(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Kanye West is
the most influential artist of the 21st century. Over the past 20 years, no other artist has remained as relevant as he has while continuously pushing
music to new heights with each and every release. But aside from his music, Kanye is also just one of the most polarizing humans on the planet, in general. He is on the short list of celebrities who have remained under the spotlight for their entire career. And along the way, this
has made for so many unforgettable moments. So whether you know him
for his musical genius or for his countless moments
under the public spotlight, you definitely know Kanye on some level. But just how far does your
knowledge of Kanye really go? Does it merely lie at
the tip of the iceberg or does it exist deep beneath the surface? In this two part series,
I'm going to be taking a deep dive and fully explaining the ultimate Kanye West iceberg. A journey covering
everything there is to know about one of the most
iconic artists in the world. But before we begin, I have to first give a huge shout out and thanks
to my friend, Kingcon2k11, for giving me the idea for this video and helping me edit it along the way. If you haven't ever seen his videos, please head over to his channel
and show him some support. He makes great music videos
for all types of artists, both unofficial and official, including some great fan-made videos for several Kanye tracks,
like "Lift Yourself", "4th Dimension" and "Deja Vu". To create the ultimate Kanye West iceberg, Kingcon and I pulled topics
from three different posts we found on Reddit, as
well as added a bunch of additional topics ourselves. In the end, what we created was
absolutely massive in scale, which is why this is a two part series. It just would've been impossible
to fully cover all of this in one video. So, without further
ado, let's jump into it and find out just how deep your knowledge of Kanye truly goes. ♪ Work it harder ♪ ♪ Make it better ♪ ♪ Do it faster ♪ ♪ Makes us stronger ♪ "Gold Digger". I'm not entirely sure why,
but this is the one Kanye song that literally everyone knows. Whether it's for your
brother, your sister, mom, dad, aunt, uncle,
it really doesn't matter, everyone is going to be singing along. Taylor Swift, VMA incident. Ah, yes, the year is 2009 and an innocent 19 year old Taylor Swift is accepting her award for
Best Female Music Video. She is on stage in the
middle of her speech, when a drunk Kanye West
storms the VMA stage and takes the mic off of her hands. He tells her that he'll let her finish, but that Beyonce had one
of the best music videos of all time and then he
hands her the mic back. - Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'm gonna let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. (audience yelling) One of the best videos of all time. (audience yelling) - [Narrator] A truly unforgettable moment that was everywhere in
the media at the time and proved to significantly impact both Kanye and Taylor on a personal level during the years to come. Yeezy shoes. Yeezy is Kanye's billion
dollar clothing line and the Yeezy shoe is an absolute
staple of modern fashion. - [Man In Sunglasses] So, Yeezy
is the Lamborghini of shoes. - [Narrator] If you haven't
ever rocked Yeezy's yourself, you definitely know someone that has. I mean, even Taylor Swift has been caught wearing these iconic kicks. Kanye is a producer. Yes, aside from rapping,
Kanye produces, as well, and in many ways, he's a producer first. Before he ever laid down a verse, Kanye got his start producing tracks for local artists in
his hometown of Chicago in the mid 1990s, before
getting his big break in the year 2000 when he produced a handful of tracks for Jay-Z. But more on that later. Kanye has produced every
single one of his albums since first erupting onto the scene with "The College Dropout". Working alongside many of
the greats in the industry to continually push hip hop to new heights with each and every release. Trump support. Kanye publicly endorsed
Donald Trump back in 2018, posting various photos of himself online wearing the infamous MAGA hat and even meeting with the president in the Oval Office that year. Kimye. Kanye West married Kim
Kardashian back in 2014 and the couple have been
happily married sin- oh, nevermind. ♪ Through the fire ♪ ♪ To the limit ♪ ♪ To the wall ♪ ♪ For the chance ♪ Four kids. Kanye has a total of four
kids with Kim Kardashian. Two daughters, North and Chicago, and two sons, Saint and Psalm. "Yandhi". "Yandhi" is the name of a scrapped album that Kanye announced on Twitter
back in September of 2018. The project was supposed to be released on September the 29th. - So, you said the album
was coming out on Saturday, it didn't come out, what happened? - I didn't finish it. - [Narrator] Before getting pushed back to November the 23rd and then eventually just getting scrapped altogether, as he would go on to undergo a complete religious transformation and opt to release
"Jesus Is King" instead. However, an uncompleted version of the original "Yandhi" album leaked back in August of 2019, with the album now becoming
a source of loss potential in the hip hop community. For more on the story of "Yandhi" and for a thorough analysis
of one of the highlight tracks on the project, go check out my video in which I break down the song, "Alien", a monumental track that
perfectly showcases the untapped potential of "Yandhi". Jay-Z helped launch Kanye's career. In 1999, an A&R at Jay-Z's
Roc-A-Fella Records, named Joshua "Hip Hop" Kyambo, picked out one of Kanye's
beats for Beanie Sigel in what would eventually
become the title track off of his 1999 album, "The Truth", with the song receiving mild success, peaking at number 23 on
the Billboard Rap Charts. ♪ Nigga the truth ♪ ♪ Every time I step in the booth ♪ ♪ I speak the truth ♪ ♪ Y'all know what I'm bringing to you ♪ ♪ I bring the truth ♪ ♪ You motherfuckers know who I be ♪ ♪ I be the truth ♪ ♪ What I speak shall set you free ♪ After years of making beats
for local artists in Chicago, Kanye now officially had
his foot in the door. And through his relationship
with his mentor, No I.D., someone who already had a relationship with his A&R at Roc-A-Fella, Kanye was able to keep
progressing his relationship with Jay-Z's label. It was only a matter of time before he would first
connect with Jay on a track. With the moment finally
