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The Evolution of Kanye West's Tours

With 'Saint Pablo' around the corner, let's remember the Kanye West tours that brought us here.

By Jessy Edwards

Looking back to Kanye West’s very first nationwide tour, it’s incredible to see how much has changed.

It was 2004, and back then a good hip-hop show meant seeing your favorite artist perform their set without any major sound difficulties. The big-budget spectacles West pioneered existed only in dreams. In the years that followed, his live performance evolved from performing in front of a backdrop of Chicago’s skyline to ascending a literal mountain constructed on stage.

Over five headline tours and multiple spot performances, Kanye has transformed the expectations for a hip-hop. After the Yeezus tour of 2013, the New York Post raved that the show was more than just a concert, saying, “It’s an extravaganza of music and theater... an unmissable spectacle.”

Kanye has developed the live performance to be immersive and experiential, pairing with fashion designers, artists, and engineers to create shows that redefine the concert experience—even architecture magazines have marveled at Kanye's work.

So as Ye prepares for the Saint Pablo Tour —his first in three years—we look back at the tours that came before: the looks, the designers, the opening acts, the artistry, and the drama.

Related: Kanye West By The Numbers

2. The College Dropout Tour

Length: March 16—May 5, 2004

Set designer: Unknown

Supporting acts: Dilated Peoples, John Legend, GLC

Baggy jeans, striped polos and a college vibe were the defining elements of Kanye West’s very first headline tour, in 2004.

Well before West was sending his own models down the runway of New York Fashion week, he and his crew were rocking matching Ralph Lauren polos emblazoned with the mascot of his debut album and tour—the College Dropout bear.

The tour spanned 34 dates, from March to May that year, and a 26-year-old West leaned in to the collegiate theme. Not only did it kick off at Virginia Tech, it hit a number of college towns across the states—from Pace University in New York to George Washington University in DC, ending with three shows at House of Blues in West’s hometown, Chicago.

The tour started just months after the official release of West’s first album, which shot to #2 and sold almost 500,000 copies in its first week, and was opened by Dilated Peoples, featured John Legend and GLC, and had A-Trak as tour DJ.

A-Trak’s video from the tour describes the vibe: “There were lots of chicken wings, lots of shoes and lots of laughter,” he says. The footage, from more than a decade ago, shows how excited the artists were to fly on a G4 private jet to some of the locations.

Onstage, Kanye paced in front of seven slim LED-screens, and some footage has the Chicago cityscape as his background. While the tour is lo-fi compared to his modern-day setups, the venues were packed with people, and when West asked his crowd to "scream so loud when the music come on you can’t even hear it," they did just that.

English musician Tom Wiseman, from hip hop group Community League , says one of his “greatest show experiences” came from seeing the tour stop in the U.K.

“When The College Dropout tour came to town for one night only back in 2004, it was a magical affair that went down as one of the best in the year that was soundtracked by the irrepressible Mr. West,” he recalls. "When Kanye launched into 'Slow Jamz' only to have the entire crowd sing the words back to him—his mic held loosely at his side, the expression of wonder on his face, it was priceless.”

View this video on YouTube

4. the touch the sky tour.

Length: October 12—December 11, 2005

Set designer: Esmeralda Devlin

Opening acts: Fantasia and Keyshia Cole

Ye’s second tour started off with a few hiccups . He was making changes right down to the last minute.

As the story goes, West scrapped the Touch the Sky Tour’s entire lighting plan just two weeks before the opening show in Miami. According to Mark Beaumont’s book Kanye West: God and Monster , the tour was completely redone by new tour designer Es Devlin just a fortnight before opening night, and soon after Kanye was heard yelling "I’m not excited about going on tour! All y’all have is moving lights!" to his former designer.

And then, just days before Ye was meant to start touring, opening act Common announced he couldn’t make it—he’d just landed an acting role. This left West with Fantasia and Keyshia Cole for his opening acts.

In the end, the stage show was accompanied by a glamorous six-piece string section and featured live video of the show projected behind the stage. West kneeled by a hospital bed to sing “Roses"—about his grandmother’s illness—and later collapsed in front of a screen scrolling negative reviews behind him. The star changed four times and wore designer blazers, pants, and dark designer sunglasses.

Chicago fan and music writer Tre G describes the show he saw at the Breslin Center in Michigan as the “greatest thing [he] had ever seen at the time.” Not only was it the first concert he had ever attended, Tre still remembers being blown away by the lighting and visuals. “You could tell Kanye was all about production, even in his early years,” he says. “I remember vividly one part of the show, Kanye displayed on the screen what critics and magazines were saying about him at the time.”

And the performance itself didn’t disappoint.

“I went HAM when he performed 'Get 'Em High.' It's still one my favorites,” he says.

Despite calling him an “only average rapper,” a Rolling Stone reviewer admitted that, unlike many other hip-hop hits, some of West’s songs were better live. Mark Beaumont described the Touch the Sky tour as Kanye “stepping out onto the tour big leagues.” He played the Thompson-Bowling Arena in Knoxville, the Mizzou Arena in Columbia, and two nights at the theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Speaking to an MTV reporter on opening night about his earlier setbacks , West was typically brash.

“F— that!" West said backstage shortly before showtime. “We not gonna wait for 10 shows from now, we gonna touch the sky tonight.”

And so it was.

