Oak Park and River Forest High School Keyboarding Word Processing Assignment 2 Celebrity Profile Kanye West

By Henry Adaso, About.com Guide

Kanye West was born June 8, 1977 in Atlanta, GA. When Kanye West referred to himself as a college dropout on his similarly-titled debut album, he wasn't trying to be funny. After a brief stint at Chicago State University, and Columbia College (a local art school in Chicago), West decided he was finished with college. To the bewilderment of his mom Donda West, Kanye dropped college to pick up a career in hip-hop. Kanye West is often credited with revitalizing Jay-Z's career because of his contributions on the rapper's 2001 masterpiece The Blueprint. Not only did West lace the beats to JayZ's ubiquitous anthem "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" and the introspective "Never Change," Kanye was also responsible for the now legendary lyrical shots fired at Nas and Prodigy (of Mobb Deep), "Takeover." As an in-house producer for Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella records, West also crafted beats for other ROC artists including Beanie Sigel. Though, Kanye had also picked up some emceeing skills around the same time he began producing, it was a struggle for him to be taken seriously as a rapper. Record companies were not ready for a rapper whose past did not reek of dirty drug-dealing stories and bullet holes. After a series of meetings with Capitol Records, West was denied an artist deal. In a desperate attempt to keep their gifted producer from defecting to another label, Roc-A-Fella reluctantly signed Kanye West. Everything changed on October 22, 2003 when West found himself in a life-threatening auto accident. Due to the severe damage from that crash, his mouth was wired shut, presumably closing the chapter on Kanye's emceeing dreams. Two weeks later, however, he sneaked out of his hospital bed and recorded "Through The Wire," where he rapped with his mouth still wired shut. The song would later become the first single from The College Dropout, West's critically acclaimed debut album. In late 2005, West followed up his well-received debut with Late Registration, which was coproduced by Jon Brion. While Brion helped add dense layers of instrumentation and adept musicianship to the album's soundscape, Kanye's social commentary and witty (albeit unsophisticated) lyricism made the album an enjoyable musical ride. I didnt like that I had to delete all of the titles of the sections. I didnt like the way that there were one sentence paragraphs.

Aaron Thomas Word Processing Assignment 2

Keyboarding

3/6/13 11:03

Aaron Thomas Word Processing Assignment 2

Keyboarding

3/6/13 11:03