coming in the year 2000, as he produced a track,
"This Can't Be Life" off of Jay-Z's compilation
album, titled "The Dynasty". The track is especially notable 'cause it's the very first example of Kanye's signature
chipmunk sampling style, in which he would pitch
up old soul samples. However, Kanye has actually gone on record telling us that he really didn't
dig this track at the time, as he pictured Jay-Z rapping
in a more braggadocious style, instead of the more introspective tone that he ended up going with. But thankfully, Kanye
and Jay's relationship would not end with just this one track. After Kanye got evicted from his apartment in Chicago that year, he would
move to Newark, New Jersey and aim to connect with
Jay-Z on future projects. In that year, in a now
legendary studio session at Baseline Studios, Kanye
would blow Jay-Z away with his innovative soulful production, with five of his beats
ending up on Jay-Z's 2001 classic album, "The Blueprint", including classics like "Takeover", "Heart of the City" and "Izzo", which would become Jay-Z's
first Top 10 Billboard hit. Kanye would use the success and momentum of his production on "The Blueprint" to launch his career as an artist. However, the only problem
was, during this time, Kanye was still only
looked at as a producer and labels were reluctant
to sign him as a rapper. Coming from a more suburban background, Kanye didn't fit the
prevailing gangsta image throughout hip hop during the time, so labels didn't want
anything to do with him. But after a potential
deal with Capital Records fell through in 2002, the
co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records, named Dash, would reluctantly
sign Kanye to the label as a rapper, really only signing him because they didn't want
to lose him as a producer. And well, the rest is history. Kanye would prove all the doubters wrong with the release of his debut
album "The College Dropout" in 2004 successfully earning
his respect as a rapper and launching him into the mainstream. Car accident. Just two weeks after signing the deal with Roc-A-Fella Records back in 2002, Kanye was driving home from
a late night studio session in California when he had a
nearly fatal car accident, falling asleep at the wheel
and crashing his car head on into an oncoming vehicle. The accident left Kanye's
jaw completely shattered, as it would have to be wired to his face during reconstructive surgery. But Kanye wouldn't let
this near-death experience stop him from rapping, as he
would go on to record his track "Through The Wire" just two weeks later. Quite literally spitting
the verses to the song with his mouth still wired shut. During the original version of the track, it's incredibly noticeable
that his mouth is wired shut, as he would later go on
to re-record the verses and layer them over the original recording in order to approve
annunciation and clarity. ♪ I drink a Boost for breakfast ♪ ♪ An Ensure for dessert ♪ ♪ Somebody ordered pancakes ♪ ♪ I just sip the sizzurp ♪ ♪ That right there could
drive a sane man berserk ♪ ♪ Not to worry, Mr.
H-to-the-Izzo's back to wizzerk ♪ ♪ I drink a Boost for breakfast ♪ ♪ An Ensure for dessert ♪ ♪ Somebody ordered pancakes ♪ ♪ I just sip the sizzurp ♪ ♪ That right there could
drive a sane man berserk ♪ ♪ Not to worry, Mr.
H-to-the-Izzo's back to wizzerk ♪ The track would end up as the first single on his debut album, "The College Dropout", although the original recording was released on his mixtape,
titled "Get Well Soon". In addition to the clear
differences in Kanye's voice, the original version also has
one slightly different line, as Kanye originally rapped
in the same hospital where Big and Tupac died. However, Kanye must've found out that it was actually only Biggie that died in the
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center that he resided in that night, as Tupac actually died in
the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada. So, he corrected himself
and changed the line during the final version. ♪ In the same hospital
where Big and Tupac died ♪ ♪ The doctor said I had blood clots ♪ ♪ But I ain't Jamaican, man ♪ ♪ In the same hospital
where Biggie Smalls died ♪ ♪ The doctor said I had blood clots ♪ ♪ But I ain't Jamaican, man ♪ Kanye helped launch Kid Cudi's career. Much like how Jay-Z was influential in helping launch Kanye's career, Kanye was instrumental in
helping launch the career of Kid Cudi. Kanye actually first met Cudi all the way back in 2004, as Cudi recalled during an interview with MTV
that one day the two of them just happened to both be looking for CDs at the Virgin Megastore in New York City. At the time, Cudi had just
moved out of his hometown in Cleveland to live with
his uncle in the city and pursue a music career. So, he admitted to MTV
that he wasn't really that great of an artist at the time. Still, though, given
this golden opportunity, he went up to Kanye and
introduced himself as Scott before asking Kanye to
sign him to his label, despite having little
to no pitch at the time. According to Cudi, Kanye
respectively declined, but before he left, he
was able to tell him that his rap name was Kid Cudi and to look out for him in the future. And funny enough, the two of them would later meet again in New York City when Kanye went into
the Bape store in Soho that Cudi was working at at the time. As Cudi has since recalled
having to chase Kanye out of the store after
he forgot to take off one of the anti-theft tags
from one of the jackets that Kanye had bought. The two of them wouldn't cross paths again until 2008. But this is the year where
it really all went down. That year, Cudi would
release his debut mixtape, titled "A Kid Named
Cudi", which was produced by Plain Pat and Emile. Plain Pat, who already had connections working with Kanye in the past, decided to send him the album and, well, upon listening, Kanye absolutely loved it. ♪ 'Cause day and night ♪ ♪ The lonely stoner seems
to free his mind at night ♪ As he would even go on to show up at the project release party that year and, well, the rest is history. Cudi would end up having
a significant influence on the sonic direction and overall style of Kanye's 2008 classic
album, "808s and Heartbreak", as he even helped write four
of the tracks on the album, as well as provided vocals for the hooks on both "Welcome To
Heartbreak" and "Paranoid". ♪ And my head keeps spinning ♪ ♪ Can't stop having these visions ♪ ♪ I gotta get with it ♪ ♪ Ooh hoo, ooh hoo, ooh hoo ♪ ♪ Anyway they don't know you like I do ♪ ♪ They'll never know you ♪ This effectively helps