6. The Glow in the Dark Tour

Length: April 16, 2008—December 7, 2008

Opening acts: N.E.R.D., Lupe Fiasco, Rihanna

Kanye’s first world tour also included his first truly extraordinary stage.

The Glow In The Dark Tour crammed in more than 50 arena and festival shows in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. before heading to Mexico and then across the Pacific, via South America, to the Far East and Europe.

The concept pitted Kanye as a the pilot of a spaceship hitting a meteor storm, landing on a desolate planet of dry ice, and trying to find his way home through tracks from The College Dropout , Late Registration , Graduation , 808s and Heartbreak .

With design again done by Es Devlin, in collaboration with Martin Phillips and John McGuire, the stage was transformed into a barren series of landscapes—one resembling a giant moon—and fantastical glow-in-the-dark features: a giant, glowing-eyed monster and a robot moved within the haze, women shimmered in gold paint for the track "Gold Digger," and stunning multi-colored light sequences lit up the often smoke-filled stage.

Ye himself wore sci-fi themed threads, glow-in-the-dark accessories, his signature stunna shades, and gloves.

The performance was a visual feast, “an attempt to push hip-hop into the arena rock league,” Mark Beaumont argued in his book Kanye West: God and Monster . It was even immortalized in the book of photography Glow in the Dark by Nabil Elderkin.

But again, the show was not without its hiccups. In Sacramento, Ye accidentally called the city Seattle, before quickly apologizing. At Bonnaroo, fans chanted “Kanye sucks” after a change in scheduling had West come on stage at 4:25 A.M. —almost two hours after he was meant to start.

Plus, Ye self-funded the tour after the original sponsor, Best Buy, pulled out, according to sources . But his hard work paid off, and the tour ended up a success, grossing $300 million.

8. The Fame Kills Tour

Length: N/A

Set designer: N/A

Opening acts: N/A

In 2009, Lady Gaga and Kanye West announced their joint Fame Kills tour, which was due to kick off in Phoenix in November and keep the stars touring through to the new year.

The tour sounded like it was all set, with Gaga going on air to describe the creative process for the tour: how she and Kanye had designed a stage that would traverse the entire arena.

She explained that Kanye would represent "the fame," and she would represent "home and humble beginnings," and the two artists would be aiming to reach each other from either ends of the stage.

In early October, however, the show was cancelled , with little reason given. Some speculated that it was related to negative publicity surrounding West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s VMA acceptance speech that month, and it would two more years before Kanye announced another tour.

9. The Watch the Throne Tour

Length: October 29, 2011—June 22, 2012 Set designers: Esmeralda Devlin, Kanye West, DONDA, Bruce Rodgers, Nick Whitehouse, John McGuire, Geodezik Opening acts: None

“Attenborough BBC wildlife content and lasers” was the brief given to stage designer Es Devlin by Kanye for his tour with Jay Z in 2011.

The result: the incredible Watch the Throne tour featured the two performers perched on massive video cubes showing sharks, Rottweilers, crows, and tigers in a sea of darkness punctuated only by cellphone lights and piercing lasers.

As the pair played “Otis,” a giant American flag lit up the backdrop.

Devlin used hundreds of laser beams to create a myriad of different frames to this alternate world of geometric shapes, cascading light, wild animals, and its stars: Kanye West and Jay Z. The two lived up to the hype, and then some. Their habit of playing the smash hit "N****s in Paris" eight, nine, 10, or 12 times in a row quickly become the stuff of legend.

Partnering with Givenchy, for the most part, Yeezy dressed in slick black: t-shirts, leather pants and a big gold chain.

The tour grossed $47 million in 2012, in addition to the $48 million it earned in 2011, Bloomberg reported , and in the summer of 2012, Kanye West launched his own design company , DONDA, focused on “content, product, and experience.”

11. The Yeezus Tour

Length: October 19, 2013—December 23, 2013

Set designer: DONDA and Esmeralda Devlin

Opening acts: Kendrick Lamar, A Tribe Called Quest, Travi$ Scott, and Pusha T

Kanye’s last tour was his most ambitious and daring yet.

Featuring a man-made mountain, diamond encrusted masks, and a catwalk, it was this tour that had the New York Post reviewer praising “an extravaganza of music and theater that gives the world windows into [West’s] erratic persona.”

This visual feast was created through collaboration between set designer Es Devlin, West’s design company DONDA, fashion house Maison Margiela, artist Vanessa Beecroft, and more. This was the tour burned into memory through those full-face masks. This was the tour where Ye staged the reincarnation of Jesus and delivered sermons on the state of the world.

Super-fan Matt Nein, 20, saw the show three times as it toured the States: once in Philly, once at Penn State, and once in Atlantic City, calling it “the pinnacle of rap shows.”

“Kanye and his crew did things that pushed the envelope artistically and haven't been done before,” he explains, pointing out that as a rap fan, many shows he’s seen have turned on an artist rapping over their own voice, with a posse standing behind them onstage.

“Whether it was using an Xbox to track Kanye's movements during 'Black Skinhead' or making it snow in the arena during 'Coldest Winter,' Kanye made sure to do things that people wouldn't expect.”

The Yeezus stage set and concept—featuring a giant mountain that occasionally turned into a volcano—was described by reviewers as “half biblical allegory and half motivational seminar”.

