70 Fun Facts About Kanye West

In which US city was Kanye West born?

His parents divorced when he was three and he moved with his mother to Chicago, the city he is usually associated with.

West spent a year at age 10 in which country, where his mother was a Fulbright Scholar?

Donda West taught at Nanjing University; her son was reportedly the only foreigner in his class and picked up the language quickly.

West dropped out at age 20 from which school, where his own mother chaired the English department?

He had first taken painting classes on a scholarship at the American Academy of Art before transferring to study English.

Which Chicago producer became West's early friend and mentor?

No I.D. later co-produced tracks such as Heartless and worked on 808s & Heartbreak and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

West's 2001 production work is credited with revitalizing Jay-Z's career on which album?

West produced four of its thirteen tracks, including Izzo (H.O.V.A.) and the Nas diss Takeover; it was released on September 11, 2001.

Which Roc-A-Fella executive reluctantly signed West as an artist to stop him defecting?

Labels including Capitol had passed on West as a rapper because he did not fit the gangsta image dominant at the time.

What happened to West in October 2002 that inspired his debut single?

He recorded Through the Wire at the Record Plant two weeks after being admitted to hospital, with his jaw still wired shut.

Through the Wire samples, and puns on the title of, a 1985 song by which singer?

The pitched-up sample is Through the Fire, so its writers David Foster, Cynthia Weil and Tom Keane share writing credit on West's debut single.

According to the account of the crash, what caused West's near-fatal accident?

He had left a Los Angeles studio session around 3 a.m. in a rented Lexus and was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

What was the title of West's debut mixtape, released in December 2002 while he recovered?

It carried the first version of his debut single, then titled Through the Wire (Still Standing), with an Elton John outro that was later removed.

Which album kept The College Dropout from debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 in February 2004?

The debut still sold 441,000 copies in its first week and later went 6x platinum; every West solo album after it opened at number one.

Slow Jamz, West's first Hot 100 number one, was also the lead single from which rapper's album Kamikaze?

The song, featuring Jamie Foxx, was the first chart-topper for all three performers and samples Luther Vandross's version of A House Is Not a Home.

Which College Dropout single won Best Rap Song at the 47th Grammys despite fears it was too openly about faith?

It was also nominated for Song of the Year and was released with three separate music videos.

How many Grammy nominations did The College Dropout earn West at the 47th Grammy Awards?

That was the third-most nominations any artist had received in a single night at the time; he won Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song.

Which film composer co-executive produced Kanye West's Late Registration, adding strings and harpsichord?

West spent about $2 million and over a year on the album; the orchestral idea came from hearing Portishead's live album with the New York Philharmonic.

Gold Digger, which topped the Hot 100 in 2005, samples a 1954 recording by which artist?

Jamie Foxx, who sings the hook, had just won an Oscar for playing that same artist in the biopic Ray.

At the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards, West stormed the stage when Touch the Sky lost to which act?

He apologized on stage while supporting U2 in Brisbane that November, and later spoofed the incident on Saturday Night Live.

Graduation shared its September 11, 2007 release date with which rapper's album Curtis?

Graduation sold 957,000 copies in its first week to Curtis's 691,000, a result widely credited with ending gangsta rap's mainstream dominance.

Which Japanese artist designed the cartoon Dropout Bear artwork for Graduation?

The same artist later designed the Kids See Ghosts cover, basing it on Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.

Stronger built its hook on a sample of Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by which French duo?

The song won Best Rap Solo Performance at the 50th Grammys and its Akira-inspired video was shot in Tokyo.

Which milestone did West reach with Stronger in 2021, a first for one of his singles?

It has since gone fourteen-times platinum and was ranked number 493 on Rolling Stone's 2024 500 Greatest Songs list.

Which drum machine gives 808s & Heartbreak its name?

The album pairs the machine with Auto-Tuned singing and was recorded in about three weeks after the death of his mother and the end of his engagement.

Heartless was originally intended for which artist's album before West kept it for 808s & Heartbreak?

It peaked at number two on the Hot 100 and its animated video pays tribute to Ralph Bakshi's 1981 film American Pop.