launch Cudi's career and expose his innovative style of hip hop to the mainstream, which
focused heavily on melody and dove into the previous
taboo topic of mental health, proving to have a huge influence on Kanye during the creation of
the entire "808s" project, an album that would, in
turn, go on to influence an entire new generation
of hip hop artists, which leads us perfectly
into the next topic. The impact of "808s and Heartbreak". "808s and Heartbreak" is
the single most influential hip hop album to come out in the 2000s. After the shocking death of
his mother, Donda, in 2007, as well as the break up of his
then fiance, Alexis Phifer, Kanye was left completely heartbroken, as he needed a completely
new sound and style in order to properly express
his pain on a record. Kanye gravitated to the 808 Drum Machine and to the use of auto-tune vocals in what proved to be a
match made in heaven. It was a combination of sounds that allowed Kanye to pour his heart out over a completely new sonic landscape. His auto-tune vocals
were filled with sorrow and the deep 808s provided them with a dense layer to exist over. ♪ Hey, heyyy ♪ ♪ Don't say you will ♪ ♪ Then play you will ♪ ♪ I pray you will ♪ Everything that Kanye made his name on in the soulful sample based production to the braggadocious lyrics and to the larger than life persona was nowhere to be found. Kanye completely transformed his sound to exist with all but no samples, choosing to, instead, dive
into the dense sound of the 808 and focus heavily on melody, as he aimed to express his
pain and vulnerabilities in a way that hip hop artists just simply had never done before. ♪ Seems like, street lights, glowing ♪ ♪ Happen to be just like moments passing ♪ ♪ In front of me ♪ ♪ In the night I hear 'em talk ♪ ♪ The coldest story ever told ♪ ♪ Somewhere far along this road ♪ ♪ He lost his soul to
a woman so heartless ♪ ♪ Memories made in the coldest winter ♪ ♪ Goodbye my friend, I
won't ever love again ♪ 13 years later and the
album is still having its impact today. Take a look at mainstream hip hop today and what are the two elements which can be found in
almost every hit song? It's the iconic deep 808 and its melody, a combination of sound
which Kanye pioneered on this project. And not only that, but
the emotional content that we see today on these hit songs also mirrors what Kanye
was doing back in 2008. It's hard to imagine
songs like Lil Uzi Vert's "XO Tour Llif3" and Juice
WRLD's "Lucid Dreams" without the existence of
"808s and Heartbreak". ♪ I don't really care if you cry ♪ ♪ On the real, you should've never lied ♪ ♪ Should've saw the way
she looked me in my eyes ♪ ♪ She said, "Baby, I
am not afraid to die" ♪ ♪ I still see your shadows in my room ♪ ♪ Can't take back the
love that I gave you ♪ ♪ It's to the point where
I love and I hate you ♪ ♪ And I cannot change you,
so I must replace you, oh ♪ So, it's no wonder that these two have actually both gone on record citing this album as
being hugely influential to their sound. - Damn, you just had
to throw this in here. I need to light my shit, hold on. ♪ Seems like, street lights, glowing ♪ ♪ Happen to be just like moments passing ♪ This is my shit, bro. This nigga, you know how people talk about there's time travelers? Kanye is a time traveler. That nigga went to damn near 2015 and came back with some sauce. - What do you mean with drum? You don't even put, you don't use drums? - [Juice WRLD] Just, I
mean, yeah, but just 808s. - [DJ In Red Shirt] And that's it. - 'Cause they're all "808
and Heartbreak" dudes, they all just want bloom. - Yeah. This is why, this is
why, you want to know why there's a huge disconnect
between the adults and kids of hip hop? - [Juice WRLD] Yeah. - The album that most adults, not me, but the album that most adults said, "This shit sucks, I don't
ever want to hear this from Kanye West again,"
the kids were all like, - That, that was the-
"This is finally the Kanye West
- Yup, yup. - I was waiting for." Boom, hip hop divides. Old and young, right there. - [Juice WRLD] Changed my life. - [DJ In Red Shirt] I like both. - 808s changed your life? - Yeah, it was fire. - [Narrator] Kanye 2020. Kanye ran for president
during the 2020 election and, well, given his past
relationship with Trump, people initially theorized
that he was running in an attempt to steal votes
from the democratic nominee. In an interview with Forbes Magazine, Kanye didn't deny the the possibility of taking votes from Joe Biden. However, he made it
clear that he no longer supports Donald Trump. Of course, though, his run would end up having no actual effect on
the result of the election. Lived in China. At the age of 10, Kanye
moved to Nanjing, China with his mother, Donda,
who got a job teaching at Nanjing University as
part of an exchange program. According to his mom, despite
being the only foreigner in his class, Kanye quickly
picked up the language and settled into his new life rather well. However, Kanye would only end
up spending one year there and has, therefore, since
forgotten most of the language. George Bush incident. It's September 2nd of 2005
and the entire country is still grieving from the devastating Category Five Hurricane Katrina that resulted in 1,800 deaths and catastrophic damage to
the city of New Orleans. That day, NBC aired the
Concert For Hurricane Relief, a special during which various celebrities appeared on air to
encourage people to call in and donate to the American Red
Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Kanye, frustrated with the way the country was handling the disaster, and specifically, the way
people were viewing and treating the black victims, goes off script and delivers this
unforgettable line on live TV. - That being the most tragic loss of all. - George Bush doesn't
care about black people. - [Host In Black Shirt] Please call. - [Narrator] How sway? On a Sway In The Morning
interview from 2013, Kanye began to angrily rant
about the fashion industry and their refusal to work with him when suddenly, Sway suggested
Kanye take a step back, empower himself and figure out how to break into the industry by himself. And, well, Kanye wasn't
too thrilled with him, leading to this iconic moment. - How, Sway? - Take a few steps back to go- - You ain't got the answers, man. You ain't got the answers.