It kicked off on Oct. 19 in Seattle, and Kanye opened with “On Sight” in a custom-made Margiela mask that obscured his whole face. West worked closely with Maison Margiela to curate the show, and his wardrobe for the Tour was composed of 10 couture pieces, 20 ready-to-wear pieces, and an exclusive pair of sneakers, as well as the famous masks.

Onstage, Devlin had constructed a mountain, which was sometimes wreathed in flames, sometimes covered with women in long white dresses. At times it would split in two halves, or become a volcano. There was an iceberg, 12 nude-nylon clad dancers, and a catwalk, alluding back to the fashion show created with Margiela.

The speeches also became a key part of the Yeezus show. “Through the Yeezus tour the sermons came thick, fast, and very very long,” Mark Beaumont writes .

But the show wasn’t bulletproof. The tour was postponed for 18 days when one of the trucks holding part of the 60-foot LED screen was in a car crash, and the equipment damaged beyond repair. Several shows were postponed or cancelled while the gear was rebuilt.

But as always, the show went on, with Rolling Stone calling it “truly electrifying.”

13. The Saint Pablo Tour

Length: August 25—November 1

Set designer: DONDA SURROUND

Opening acts: TBD

Last month, West announced The Saint Pablo Tour , his first North American tour in three years.

While very few clues to what fans can expect have been announced yet, more collaboration with visual artists, à la West’s "Famous" video, could be forthcoming.

The tour will visit nearly 40 cities across the U.S. and Canada—mainly playing arenas—including dates in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, Chicago, Montreal, Detroit, Washington DC, Miami, and more.

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The Evolution of Kanye West’s Tours

By Jessy Edwards

Looking back to Kanye West’s very first nationwide tour, it’s incredible to see how much has changed.

It was 2004, and back then a good hip-hop show meant seeing your favorite artist perform their set without any major sound difficulties. The big-budget spectacles West pioneered existed only in dreams. In the years that followed, his live performance evolved from performing in front of a backdrop of Chicago’s skyline to ascending a literal mountain constructed on stage.

Over five headline tours and multiple spot performances, Kanye has transformed the expectations for a hip-hop. After the Yeezus tour of 2013, the New York Post raved that the show was more than just a concert, saying, “It’s an extravaganza of music and theater… an unmissable spectacle.”

Kanye has developed the live performance to be immersive and experiential, pairing with fashion designers, artists, and engineers to create shows that redefine the concert experience—even architecture magazines have marveled at Kanye’s work.

So as Ye prepares for the Saint Pablo Tour —his first in three years—we look back at the tours that came before: the looks, the designers, the opening acts, the artistry, and the drama.

Related: Kanye West By The Numbers

The College Dropout Tour

Length: March 16—May 5, 2004 Set designer: Unknown Supporting acts: Dilated Peoples, John Legend, GLC

Baggy jeans, striped polos and a college vibe were the defining elements of Kanye West’s very first headline tour, in 2004.

Well before West was sending his own models down the runway of New York Fashion week, he and his crew were rocking matching Ralph Lauren polos emblazoned with the mascot of his debut album and tour—the College Dropout bear.

The tour spanned 34 dates, from March to May that year, and a 26-year-old West leaned in to the collegiate theme. Not only did it kick off at Virginia Tech, it hit a number of college towns across the states—from Pace University in New York to George Washington University in DC, ending with three shows at House of Blues in West’s hometown, Chicago.

The tour started just months after the official release of West’s first album, which shot to #2 and sold almost 500,000 copies in its first week, and was opened by Dilated Peoples, featured John Legend and GLC, and had A-Trak as tour DJ.

A-Trak’s video from the tour describes the vibe: “There were lots of chicken wings, lots of shoes and lots of laughter,” he says. The footage, from more than a decade ago, shows how excited the artists were to fly on a G4 private jet to some of the locations.

Onstage, Kanye paced in front of seven slim LED-screens, and some footage has the Chicago cityscape as his background. While the tour is lo-fi compared to his modern-day setups, the venues were packed with people, and when West asked his crowd to “scream so loud when the music come on you can’t even hear it,” they did just that.

English musician Tom Wiseman, from hip hop group Community League , says one of his “greatest show experiences” came from seeing the tour stop in the U.K.

“When The College Dropout tour came to town for one night only back in 2004, it was a magical affair that went down as one of the best in the year that was soundtracked by the irrepressible Mr. West,” he recalls. “When Kanye launched into ‘Slow Jamz’ only to have the entire crowd sing the words back to him—his mic held loosely at his side, the expression of wonder on his face, it was priceless.”

The Touch The Sky Tour

Screenshot via YouTube

Length: October 12—December 11, 2005 Set designer: Esmeralda Devlin Opening acts: Fantasia and Keyshia Cole

Ye’s second tour started off with a few hiccups . He was making changes right down to the last minute.

As the story goes, West scrapped the Touch the Sky Tour’s entire lighting plan just two weeks before the opening show in Miami. According to Mark Beaumont’s book Kanye West: God and Monster , the tour was completely redone by new tour designer Es Devlin just a fortnight before opening night, and soon after Kanye was heard yelling “I’m not excited about going on tour! All y’all have is moving lights!” to his former designer.

And then, just days before Ye was meant to start touring, opening act Common announced he couldn’t make it—he’d just landed an acting role. This left West with Fantasia and Keyshia Cole for his opening acts.