Whose acceptance speech did West interrupt at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards?

The Best Female Video winner was later invited back on stage by Beyoncé to finish her speech; Rolling Stone called it the wildest moment in VMA history.

Which sitting president was reported to have called West a "jackass" after the 2009 VMAs incident?

West had earlier declared on live television during a 2005 Hurricane Katrina telethon that George Bush did not care about black people.

Where did West record most of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy during his post-VMAs exile?

He kept engineers at Avex Recording Studio working around the clock and flew in guests including Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver.

Which artist painted the My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy cover with the armless winged figure?

The painting was one of several the artist made for the album, and its nudity led some retailers to sell a censored version.

Roughly how long is Runaway, the short film West directed to accompany My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy?

West stars opposite a half-woman, half-phoenix creature, and the film's title song features a nearly ten-minute ballet video.

What was GOOD Fridays, which West ran from August to December 2010?

Several of the tracks released this way ended up on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Which two soul singers are credited as guest features on Watch the Throne purely through vocal samples?

The 2011 Jay-Z collaboration was released digitally weeks before its physical version and became one of the rare major albums of its era not to leak.

What record did the Watch the Throne roadshow set when it ended in June 2012?

The record stood until Drake's Summer Sixteen Tour surpassed it.

Which veteran producer did West bring in 15 days before Yeezus was due to strip its sound down?

The result was the most acclaimed album of 2013 on Metacritic, sold with packaging that amounted to little more than a strip of red tape and a sticker.

Which rapper supported West on the Yeezus Tour, his first solo tour in five years?

Rolling Stone called the show crazily entertaining, hugely ambitious and totally bonkers.

The Life of Pablo went through several titles before release. Which was NOT one of them?

The final title refers to Pablo Escobar, Pablo Picasso and Paul the Apostle; the album was first premiered at Madison Square Garden alongside a Yeezy fashion show.

Which streaming service had The Life of Pablo exclusively for weeks after its 2016 release?

West co-owned the service with Jay-Z and other artists; the album became the first to top the Billboard 200 primarily through streaming.

The five seven-track albums West produced in mid-2018, including Ye, were recorded near which town?

The run started with Pusha T's Daytona and continued through Kids See Ghosts, Nas's Nasir and Teyana Taylor's K.T.S.E.

How was the mountain photo on the cover of Ye taken?

It shows the Teton Range and was shot on the drive to the album's listening party on May 31, 2018.

Kids See Ghosts is West's 2018 collaborative album with which artist?

The pair had worked together since 2008; the album debuted at number two and was named to Pitchfork's best-of-2018 list.

Where did West's Sunday Service give its first public performance, on Easter Sunday 2019?

He had pulled out of headlining the festival that January when a giant dome could not be built for his set, and returned with the choir instead.

On what date did the Sunday Service Choir release its debut album, Jesus Is Born?

A year later to the day the choir followed with the Emmanuel EP, five tracks composed by West in Latin from Roman Breviary texts.

Which smooth-jazz saxophonist appears as a guest on Jesus Is King?

West first met him after hiring him for a Valentine's Day 2019 performance; the album won Best Contemporary Christian Music Album at the 63rd Grammys.

Jesus Is King was the first album ever to simultaneously top which set of charts?

The 2019 release also delivered West's ninth consecutive number-one debut, tying Eminem's record at the time.

While finishing Donda in 2021, West lived in a locker room converted into a studio at which venue?

The album is named for his late mother, runs an hour and 48 minutes, and was his tenth straight number-one debut.

What was the Donda Stem Player, released with Kano Computing in October 2021?

It sold for $200 through West's Yeezy Tech and became his preferred outlet for releasing music outside the major-label system.

With which singer did West form the duo ¥$ for the Vultures albums?

The symbol before the dollar sign is the Japanese yen; the duo recorded in Italy and then spent three months in Saudi Arabia.

The chant loop driving the 2024 number-one Carnival was recorded by which club's ultras?

The song made West the only rap act to top the Hot 100 in three separate decades, and gave Playboi Carti and Rich the Kid their first number ones.

What was the first shoe of the Adidas collaboration, released in February 2015?