- Hey, Kanye. - You ain't got the answers. You ain't got the answers, Sway. - Kanye. - I been doing this more than you. - Doing what more than me?
- You ain't got... (upbeat music) - [Narrator] "Late Orchestration". "Late Orchestration" is a live album that was released back in 2006 featuring a live performance
at Abbey Road Studios, during which Kanye was backed
by a 17 piece orchestra, performing songs from from
his first two studio albums, "The College Dropout"
and "Late Registration". ♪ Throw your diamonds in the
sky if you feel the vibe ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ The Roc is still alive every
time I rhyme, now say this ♪ ♪ Forever ever, forever ever,
ever, ever, ever, ever ♪ ♪ Ever, ever, ever, ever,
ever, ever, ever, ever ♪ For some reason, the
album is not on Spotify, but you can find it on both
Apple Music and on YouTube. In addition, this is
perhaps the Holy Grail of Kanye West vinyl with
the physical version on Wax, selling for an average price of $320 on the popular vinyl marketplace, Discogs. Saint Pablo Tour. The Saint Pablo Tour was a concert tour that Kanye held in 2016
in order to support the release of his album,
"The Life Of Pablo". The tour was extremely unique
in its stage presentation, as Kanye performed every night atop a giant floating platform, which resided above the audience. The tour was originally planned
to go on for four months, but in November, things
started to fall apart. During his show in Englewood
early in the month, Kanye had to cut the show short because of frustrations
with his vocal performance. - [Kanye] I'm very sorry, I love you, I promise to do better next time. (audience booing) - [Narrator] And then during
the next show in San Jose later that month, Kanye
would stop his performance to rant about politics
for 25 minutes straight, telling the audience that
if he would have voted during the last election,
he would have voted for Donald Trump. - [Kanye] But if I would've voted, I would've voted on Trump. (audience booing) - [Narrator] It all came to an end during the next performance in Sacramento when Kanye arrived 90 minutes late, performed only a few
songs and then proceeded to launch into another huge rant. ♪ But he just can't seem
to give Kanye credit ♪ ♪ But he's still hood ♪ - [Kanye] Hey, just stop,
stop, stop, stop it, stop it. Hey, hey, radio, fuck you. (crowd cheering) Radio, fuck you. - [Narrator] This time jumping
from subject to subject and criticizing everyone
from Mark Zuckerberg, Hillary Clinton, Beyonce and Jay-Z, as he would even share
personal information about his relationships
before walking off. - [Kanye] Jay-Z, call me,
bruh, you still ain't call me. Jay-Z, call me. Hey, bruh, Jay-Z, I know you got killers, please don't send them at my head. Just call me. - [Narrator] The remaining dates on the Saint Pablo Tour
were immediately canceled following the show and Kanye, with his mental health
spiraling out of control, was hospitalized hours after. Slavery comments. In may of 2018, Kanye went
to the TMZ headquarters to rant about various topics, including the topic of slavery,
in which he had to say: - I mean, you hear about
slavery for 400 years. For 400 years, that sound like a choice. Like, you was there for 400
years and it's all of y'all? You know, like. - [Narrator] "Yandhi"
tracks on "Jesus Is King". On Kanye's 2019 album "Jesus Is King", there are a total of three songs that are reworks of
tracks originally intended to be released on "Yandhi",
as they were transformed in order to fit the
new religious direction that Kanye went with on the project. "Chakras" became "Selah", "The Storm" became "Everything We Need" and "The Law of Attraction"
became "Use This Gospel". ♪ Before the flood, niggas judged ♪ ♪ They did the same thing to Noah ♪ ♪ Everybody need Yandhi ♪ ♪ My cousin mad at my auntie ♪ ♪ Before the flood, people judge ♪ ♪ They did the same thing to Noah ♪ ♪ Everybody wanted Yandhi ♪ ♪ Then Jesus Christ did the laundry ♪ ♪ Whoo-ooh, ooh-ooh ♪ ♪ Switch your, switch your attitude ♪ ♪ Go ahead, level up yourself ♪ ♪ This that different latitude ♪ ♪ Whoo-ooh, ooh-ooh ♪ ♪ Switch your, switch your attitude ♪ ♪ Go ahead, level up yourself ♪ ♪ This that different latitude ♪ ♪ The law of attraction, be
careful what you ask for ♪ ♪ Means I got what I asked
for, exactly what I asked for ♪ ♪ Use this Gospel for protection ♪ ♪ It's a hard road to heaven ♪ ♪ We call on your blessings ♪ ♪ In the father, we put our faith ♪ - [Narrator] "Be" by Common. Common's "Be" is a
project released in 2005 that was almost entirely
produced by Kanye. Nine out of the 11 tracks on the album were produced by Ye, with the other two being produced by J Dilla,
which makes this album one of the best produced hip
hop products of all time, in my humble opinion. ♪ Yes ♪ ♪ I want to be as free as the
spirits of those who left ♪ ♪ I'm talking Malcolm,
Coltrane, my man, Yussef ♪ ♪ It's your world ♪ ♪ Oh, it's your world ♪ ♪ It's your world ♪ ♪ It's your world ♪ ♪ It's your world ♪ Hawaii sessions. Kanye first flew to Hawaii
to record during sessions for his 2008 project,
"808s and Heartbreak", as well as sessions
for Jay-Z's 2009 album, "The Blueprint 3". The serene and quiet location in Honolulu would give Kanye an
opportunity to find peace during a very tumultuous time in his life. As we already talked about before, the sudden break up with his girlfriend and the tragic death of his mother were heavily weighing down
on him during this time, so Hawaii became a great
retreat for him that year. And, well, during the
following year in 2009, Kanye would need his safehaven
in Hawaii more than ever. Following the infamous VMA incident with Taylor Swift that