In the end, the stage show was accompanied by a glamorous six-piece string section and featured live video of the show projected behind the stage. West kneeled by a hospital bed to sing “Roses”—about his grandmother’s illness—and later collapsed in front of a screen scrolling negative reviews behind him. The star changed four times and wore designer blazers, pants, and dark designer sunglasses.

Chicago fan and music writer Tre G describes the show he saw at the Breslin Center in Michigan as the “greatest thing [he] had ever seen at the time.” Not only was it the first concert he had ever attended, Tre still remembers being blown away by the lighting and visuals. “You could tell Kanye was all about production, even in his early years,” he says. “I remember vividly one part of the show, Kanye displayed on the screen what critics and magazines were saying about him at the time.”

And the performance itself didn’t disappoint.

“I went HAM when he performed ‘Get ‘Em High.’ It’s still one my favorites,” he says.

Despite calling him an “only average rapper,” a Rolling Stone reviewer admitted that, unlike many other hip-hop hits, some of West’s songs were better live. Mark Beaumont described the Touch the Sky tour as Kanye “stepping out onto the tour big leagues.” He played the Thompson-Bowling Arena in Knoxville, the Mizzou Arena in Columbia, and two nights at the theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Speaking to an MTV reporter on opening night about his earlier setbacks , West was typically brash.

“F— that!” West said backstage shortly before showtime. “We not gonna wait for 10 shows from now, we gonna touch the sky tonight.”

And so it was.

The Glow in the Dark Tour

Length: April 16, 2008—December 7, 2008 Set designer: Esmeralda Devlin Opening acts: N.E.R.D., Lupe Fiasco, Rihanna

Kanye’s first world tour also included his first truly extraordinary stage.

The Glow In The Dark Tour crammed in more than 50 arena and festival shows in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. before heading to Mexico and then across the Pacific, via South America, to the Far East and Europe.

The concept pitted Kanye as a the pilot of a spaceship hitting a meteor storm, landing on a desolate planet of dry ice, and trying to find his way home through tracks from The College Dropout , Late Registration , Graduation , 808s and Heartbreak .

With design again done by Es Devlin, in collaboration with Martin Phillips and John McGuire, the stage was transformed into a barren series of landscapes—one resembling a giant moon—and fantastical glow-in-the-dark features: a giant, glowing-eyed monster and a robot moved within the haze, women shimmered in gold paint for the track “Gold Digger,” and stunning multi-colored light sequences lit up the often smoke-filled stage.

Ye himself wore sci-fi themed threads, glow-in-the-dark accessories, his signature stunna shades, and gloves.

The performance was a visual feast, “an attempt to push hip-hop into the arena rock league,” Mark Beaumont argued in his book Kanye West: God and Monster . It was even immortalized in the book of photography Glow in the Dark by Nabil Elderkin.

But again, the show was not without its hiccups. In Sacramento, Ye accidentally called the city Seattle, before quickly apologizing. At Bonnaroo, fans chanted “Kanye sucks” after a change in scheduling had West come on stage at 4:25 A.M. —almost two hours after he was meant to start.

Plus, Ye self-funded the tour after the original sponsor, Best Buy, pulled out, according to sources . But his hard work paid off, and the tour ended up a success, grossing $300 million.

The Fame Kills Tour

Length: N/A Set designer: N/A Opening acts: N/A

In 2009, Lady Gaga and Kanye West announced their joint Fame Kills tour, which was due to kick off in Phoenix in November and keep the stars touring through to the new year.

The tour sounded like it was all set, with Gaga going on air to describe the creative process for the tour: how she and Kanye had designed a stage that would traverse the entire arena.

She explained that Kanye would represent “the fame,” and she would represent “home and humble beginnings,” and the two artists would be aiming to reach each other from either ends of the stage.

In early October, however, the show was cancelled , with little reason given. Some speculated that it was related to negative publicity surrounding West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s VMA acceptance speech that month, and it would two more years before Kanye announced another tour.

The Watch the Throne Tour

Image via Wikipedia

Length: October 29, 2011—June 22, 2012 Set designers: Esmeralda Devlin, Kanye West, DONDA, Bruce Rodgers, Nick Whitehouse, John McGuire, Geodezik Opening acts: None

“Attenborough BBC wildlife content and lasers” was the brief given to stage designer Es Devlin by Kanye for his tour with Jay Z in 2011.

The result: the incredible Watch the Throne tour featured the two performers perched on massive video cubes showing sharks, Rottweilers, crows, and tigers in a sea of darkness punctuated only by cellphone lights and piercing lasers.

As the pair played “Otis,” a giant American flag lit up the backdrop.

Devlin used hundreds of laser beams to create a myriad of different frames to this alternate world of geometric shapes, cascading light, wild animals, and its stars: Kanye West and Jay Z. The two lived up to the hype, and then some. Their habit of playing the smash hit “N****s in Paris” eight, nine, 10, or 12 times in a row quickly become the stuff of legend.

Partnering with Givenchy, for the most part, Yeezy dressed in slick black: t-shirts, leather pants and a big gold chain.

The tour grossed $47 million in 2012, in addition to the $48 million it earned in 2011, Bloomberg reported , and in the summer of 2012, Kanye West launched his own design company , DONDA, focused on “content, product, and experience.”

The Yeezus Tour

Length: October 19, 2013—December 23, 2013 Set designer: DONDA and Esmeralda Devlin Opening acts: Kendrick Lamar, A Tribe Called Quest, Travi$ Scott, and Pusha T

Kanye’s last tour was his most ambitious and daring yet.

