bray west is a former black panther member and one of the first black photojournalists at the atlanta journal constitution he also holds two degrees now the two were married three months after they started dating at first neither one of them they wanted to have children but three years into their marriage while donda said that she felt the spirit of god gave them kanye now although kanye he originally thought that his parents divorced when he was three years old he revealed in his david letterman interview that the divorce may have been finalized when he was three but they were basically separated when kanye was just a baby no ray he was originally a great husband and a father but once his photography business started to grow well that became his first priority and donda well she decided that she didn't want to come second to no man to no business to nothing now even his mother they moved to chicago together when kanye was just three years old now donna she was an english professor beginning her career at morris brown college in atlanta but later working at chicago state university she also became the head of the english department there now even though money was tight as a single mom well she always managed to provide her son with a good life buying a house on south shore drive where her and kanye lived for eight years from a young age dada she taught kanye that he could always speak his mind something that well you know he certainly hasn't shied away from the destruction of the spirit of the people of southern louisiana and mississippi may end up being the most tragic loss of all george bush doesn't care about black people please call his mother donda she stated in her memoir there is no room for shyness i raised him that way to think critically and analytically and not be afraid to voice what you feel i helped shape that i think leaders are people who must do that every summer though kanye he would stay with his father in the dc area and like he says on the song champion we were kind of like will smith and his son in the movies i ain't talking about the rich one looks like they had a little pursuit of happiness going on now while he didn't know exactly what his dad was doing for dough he would always send his kid back to school with a new wardrobe now kanye he was an extremely gifted child especially artistically he would make his own toys and draw elaborate pictures when he was just three years old now his work with crayons was more impressive than a lot of kids who were twice his age at the time he would also experiment with colors drawing things like purple bananas and blue oranges always wanted to be you know the original guy in the group standing out from a crowd now yay he was enrolled at professional playhouse preschool before attending preschool at his mom's workplace now his teachers described the young kanye as academically gifted but said that socially he was self-absorbed and didn't work well with others he attended kindergarten at the vander poet magnet school in chicago and when he was 10 kanye and donda will they spend a year in china after his mother was selected through a fulbright scholarship program to be a foreign expert to the people's republic of china now kanye he was placed in the third grade in china because of the language barrier even though at that time well he would have been in the fifth grade back home but he did have a private tutor from zimbabwe to help him keep up with the fifth grade curriculum for when he returned back home now yay he got along with the new classmates but there was one incident where donda she recalls kanye getting in trouble with his teacher now all the students they had to have finger holes on their gloves in the winter but kanye being passionate about fashion even as a kid well he refused to take off his gloves that had no finger holes now the teacher sat him down and called donda about his disobedience kanye learned pretty quickly in china that it was disrespectful to look his superiors in the eyes when speaking to them now kanye he was also a good break dancer and he would charge chinese students bunny to watch him dance which she would then spend on street food you gotta respect that hustle now eventually dada she homeschooled kanye for the rest of their year in china outside of his schooling he took tai chi lessons and private art lessons twice a week when he returned back home kanye was feeling particularly inspired and began to work on one of his original dreams which was to design video games believe it or not that led him to loving the sound creation for the scores of games now from there he began to work on music constantly and kanye he spent all of his time practicing now the first song his mom remembers him writing was called green eggs and ham you know probably inspired by dr seuss now his first recording was at a basement studio in chicago that charged 25 dollars an hour now kanye he thought that at 13 years old he would get signed to become a star he even told his gym teacher that he wasn't coming to class because he was going to get signed but you know as we all know now well that didn't happen right away although these days they're scooping them up mad young but still kanye he had to wait now donna she also believed in kanye and helped fund his dream now his dream was to become a rapper so in order to have something to rap over well he would make his own beats when connie was 14 years old he got his first sampling keyboard after saving up some money he also started selling his beats charging local artists 50 bucks per b like he says on his song spaceships while he was doing five beats a day for three summers long yay would work on jobs to save up enough money to keep enhancing his home studio and before long he had his own mixer turntables and drum machine friends of his would come over to his home studio to work on their music now those friends were part of kanye's production company called con man productions now the group had included mikey halstead rhymefest and glc it was a word colleague of dondas that would help introduce kanye to one of his most influential mentors now don does she work with the mother of a local producing legend his name was no id and he was working with common at the time donda convinced noeide's mom to put in a good word for her son and before long well no idea he was giving production lessons to a hungry kanye west no idea he taught kanye about how to speed up his samples leading to his later signature production sound no common he even remembers kanye challenging him to freestyle battles so with new found skills advice from his mentor and inspiration from common well yay he was ready for the next chapter of his musical life but school was put in second place to his musical career and kanye's former honor roll grades they started slipping with some encouragement from his mother while he graduated from polaris school in the spring of 1995. now in an unlikely turn of events though yay he decided to attend chicago state university where he was majoring in english and if you know anything about kanye's career then you know what happened next kanye became a college dropout and focused solely on his music career but before gaining any real success as a rapper it was his producing skills that landed him some major placements after