year, Kanye found himself being portrayed as a villain everywhere in the eyes of the public,
as it was impossible to escape the constant negative
attention from the media. Basically, everyone was
hating on him at the time. I mean, even President Barack Obama would famously call him
a jackass that year. - The young lady seems like
a perfectly nice person, she's getting her award,
what's he doing up there? - [Man With Purple Tie]
Why would he do that? - He's a jackass. - [Narrator] Kanye was
ashamed of his actions, as he issued a teary and sincere apology on national television. - It was just, it was rude,
period, and, you know, I'd like to be able to
apologize to her in person and, you know, I wanted to. I've never taken the time off to really, you know, I just, music after music and tour after tour and
tour and I'm just ashamed that my hurt caused, you
know, someone else's hurt, my. And if there's anything I could do to help Taylor in the
future, or help anyone, I'd like, 'cause you know,
I want to live this thing, it's hard, you know, it's, sometimes, so. - [Narrator] But still, people everywhere were seriously doubting whether he could come back from this, as it seemed that he had effectively
ruined his whole career. Kanye knew that he had to earn
respect back from the public, as he has gone on record
saying that he felt his life depended on the success of his next album. - 'Cause I really put myself in a zone that I felt like my life was dependent on the success of this album. You know, and, I mean,
with that being the case, I said, "You know what, no
matter what anybody says about me, they won't,
I can write something that can make someone
that hates me the most have to really respect or love the song." - [Narrator] So that year,
Kanye packed his bags and returned to Hawaii
on a self-imposed exile, escaping the looming cloud that the media had casted over him. Kanye knew that he had
only one goal in Hawaii, to craft the absolute best work of art that he was capable of making. So he began working on his masterpiece, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy". Kanye flew in a super
team of artists to Hawaii, which included some of the
most legendary rappers, producers and singers in music, as well as new and rising stars who were destined for greatness. The long list included
the likes of RZA, Jay-Z, Q-Tip, Drake, Common,
DJ Premier, Nicki Manaj, John Legend, Rihanna, Kid Cudi, Raekwon, Mos Def, Alicia Keys, Pusha T, Rick Ross, Charlie Wilson, Pete Rock, Madlib, and even Elton John. The town was truly off the charts. Kanye became the creative
director behind his masterpiece, booking the studio's three
rooms for 24 hours a day, as it was reported that Kanye never spent a full night sleeping
during these sessions, only opting to take power
naps, 90 minutes at a time. Kanye wanted the project to
be done in complete secrecy, so he posted a list of
rules on the studio walls. Among them, no tweeting,
no taking pictures, and total focus on the project at hand. In addition, Kanye made everyone
in the studio wear suits in order to set the precedent that this was serious business. After all, this album
was to be his Mona Lisa. It has been reported by
Kanye that songs like "Power" quite literally took 5,000 hours to make. - These are like paintings,
especially for this album. Like, sometimes, we go on good
Fridays and just joke around and put out, you know, what we're feeling off the cuts, but this
"Power", 5,000 hours, 5,000 man hours to make the song. - [Narrator] And well, that's
exactly what it sounds like. ♪ Uh, hey, uh, hey, uh,
hey, heyyy, heyyy, uh ♪ ♪ Now this will be a beautiful death ♪ ♪ I'm jumping out the window ♪ Every song that came out of these sessions sounds like they were
crafted to perfection and that's why many
consider "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" to be
one of the greatest albums of all time, with Rolling Stone even just brazenly putting it at number 17 on their new top 500 list. Taylor Swift famous line. On Kanye's 2016 song, "Famous", there's a notorious
line about Taylor Swift. A line which Kanye references
his 2009 incident with her, arguing that he effectively
made her famous on that night. ♪ For all my Southside
niggas that know me best ♪ ♪ I feel like me and Taylor
might still have sex ♪ ♪ Why? I made that
bitch famous, God damn ♪ ♪ I made that bitch famous ♪ In addition to this lyric,
a Taylor Swift look alike was even featured during the track's extremely not safe for work music video. After the track's release, there
was a whole new controversy that sparked between Kanye,
Taylor and Kim Kardashian. But we'll talk more about
all of that in part two. (upbeat music) IPhone vocals. Following the release of "Jesus Is King", Kanye revealed during an interview with GQ that around 20% of the
album was actually recorded using his iPhone mic, including the lines, "Closed on Sunday, you my Chick-Fil-A". ♪ Closed on Sunday,
you're my Chick-Fil-A ♪ "So Help Me God". "So Help Me God" is the
name of a scrapped album that Kanye announced back in 2015. The three singles he
released around this time, "All Day", "Only One"
and "FourFiveSeconds", were all believed to be
a part of this project. However, as we all know, this project would never be released,
with the whole album eventually morphing into
"The Life of Pablo". It's also worth noting
that Kanye threw around calling this album "Swish" and "Waves" before he ultimately went
with "The Life of Pablo". Fingers in his what? One day back in 2016,
Kanye started going off on Wiz Khalifa on Twitter
after Kanye thought he had dissed his wife, Kim Kardashian. Eventually, after some back and forth, the tweets began to turn personal, as Kanye would bring up