Featuring a man-made mountain, diamond encrusted masks, and a catwalk, it was this tour that had the New York Post reviewer praising “an extravaganza of music and theater that gives the world windows into [West’s] erratic persona.”

This visual feast was created through collaboration between set designer Es Devlin, West’s design company DONDA, fashion house Maison Margiela, artist Vanessa Beecroft, and more. This was the tour burned into memory through those full-face masks. This was the tour where Ye staged the reincarnation of Jesus and delivered sermons on the state of the world.

Super-fan Matt Nein, 20, saw the show three times as it toured the States: once in Philly, once at Penn State, and once in Atlantic City, calling it “the pinnacle of rap shows.”

“Kanye and his crew did things that pushed the envelope artistically and haven’t been done before,” he explains, pointing out that as a rap fan, many shows he’s seen have turned on an artist rapping over their own voice, with a posse standing behind them onstage.

“Whether it was using an Xbox to track Kanye’s movements during ‘Black Skinhead’ or making it snow in the arena during ‘Coldest Winter,’ Kanye made sure to do things that people wouldn’t expect.”

The Yeezus stage set and concept—featuring a giant mountain that occasionally turned into a volcano—was described by reviewers as “half biblical allegory and half motivational seminar”.

It kicked off on Oct. 19 in Seattle, and Kanye opened with “On Sight” in a custom-made Margiela mask that obscured his whole face. West worked closely with Maison Margiela to curate the show, and his wardrobe for the Tour was composed of 10 couture pieces, 20 ready-to-wear pieces, and an exclusive pair of sneakers, as well as the famous masks.

Onstage, Devlin had constructed a mountain, which was sometimes wreathed in flames, sometimes covered with women in long white dresses. At times it would split in two halves, or become a volcano. There was an iceberg, 12 nude-nylon clad dancers, and a catwalk, alluding back to the fashion show created with Margiela.

The speeches also became a key part of the Yeezus show. “Through the Yeezus tour the sermons came thick, fast, and very very long,” Mark Beaumont writes .

But the show wasn’t bulletproof. The tour was postponed for 18 days when one of the trucks holding part of the 60-foot LED screen was in a car crash, and the equipment damaged beyond repair. Several shows were postponed or cancelled while the gear was rebuilt.

But as always, the show went on, with Rolling Stone calling it “truly electrifying.”

The Saint Pablo Tour

Image via Tidal

Length: August 25—November 1 Set designer: DONDA SURROUND Opening acts: TBD

Last month, West announced The Saint Pablo Tour , his first North American tour in three years.

While very few clues to what fans can expect have been announced yet, more collaboration with visual artists, à la West’s “Famous” video, could be forthcoming.

The tour will visit nearly 40 cities across the U.S. and Canada—mainly playing arenas—including dates in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, Chicago, Montreal, Detroit, Washington DC, Miami, and more.

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An Overview of Kanye West's Tour Stage Designs

12 years of unparalleled innovation..

You are reading your free article for this month. Members-only

[gallery columns="3"]Throughout the past 12 years of Kanye’s solo career, creative polymath has not pushed not only the creative boundaries for rap concerts but music, fashion and performance art. There has been no other artist that has pushed the frontiers of stage performance more than ‘Ye. He’s postponed or cancelled dates before when things weren’t up to par with his vision, even if it was far from the most economical decision.

Every time Kanye starts a new tour, it’s bigger, grander, more controversial and pushes the envelope to live performance. He pairs with fashion designers, artists, technicians and engineers to create shows that not only receive widespread critical acclaim, but also redefines the concert experience. We have put together a timeline of all of Kanye West’s tour stage designs, from his humble beginnings with the ‘College Dropout’ tour in 2004 to his infamous “floating stage” for his ongoing ‘Saint Pablo’ tour.

The ‘College Dropout’ Tour

The ‘Touch the Sky’ Tour

The ‘Glow in the Dark’ Tour

The ‘Watch The Throne’ Tour (with JAY Z)

The ‘Yeezus’ Tour

The ‘Saint Pablo’ Tour

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In his July 2013 interview with Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club, Jay Z had an interesting way of describing longtime collaborator, Kanye West. “He’s like the cowboy [for the culture]. He runs over the hill, the Indians hit him with the arrows and then he comes back and [alerts others] like, ‘Yo, there’s a lot of them over there.’”

One might find the Roc magnate’s quote plainly sarcastic, but in context, it’s a theory that best summarizes the sui generis career of Mr. West — the lightening rod for our culture. Throughout his over a decade-long, illustrious reign, Kanye’s put himself in places where a vain person wouldn’t dare try (i.e. pink polos, kilts, skinny jeans) and made a career of consistently —and willingly — making himself the underdog by going against the grain ( 808s & Heartbreak , Yeezus ) for the sake of not just being able to say he did it first, but to also avoid being boxed in or marginalized.

In interviews, West refers to this quest as a means to “break the glass ceilings,” a description that will likely one day serve as the title to his autobiography or DONDA-helmed biopic. But as his steadfast passion to reinventing the wheel and vim-and-vigor creativity garnered him international acclaim and godly recognition (see “I Am A God”), that forceful entry approach has come to define the genius that is Kanye West. Today (June 8) marks Kanye’s birthday and while his music clearly stands the test of time, the man himself who continues to defy odds as one of the greatest artists of our generation. In celebrating his genius, let’s take a moment to relive Mr. West’s 41 years of excellence with one expansive timeline.