creating a signature sound flipping soul samples he began producing beats for local chicago acts he had a small apartment in chicago where he would stay inside and make beats from now he was selling enough beats to keep the lights on and buy himself the occasional pair of jordans now he also became a ghost producer for a rapper named ddot which was actually a pretty good look for him at the time but his dream of becoming a rapper himself it was never lost on him now he is part of a rap group called the go-getters and they were managed by john monopoly don crowley and aerostar and that was under the management firm called hustle period now the go-getters they did a short promo run and they released an album called world record holders i was always the weakest rapper out of the people in the group you don't say it'll always be like somebody who really had it but they just had a passion for it yeah none of this information was ever in our original before they're famous we'd be dug an extra deep in these epics duggan you know what i mean but his production credits on big name albums are what started getting mr west some notoriety he was featured as a producer on albums for foxy brown and goody mop but of course the biggest moment in his career came when he began producing for artists on rockefeller records i was always rapping and it just so happened that really really phenomenal rappers got to rap on my beats before i got a chance to the next part of kanye's journey is based on the story that he told in the outro of his song last call according to yay an anr at rockefeller records named hip-hop well he wanted to use one of kanye's beats for their artist beanie siegel now kanye he would send in beats for his artist to use hip-hop was friends with no id who advised him that if you want kanye to send you more beats you gotta pump his tires a bit about the way he raps so hip-hop said he would manage kanye as a producer and as a rapper also now finally one day hip-hop told kanye that he liked one of his beats so much that jay-z might want to rap on it now that song it ended up becoming this can't be life he met jay-z at the studio after he recorded the song and kanye rapped for jay that day but nothing came of it just yet so even after having a beat on jay-z's project well kanye was still living in a small apartment without much else happening for him musically one of the artists from his production company got signed but kanye it looked like he was being left behind now at the same time kanye he got evicted from his apartment and he was unable to pay the rent so don and kanye well they moved to newark new jersey with all of yay's recording equipment the first beat he made in his new apartment was heard of the city now kanye was playing beats for beanie at a studio session but he had already finished his album and wasn't looking for any more beats then jay-z walked in and heard heart of the city so he played another beat and another one and jay-z well man oh man oh man was he impressed i made that that was awkward now those beats they ended up being some of jay's biggest songs on his album the blueprint and from there well kanye the producer was on but his career as a rapper well it still had a long way to go yeah we're not there yet kanye continued to produce for jay-z and other major artists then after leaving a hangout with some other artists which included ludicrous around 3am while driving in his rented lexus while kanye he was cut off and ran head-on into traffic he collided with another car just a couple blocks away from the w hotel this was on october 23rd of 2002 no mtv reported that kanye west had been injured in a car accident and uh a lot of people didn't know him yet but those who did they were very worried in an interview when speaking on the night he said when i had my accident i was working on beanie siegel black eyed peas and petey crack and let's just say that those tracks were not my best work if i would have passed that night that would have been the end of my legacy now when i go into the studio i act like this could possibly be my last day now kanye he had to have reconstructive surgery on his face and his jaw was wired shot with no health insurance he was paying for everything out of pocket but that accident would also serve as inspiration for one of kanye's most important songs though kanye wrote and wrapped his song through the wire just weeks after the accident and he wrapped the whole thing with his jaw wired shot now the song later became the first single off his debut album now after finally convincing some label reps that he was more than just a producer well he had a deal with capital on the table but capital they backed out eventually kanye west he signed with rockefeller records and released his debut album the college dropout the second single off the album was slow jams which featured twista and jamie foxx that song became all three musicians number one hit but at first jamie foxx he wasn't so sure about this kanye guy he told the story in an interview with the crew show about how the song came about and then finally i throw this party and a kid walks in backpack on jaw a little swollen who is it kanye told jamie that he had a song for him to get on and to keep in mind at this point kanye well he was only known as a producer for jay's work so we go in the back so we're in the studio he says the song go like this she says she wants some marvin gaye some luther van joss a little i said y'all got it kanye who doesn't anybody know yet jamie said that part but kanye he still wasn't feeling it yeah he went don't do that so jamie forgot about the song and forgot about kanye and thought nothing more of it he went on to do a bad movie his words not mine and then so so i come back and they said you remember that song you said was what it's number one and as for the college dropout well the album ended up winning a grammy for best rap album beautiful stuff everybody want to know what i would do if i didn't win i guess we'll never know kanye's career after that is one of the most impressive and impactful runs in music history and while we could do a separate video for each of his classic albums and moments to come i think uh i think we've done this story justice i think we've told it the best way we can i think we're gonna wrap it up here because this is before they are famous epic style all right guys we put a lot of extra work into these epic videos we hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy telling them be sure to share these with a kanye west fan i'm sure there's something in here for everyone to you know maybe they've heard it before but they never heard it like this or or maybe they don't know some of this stuff they're like i had no idea he knew common who knows anyways guys uh share these videos hit subscribe if you're new to the channel my name of course is michael mcrudden before they're a famous guy they're fact god and uh let me send this to kanye let's try that let's let's go over to twitter send it to yay and see what he has to say i'm sure he'll love it all right i'm done bye [Music] bye

Channel: BeforeTheyWereFamous

Views: 172,817

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Id: wBJwEx7t6go

Length: 17min 34sec (1054 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 28 2019