their shared ex, Amber Rose, who Kanye dated from 2008 to 2010 and who Wiz married and had a kid with before ultimately calling
it quits after a year. In the tweets, Kanye references
Amber Rose past profession as a stripper, telling Wiz,
"You let a stripper trap you" and "I know you mad every time you look at your child that this
girl got you for 18 years." After seeing these tweets herself, Amber Rose decided to
join the conversation and, well, she would gift the world a very interesting revelation about Kanye. Watch the throne two. On September 8th of
2018, Kanye tweeted out, "throne2 coming soon,"
referring to a upcoming sequel of his and Jay-Z's 2011 collab
album, "Watch The Throne". However, nothing has come
of it since this tweet and Jay-Z and Kanye's relationship has seemed to fall apart since this time. So, I'm not sure we'll ever
be getting it anytime soon. (upbeat music) "The Life of Pablo" original version. "The Life of Pablo" was a unique project in that it was an ever
revolving work of art. Kanye wanted to take
advantage of our digital times and the ability for constant
evolution and improvement. Much like how the apps on our phones are continuously updated
over time to improve quality, Kanye was continuing making
changes to this album after its initial release. And because of this, the
original day one project is much different than the
version that we all have now. I'm not going to get
into the little details of all the changes, but
among the most notable were the addition of a
completely new closing track, titled "Saint Pablo", ♪ Yeah, you're looking at
the church in the night sky ♪ ♪ Wondering whether God's gonna say hi ♪ the complete revamp of wolves, ♪ Bow, bow, right now,
right now, right now ♪ ♪ Bow, bow, right now,
right now, right now ♪ and even a line change on "Famous". ♪ That Benz Marina Del Rey coasting ♪ ♪ She be Puerto Rican,
they parade waving ♪ ♪ That Benz Marina Del Rey coasting ♪ ♪ She in school to be
a real estate agent ♪ "Love Everyone". "Love Everyone" was the title of an album that was scrapped a
month before the release of Kanye's 2018 album "Ye". This is the album that
Kanye is said to have played for both Charlamagne and
the entire TMZ headquarters after meeting with both
of them in late April and early May of 2018. However, after his appearance
at the TMZ headquarters resulted in a long rant and the infamous "slavery was a choice" comments, Kanye reportedly scrapped the whole album and then made "Ye" the following month up until it's June 1st release. Songs that are believed to
have potentially been a part of this lost album are
"Ecstasy", "Ye Vs. The People", and maybe even a real
version of "Lift Yourself" with actual lyrics. The concept of the album
is right in the title, as Kanye wanted it to
be a therapeutic listen filled with healing and forgiveness, even going so far as to
make the cover the album a photo of the surgeon who is believed to have contributed to his
mother's death back 2007. However, after Kanye
posted this on Twitter, the surgeon contacted him and told him that he couldn't use the
photo for his album cover. But still, he gave his willingness to speak with Kanye in person, offering him a chance to heal. "Good Ass Job". Back in 2003, in an interview with MTV, Kanye lay out his plans
for his first four albums, which were all to be a
part of a sort of theme. They were to be named
"The College Dropout", "Late Registration",
"Graduation" and "Good Ass Job". Now, of course, the
first three albums here, Kanye released as promised,
but "Good Ass Job" never came to fruition. Why? Well, after the release of "Graduation", Kanye's life took a dark turn. As we've talked about before already, that year in 2007, Kanye
was dealing with the breakup of his then fiance, Alexis Phifer, as well as the tragic death of his mother and because of this, Kanye's prior plans to release "Good Ass
Job" were put on hold, as he would go on to create
his emotional masterpiece "808s and Heartbreak". Still, though, after the
release of this project, people expected Kanye to go back to complete the series of albums that he had promised back in 2003, therefore, releasing "Good Ass Job" next. But in 2010, Kanye would reveal on Twitter that his new album would, in fact, not be called "Good Ass Job",
tweeting out that the title would be "My Beautiful
Dark Twisted Fantasy". So the potential for "Good Ass Job" would officially be put to bed that day. That is, until eight years later in 2018 when Chance The Rapper tweeted out a video of Kanye at his open mic event in Chicago, during which Kanye tells the audience that him and Chance are working
on a collaborative project. - [Kanye] Me and chance
working a new album. (audience cheering) - [Narrator] Titled, you
guessed it, "Good Ass Job". - [Kanye] It's called "Good Ass Job". (audience cheering) - [Narrator] However, nothing
has come of the album since. "Cruel Winter". "Cruel Winter" is the name
of the planned follow up to the 2012 compilation
album "Cruel Summer", made by Kanye's label, Good Music. The first single to the
project, "Champions", was released back in 2016. ♪ Fresh outta debt in this mothafucka ♪ ♪ And they still ain't
ready yet for a mothafucka ♪ However, nothing ever came of the project since its release. "Wolves" album. "Wolves" is the name of
the collaborative project with Drake that Kanye teased back in 2015. In an interview with The
Breakfast Club at the time, Kanye revealed that the song "Wolves" off of "The Life of Pablo"
was actually inspired by conversations he and Drake had revolving around their planned
album of the same name. - The "Wolves" song
came from a conversation that me and Drake had when we
was gonna do a album together and the album was called "Wolves". - [Narrator] In August of