The Light Brown launch was limited to 9,000 pairs and sold out in about ten minutes; the 350 followed that June.

Why did West say he left his previous sneaker partner for Adidas in 2013?

The 2009 Air Yeezy had made him the first non-athlete to get a Nike shoe deal; Adidas offered royalties and left him 100% ownership of the brand.

How were Yeezy Gap clothes displayed when they hit Gap stores in July 2022, prompting a backlash?

West, who worked at Gap as a teenager, said the homeless were one of his biggest design inspirations; the 10-year deal ended that September.

What does the acronym in GOOD Music stand for?

West founded the label in 2004 with Sony BMG; John Legend and Common were its first artists alongside West himself.

Whom did West appoint president of GOOD Music in November 2015?

The rapper stepped down in late 2022 after he and West stopped speaking; West once called running a label the biggest mistake he ever made.

Under what banner did West run for president in 2020?

He explained the name by saying that when he won it would be everybody's birthday; his running mate was Wyoming preacher Michelle Tidball.

Roughly how many votes did West receive across the 12 states where he had ballot access in 2020?

He conceded on Twitter the morning after Election Day and immediately signaled interest in running again in 2024.

What reason did West give in 2018 for wanting to be known as Ye?

A Los Angeles judge granted the legal change to the single name Ye, with no middle or last name, in October 2021.

How many Grammy Awards has West won?

That total comes from 75 nominations, and he was the most-nominated act at five separate ceremonies.

In 2008 West became the first solo artist to manage what at the Grammys?

He has still never won Album of the Year, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy's omission from the category in 2012 was widely called a snub.

Which animated sitcom featured West voicing a rapper named Kenny West from 2010 to 2012?

His other screen work includes cameos in The Love Guru, Entourage and Anchorman 2, and a Spike Jonze short in which he plays a drunk version of himself.

Which fast-food chain did West's company KW Foods buy the Chicago-area rights to in 2008?

He planned ten restaurants; the first opened in Orland Park in September 2008 and closed in early 2011 over poor sales.

How much did Netflix reportedly pay for Jeen-Yuhs, the documentary shot over 21 years of West's life?

The footage runs from his early Chicago days through his mother's death to the presidential run, and was released in 2022.

Which institution gave West an honorary doctorate in May 2015?

He had briefly attended Chicago's American Academy of Art on a painting scholarship before dropping out of college altogether.

West's very first sneaker collaboration, released in January 2007, was with which brand?

The special-edition Bapesta preceded his Nike Air Yeezy and a Louis Vuitton shoe line shown at Paris Fashion Week in 2009.

At which Italian fashion house did West intern in Rome in fall 2009?

He contributed ideas to the men's collection while sitting out music after the VMAs, then premiered his own women's label at Paris Fashion Week in 2011.

Where did West and Kim Kardashian marry in May 2014?

They had four children before the divorce was finalized in November 2022.

West's first official production credits came at 19 on the 1996 debut of which Chicago rapper?

He produced eight tracks on Down to Earth; by 1998 he was the first producer signed to a Chicago management company.

A live album by which English trip-hop group inspired the string arrangements on Late Registration?

Roseland NYC Live (1998), recorded with the New York Philharmonic, pushed West to spend $2 million and over a year on the record.

Who did West name as his running mate for the 2020 presidential race?

The Wyoming preacher joined the ticket announced in a July 2020 Forbes interview.

How much did West pay to license the Whitney Houston bathroom photo used on Pusha T's Daytona cover?

Daytona was the first release from the 2018 Wyoming Sessions, followed a week later by West's own Ye.

In February 2016 West said his next album would be called Turbo Grafx 16, a nod to what?

The project never appeared under that name; 'Champions' with GOOD Music followed that June instead.

In January 2026 West published a paid full-page apology for his antisemitic remarks in which newspaper?

He blamed manic episodes in which he 'gravitated toward the most destructive symbol' he could find.

West announced his album Bully at a September 2024 concert in which Chinese city?

He debuted 'Beauty and the Beast' at the Wuyuan River Stadium; the album finally arrived digitally in March 2026.