June 8, 1977

Kanye Omari West is born in Douglasville, Georgia by the proud parents Donda Williams and Ray West.

At 3, Kanye moves to Chicago with his mother following his parents’ divorce.

Kanye’s mother, Donda West, helps a then 13-year-old Kanye pay to cut his first record in a basement studio. “The microphone was hanging from the ceiling by a wire hanger. But he was so excited, I couldn’t say no,” Donda West would tell RedEye in 2007. Years later, No I.D. would hear the song, called “Green Eggs and Ham,” and in an interview with Billboard, described it as a “90s-sounding, yelling-type record.”

Graduates from Polaris High School. West receives a scholarship to attend Chicago’s American Academy of Art and studied painting before transferring to Chicago State University to major in English literature.

August 1996

At 19, Ye pops up at the Fat Beats storefront in Greenwich Village and delivers aa freestyle that has since become a great time-capsule for the next generation.

Kanye’s first big break arrives. He sells his first beat to local Chicago rapper Gravity for $8,000. He next sold a beat for $5,000 to Jermaine Dupri for his debut album, Life in 1472 . Months after Dupri’s LP release, he landed a track on Ma$e’s Harlem World group album The Movement . Not before long, he drops out of Chicago State University to pursue his music dream.

After the placements, Columbia Records eventually dangles a record contract. However, things fell through. “I said, I’m going to be bigger than Michael Jackson, I’m going to bigger to Jermaine Dupri. I said that to (Columbia executive) Michael Mauldin,” Kanye would later reveal in an interview. Mauldin happened to be Dupri’s father. By the end of the meeting, as Kanye noted, “they hit me with those three words: we’ll call you. They sent limos on the way up, and when I got downstairs I couldn’t even catch a cab.”

Teams with GLC, Timmy G, and Arrowstar to form the group known as the Go Getters. The team recorded under the Chicago music umbrella as Kon-Mon Productions, which was helmed by Don Crowley, John “Monopoly” Johnson and Happy Lewis. On the label, producers such as Boogz, Arrowstar and Brian “All Day” Miller helped on the production side, while emcees such as GLC, Mikkey, Rhymefest, Timmy G, Miss Criss, Shayla G and Really Doe took over microphone duties.

In what can be considered a tipping point of his career, West begins producing for Roc-A-Fella Records artists; that year, Jay Z’s “This Can’t Be Life” off The Dynasty and the title track for Beanie Sigel’s The Truth . It’s the very start of a decade that Rolling Stone will eventually credit for making West the icon that he became and still remains: “West was as interesting and complicated a pop star as the 2000s produced—a rapper who mastered, upped and moved beyond the hip-hop game; a producer who created a signature sound and then abandoned it to his imitators; a flashy, free-spending sybarite with insightful things to say about college, culture and economics; an egomaniac with more than enough artistic firepower to back it up.”

West gains irreversible recognition thanks to the contributions he makes to Jay Z’s The Blueprint —namely, of the five tracks produced, the Billboard Top 10 hit “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” and the diss track-turned-hip-hop culture cornerstone, “Takeover.” As the project becomes a critical and commercial success for Jay—argued to be not just one of his own greatest works, but of hip-hop’s overall—the demand for West’s supply increases.

A defining domino effect is created when, in October, West is injured in a near-fatal car crash after falling asleep while driving home from a California recording studio. Left with a broken jaw, wired shut by reconstructive surgery, West returns to a studio two weeks later to record the ironically-titled, Chaka Khan-sampling “Through the Wire.” And despite the damage, he is far from being silenced with his production still being heard on an omnipresent Top 5 hit: Jay Z and Beyonce’s “‘03 Bonnie & Clyde,” Jay’s then-highest-charting single ever.

First heard on West’s Get Well Soon mixtape, “Through the Wire” is officially released as the lead single off his upcoming debut album, The College Dropout , originally scheduled to drop in August. It doesn’t drop then—in fact, it’s postponed three times—but West officially crosses the threshold into a multi-threat talent as his efforts as both a solo rap artist and behind-the-boards producer begin to chart simultaneously. Among the outputs, Jay Z’s “Encore,” Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name,” Ludacris’ “Stand Up,” and Twista’s “Slow Jamz,” the latter of which goes to No.1 across all three Hot 100, R&B, and Rap charts, becoming West’s very first chart-topping song.

The College Dropout is finally released. Selling 441,000 copies in its first week, it debuts at No.2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It’s supported by two new singles, “All Falls Down” and “Jesus Walks”; is eventually certified three-times platinum; and is dubbed a great by both critics and fans. While riding its wave of success, West founds his own record label, GOOD Music. He also shows no signs of slowing down in creating sounds for others, as the same year sees him credited on Twista’s “Overnight Celebrity,” Cam’Ron’s “Down and Out,” and John Legend’s debut single, “Used to Love You.” In what can be determined as a sign of things to come, or simply a telling symbol of his personality, West storms of the American Music Awards upon losing to Gretchen Wilson for the title of Best New Artist, later telling the Associated Press: “I was definitely robbed.”