2016, at Drake's OVO Fest, Kanye would make a special appearance, as he would even ask the crowd if they were ready for
their upcoming collab album. - Is y'all ready for this album? (audience cheering) Wait a second, stop,
stop, stop, stop, stop. Now I'm not talking about apology, I want to talk about yous. I want to ask y'all right now, y'all ready for this album? (audience cheering) - [Drake] And what my brother
was asking you before was are you ready if we make a album? That's what he was asking. (audience cheering) - [Narrator] And then a month later, a mysterious sign would pop up in L.A., reading, "Calabasas is the new Abu Dhabi" with the respective logos
of Drake and Kanye's labels appearing side by side at the bottom. But, as has been a trend with
these unreleased projects, nothing ever came of it. This time, for reasons
we will discuss later. Zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero. During Kanye's meeting
with Trump back in 2018, he pulled out his phone
in order to pitch the idea of the iPlane One, a futuristic
hydrogen powered plane that would be manufactured by Apple. As he pulled out his phone, the video would capture
Kanye's lock screen password, which was literally just six zeroes. Not exactly the best security
for a world-known celebrity. Maybe this is why Kanye can't
keep his songs from leaking. "Turbo Grafx 16". In February of 2016, fresh off the release of "The Life of Pablo",
Kanye announced on Twitter that his next album would
be called "Turbo Grafx 16" and that it would be
coming in summer of 2016. Inspired by the 1989
U.S. video game console of the same name, he
promised that the album would be on some super nerd vibes and would likely be inspired
by the synth heavy sounds heard in video game music. That year, Pete Rock
even uploaded two videos of him in the studio with Kanye. One captioned, "Playing 45s
in the lab with Kanye West" and in the other video, there
was a list of video games on a sheet of paper that people theorized was a list of the games
they were sampling from for the album. However, nothing ever came of the project. Kim cheated on Kanye with Meek Mill? In July of 2020, Kanye hopped on Twitter to write a series of tweets,
suggesting that he had been trying to divorce Kim Kardashian ever since she met with
Meek Mill at the Waldorf for prison reform, suggesting that the two had, in fact, slept together that night. However, Meek Mill denied
Kanye's accusations shortly after and the tweets have since been deleted. "Lift Yourself" beat,
originally for Drake. In a talk Drake had with Lebron James on the HBO show "The Shop" in 2018, Drake revealed that the now
infamous "Lift Yourself" beat, the beat on which Kanye trolled the world with the comedic verse
filled with nonsense, ♪ Hoopity scoop ♪ ♪ Scooptity whoop ♪ ♪ Whoopty scoopty poop ♪ ♪ Poopty scoopty ♪ ♪ Scoopty whoop ♪ ♪ Whoopity scoop whoop whoop ♪ was actually originally meant for himself. - And then from there it
was all good, you know, he played me a, like this- - [Maverick] He played you a beat, right? - He played me "Lift
Yourself" and he was like, "Yo, you can have this if you want" and I was hype, I started writing to it and then he was like, "Yo,
you gotta come to Wyoming." - [Narrator] Drake was upset that Kanye would release the song without telling him and took it as Kanye
personally trolling him. - "Lift Yourself" comes out
with him just talking nonsense. I'm like, "Oh, this-" - The scoopity poop poop, that riled up. - Oh, this guy's trolling me, yeah. This guy's trolling me. Yeah, he's troll, oh, this was,
like, a manipulative, like, I want to break you thing. So, I said, "All right, I'm gonna go back to distancing myself again,
I know what this is." - [Narrator] So, you might be wondering, how did we get here after the two of them were supposed to drop
a collab album in 2016? Well, that year, during
Kanye's Saint Pablo Tour, you know, the one where he was ranting uncontrollably on stage, (Kanye yelling) Kanye went off on both DJ Khaled and Drake for using their status to
get their song for free on the radio, which is really the start of their beef together. - [Kanye] Is it just me
or did you hear that song so many times, you say you
want to play it for free? (crowd cheering) And give me, hey, hey, you
know what it is, though, 'cause, hey, I love Drake, I love Khaled, but they set that song up, bro. - [Narrator] That same
year, Drake would go on to release a track on which
he disses both Pusha T and Kid Cudi, two close friends of Kanye. Now, the Pusha diss was to be expected because the two of them
had already been beefing for awhile, but the Kid Cudi
diss was really uncalled for, as Drake called out Kid
Cudi for his mental problems the same year that he had
been checked into rehab for suicidal urges and depression. ♪ You were the man on the moon ♪ ♪ Now you just go through your phases ♪ ♪ Life of the angry and famous ♪ With Cudi being one of
Kanye's longtime friends, I imagine this didn't sit well with him and Kanye's tweets from 2018 confirm this. Tension built further
between the two in 2018, as Kanye would go on a run and
release four albums in June, announcing them right
after Drake had announced that his upcoming project, "Scorpion", was releasing that month. - Pick up and all these dates
are out one by one by one, all around June 15th, by the way. One's May 31st, one's June whatever. - First, second, June is, yeah. - [Narrator] And to
make matters even worse, it didn't help that Pusha T, a signee on Kanye's label, Good Music, would go on to diss Drake
on one of the albums he released during this period. - And then the first album drops and of course there's
a diss song towards me - Oh God.