The aforementioned wouldn’t be West’s first, last, or most controversial moment. After winning Grammy Awards for both Best Rap Album ( The College Dropout ) and Best Rap Song (“Jesus Walks”) earlier in the year, and just three days after releasing his sophomore effort Late Registration , West makes nationwide headlines when he declares, during a live and televised benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina, that—say it with me—“George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” publicly criticizing the then-President’s response to the natural disaster’s aftermath. Emerging unscathed, Late Registration becomes West’s first No.1 album (upon selling 860,000 copies in its first week); spawns the No.1 juggernaut “Gold Digger”; goes three-times platinum like its predecessor; and earns three Grammy Awards (including, again, Best Rap Album). He embarks on his first tour, Touch the Sky, and is named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People. Unscathed, we say.

Kanye appears on the February 2006 issue of Rolling Stone , bearing a crown of thorns, for the controversial “The Passion of Kanye West.”

After spending much of the previous year on the road, Kanye is now preparing to release his third studio album. Landing a date of September 11, the college dropout is pitted in a battle of the sales against Southside Jamaica’s own 50 Cent, whose album, Curtis , is also releasing on the day. Kanye’s Graduation demolishes Curtis , taking the top slot on the Billboard 200 in it’s opening week, selling 957,000 units. Publications have since cited the event as the end of gangster music, with a 2015 UPROXX article branding it as the day David slayed Goliath.

Graduation ’s success is bittersweet — in November, Donda West passes away of complications from cosmetic surgery.

‘Ye returns to the road for the you-wouldn’t-wanna-miss Glow In The Dark Tour.

At the MTV Video Music Awards, ‘Ye debuts his new record “Love Lockdown,” performing the drum-heavy song live. In November, he releases his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak , tackling the loss of his mother and the end of his relationship with his fiancee. Critics focus heavily on the album’s sparse rapping, usage of the Roland TR-808, it’s synth pop sound, and large doses of love and sorrow. In an interview with the Fader , West says “I’m the only voice for the guys because rap dudes don’t rap about love, and R&B. Dudes rap about love.”

The album introduces a burgeoning Kid Cudi to the masses following his contributions to “Welcome to Heartbreak,” “Heartless,” “Paranoid,” and “Robocop.”

‘Ye partners with Nike for his own shoe, the Air Yeezys.

During the VMA’s Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video, which she earned with “You Belong With Me.” West praises Beyonce’s video for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” stating “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time!”

Kanye West is America’s favorite bad guy.

In July, ‘Ye announces the title of his fifth album as My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy , a huge departure from the previous title Good Ass Job . He assembles the likes of Jay Z, Kid Cudi, Rihanna, RZA, and Elton John, and a plethora of artists from an array of genres. Prior to the release, Kanye begins the “G.O.O.D. Fridays” series of weekly music, serving as promo singles that did not make the album’s final cut. Twisted Fantasy spawns “Power,” “All of the Lights,” and “Runaway” as two of it’s most captivating records. The finished product becomes one Kanye’s most lauded projects, receiving praise for it’s thorough artistry, and his brutal perspective on dealing with fame. The album is released in November, accompanied by a 35-minute short film directed by Hype Williams, and debuts at number one on the Billboard 200.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy wins the Best Rap Album at the 54th Grammy Awards.

Less than a year later, ‘Ye joins forces with “big brother” Jay Z for the collaborative feat Watch the Throne . Recorded in late 2010, the album builds on the themes touched upon in Twisted Fantasy , with celebrity, fortune, and social issues taking a prominent place within the album’s duration. The album is backed by the popular singles “Otis” and “N—s In Paris.”

Watch the Throne is a success for the pair, earning 290,000 downloads via iTunes. The album is certified platinum by the RIAA a month after it’s debut.

Kanye spends the first half of 2012 continuing the Watch The Throne trek with Jay Z, making it the highest-grossing hip-hop tour ever at the time of its conclusion in June. In September, he releases Cruel Summer , the long-awaited compilation with his G.O.O.D. Music roster. The album features “Mercy” and “Clique,” hit songs that would go on to become fan favorites of his extensive catalog. The same year, he premieres a film of the same title at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, using a custom-built seven-screen cinema for the screening.

In June, Kanye West releases Yeezus , one of his most divisive albums to date. With no album cover, no clear radio singles, and a huge divergence from his previous sound, Kanye says the record is him revolting against the industry. The album becomes his sixth straight number one debut, but his lowest opening week sales. The Yeezus Tour, his first solo tour in five years, sees him donning a mask and having a Jesus character take the stage, with the bubbling Kendrick Lamar rocking as the opening act. June also welcomes his and Kim Kardashian’s their first child, North. And in December, adidas announces their partnership with Kanye, turning a new page in his impact on fashion and pop culture.

Kanye and Kim Kardashian ger married in a private ceremony in Florence, Italy. When Kim K releases a photo from the nuptials on her Instagram page, it garners 2.4 million likes – the most since Instagram was launched years earlier. He also releases a touching song with Paul McCartney, “Only One,” to commemorate the birth of his daughter and his love for his late mother Donda West.

Kanye starts off the year with the release of “FourFiveSeconds,” a single with Rihanna and Paul McCartney. In February, he premieres “Wolves” with Vic Mensa and Sia. But perhaps most importantly, that same month, he debuts his adidas line Yeezy Season 1, and the first Yeezy Boost 750 sneakers, which featur a boot-like silhouette, a zipper on the side, and many people’s first glimpse at adidas’ Boost technology. Later that year, the low-top Yeezy Boost 350 is released. Both shoes became one of the most hyped in sneaker culture. Kanye later drops “All Day” with Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom and McCartney, and performs at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK, even with nearly 135,000 people signing a petition to protest his place in the festival. In September, he releases Yeezy Season 2 at New York Fashion Week.