- that you produced that's talking about writing? - [Narrator] That one was "Daytona" and it was entirely produced by Kanye with Pusha T dissing Drake on
the track titled "Infrared". ♪ The game's fucked up ♪ ♪ Niggas beats is banging,
nigga, ya hooks did it ♪ ♪ The lyric penning equal
the Trumps winning ♪ ♪ The bigger question is
how the Russians did it ♪ ♪ It was written like Nas,
but it came from Quentin ♪ And Pusha would, of
course, follow up this diss with another ruthless attack on Drake, titled "The Story of Adidon", revealing to the world that
Drake had been hiding a kid. ♪ You are hiding a child,
let that boy come home ♪ ♪ Deadbeat mothafucka
playing border patrol, ooh ♪ ♪ Adonis is your son ♪ ♪ And he deserves more than an
Adidas press run, that's real ♪ Well, this didn't exactly
sit well with Drake. Kanye later apologized to Drake for his involvement in the
Pusha T diss toward him, wishing that he had not been
involved in such negativity. In addition, he also apologized for stepping on Drake's release date and even apologized for
releasing "Lift Yourself" without first giving him the opportunity to record over the beat. But at that point, it was too late and their relationship
has never recovered since. Hold on, this train going by. In September of 2018,
Kanye took to Instagram to rant about his feud
revolving around Drake, but in the middle of the rant, Kanye was forced to stop talking, as he had to let a train pass by, making for this hilarious clip. - Now, the next thing is, with Drake, yeah, I told you that if I
wasn't in a medicated state, I might've had the thoughts to, hold on, this train going by. (train rumbling) Now, if I wasn't in a medicated state. - [Narrator] May bike. In December of 2018, Kanye
posted a clip of himself riding in San Francisco on
his self-proclaimed May bike. - Yo, we in San Fran, I'm on the May bike. Yo, I got the May bike,
I'm on the May bike, look at that, ah. (Kanye laughing) Look at that. Running up in the May bike, haa. - [Narrator] Aziz Ansari. Comedian Aziz Ansari has
had a friendly relationship with Kanye in the past,
revealing in a podcast with Bill Simmons that
he was closest to Kanye around the making of
"Watch the Throne" in 2011. - [Aziz] And then I started
going when they were recording "Watch the Throne", so I was there for a lot of the "Watch
the Throne" recording, which is one of the coolest
things I've ever gotten to see. - [Narrator] Which is
probably why he can be spotted in the music video for "Otis". ♪ Jay is chillin', Ye is chillin' ♪ ♪ What more can I say? We killin' 'em ♪ ♪ Hold up before we end this campaign ♪ Ansari also recalled being present for the famous Hawaii sessions during the making of "My
Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", sharing a story of the time
a suitcase delivery man came into the studio and
Kanye played the guy music from the album in order to get his input, all while he was trying
to pick out a suitcase. N words in Paris 11 times. During the Watch the
Throne Tour with Jay-Z, the two played their
song, "N Words in Paris" 11 times in a row at one of their shows, their show, which was in Paris. (loud music) Why N words in Paris? In a 2013 interview with Zane Lowe, Kanye revealed to the world
how the song got its name. - Why do you think the
song "Niggas In Paris" is called "Niggas In Paris"? 'Cause niggas was in Paris. (upbeat music) 300 like the Romans. On his 2013 song "Black Skinhead" off of his album, "Yeezus",
Kanye delivers this line, a line that is factually incorrect. ♪ Four in the morning and I'm zoning ♪ ♪ They say I'm possessed, it's a omen ♪ ♪ I keep it 300, like the Romans ♪ You see, Kanye is referring
to the movie, "300", but the movie is actually
about the 300 Spartan men who fought the Persians, not the Romans, as Kanye seems to believe here. Elton John on "All Of The Lights". Elton John was a part of
the famous Hawaii sessions for "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", as he's actually the one playing piano on both the "All The Lights" interlude and throughout the regular track. (piano music) ♪ All of the lights ♪ ♪ Getting mine, baby ♪ ♪ Gotta let these niggas know ♪ ♪ Getting right, babe ♪ ♪ You should go and get your own ♪ Also providing vocals
during the end of the track. ♪ Whoa-Whoa, whoa-whoa, oh ♪ ♪ I tried to tell you but
all I could say was oh ♪ Elton has since called "My
Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" his favorite hip hop
record, referring to it as the hip hop "Sergeant Pepper" during an episode of his Beats
One podcast, "Rocket Hour". - [Elton] The whole album,
in fact, I think of all the hip hop albums I've ever heard, this is probably my favorite. I just think it's a work of brilliance. It's the hip hop "Sergeant
Pepper", as far as I'm concerned. This is "All Of The Lights" by Kanye West. - [Narrator] Kanye's cousin. On Kanye's 2016 album,
"The Life of Pablo", he calls out a cousin of his two times, a cousin that apparently
had stolen a laptop of his in the past and threatened
to leak a sex tape of his that he found on the laptop. On "Real Friends", Kanye revealed that he had to pay this cousin $250,000 just to get the laptop back. ♪ I had a cousin that stole my laptop ♪ ♪ That I was fuckin bitches on ♪ ♪ Paid that nigga 250,000
just to get it from him ♪ After the release of "The
Life of Pablo" that year, another one of Kanye's cousins,
named Franklin Lawrence, spoke to the Daily Mail and
confirmed that the incident did, in fact, happen back in 2012. Lawrence went on to reveal that Kanye would cut off family
ties after the incident and he believes that it led to Kanye becoming distrustful of many
people in his inner circle, something Kanye clearly dives into on the track "Real Friends",
as he simply wonders how many real friends he truly has. ♪ Real friends, real friends ♪ ♪ How many of us, how many
of us are real friends? ♪ ♪ To real friends to the real end ♪ ♪ til the wheels fall off,
til the wheels don't spin ♪ Kanye says good morning politely. Back in 2013, Kanye returned
home from a late night out when he was greeted in his
garage by the Paparazzi. Despite it being 4 a.m. at the time, the man recording tells Kanye good morning and, well, Kanye wasn't
too thrilled with him. - [Paparazzi] Hey, good morning, Kanye. - [Kanye] Shut the fuck up. - [Narrator] All right,
so that concludes part one of this two part series. If you liked this video and would like to support the channel, be sure to like and share this video,
subscribe to the channel and turn on post notifications, so you don't miss out on part two. I'm excited to keep
diving deeper and deeper in the next video and uncover some more obscure facts about Kanye. So, I'll see you then. (upbeat music)