From So Help Me God , to SWISH , to Waves , and finally, to The Life of Pablo , Kanye’s seventh solo album went through multiple name changes, but it was still an event nonetheless. Listeners get their first peek at the album with an epic, one-of-a-kind Madison Square Garden event that features both songs from the album and looks from his Yeezy Season 3 collection with adidas. After performing on SNL , a botched release on Tidal makes Pablo one of the most bootlegged albums ever. But throughout the year, Kanye would tweak songs and resend them to streaming services, describing the album as a “living breathing changing creative expression.” He also goes on the Saint Pablo Tour, which sees him performing on a stage suspended in midair. But, after multiple shows, ends with Kanye either canceling or storming out. The tour is canceled near the end of the year, with Kanye being hospitalized for exhaustion.

The brilliance of Kanye’s 2016 translates to new colorways of the Yeezy 350 V2.

After being holed up in the studio for two years, Kanye pops back into the public, firing up his Twitter account and music output. He dusted off the cobwebs with “Ye Vs. The People” (and “Lift Yourself”) and resurrected G.O.O.D. Fridays with a stream of May-June releases. He propelled Pusha-T’s DAYTONA album to critical acclaim, released his own eighth studio album, ye , in signature unorthodox fashion, and dropped Kids See Ghosts with Kid Cudi. Albums by Nas and Teyana Taylor are up next.

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Kanye West is a complete visionary who has shifted the course of pop culture time and time again, first as a producer and then as a rapper and fashion mogul.

Kanye was born in a middle class household in Chicago and was a creative from an early age, often writing poetry and becoming part of the city’s hip hop scene at a young age. He briefly attended college but dropped out when it became detrimental to the creation of his music.

He began producing beats for local artists, developing a signature style that utilized sped-up soul samples and before long he received his first big break when he became an in-house producer for Roc A Fella Records and was responsible for the now classic Jay Z Album ‘The Blueprint’.

Despite his production success, Kanye had maintained a desire to make it as a rapper but due to his unconventional style and background had struggled to secure a deal. Dame Dash reluctantly signed Kanye to Roc A Fella however Kanye was involved in a car accident which he was lucky to survive. With his jaw still wired shut, Kanye channeled his emotions into ‘through The Wire’, a single which would appear on his debut album ‘The College Dropout’ in 2004. The album is considered one of the most important Hip Hop debuts and had a lasting effect on the genre.

With each subsequent album Kanye changed up his sound and broken new ground. On 2008’s ‘808 and Hearrtbreaks’ for example, he embraced auto-tune singing and, although many were unsure at the time, it influenced the future sound of Hip Hop and Rnb (laying the framework for the likes of Drake to become huge stars). In 2013 he stunned fans again with the jarring ‘Yeezus’, which, with its industrial minimalism, shocked the genre to its core and won praise from critics in the process.

Live reviews

I gotta give it to Yeezus. He's still got the juice and for him to pack the 'Bowl' while performing a seven year old album is a testament to that fact. Show started an hour late and I had the feeling there would be some tech glitches, but you definitely couldn't hate on the effort. There was a small orchestra section stage right and on stage left what appeared to be a few DJ's and dudes on drum machines. The center of the stage featured 3 grand white staircases that were reconfigured between songs. There were fireworks at times which didn't quite fit the tone of the album, but who doesn't like fireworks. It was a party atmosphere and I felt a real connection with other fans simply based on the fact that WE LOVE THIS FUCKING ALBUM. We sang, we yelled, we danced, we laughed, and we reminisced about a Kanye that took us back to bring us forward.

Most memorable moments:

Staircases rotate to reveal 60 or so black men in rags and covered in dust. Very striking visual that reminded me of a slave ship. He used what I'll call "human props" throughout the show, but I felt like this moment resonated most.

Jeezy came out for Amazing, but the tech was ALL CHEWED UP. Sound was cutting in and out, poor lighting, pianist was even confused at one point.

At one point Kanye states that this performance is actually more of a dress rehearsal. I figured as much and even debated going to the Saturday show, but there was something about the rawness of an opening night that I wanted to be part of. I'm sure Saturday's show will be way more on point.

Report as inappropriate

I have never been a person who could pinpoint a moment in which divine providence had played some role in my life. That is, until I saw Kanye.

Watching Kanye West perform is a wholly religious experience. Someone you don't know and can barely see is instructing you to complete strange actions which seem nonsensical, like throwing your hands in there or singing lyrics or pointing your middle finger to the sky. Yet, you follow along. You are surrounded by thousands of people who share similar beliefs and interests as you. Everything is ridiculous expensive and you must pay your way in.

Kanye comes out pretty much an hour late, just because he can. When he finally emerges, it is on a platform suspended in the air. The platform rocks to and fro during the concert, bouncing right above the general admissions mosh pit. It is those in the mosh pit who are the most blessed. They seem positively energized by Kanye, dancing and thrashing for two hours straight.

When Kanye finishes his act, he performs "Ultralight Beam". Towards the end of the show, his platform lowers and he steps down onto the ground, showing us that the man we had seemingly worshiped with our screams and our expressions of adulation walks on the same ground we do. And maybe it was the weed smoke, or maybe the sheer excitement, but as I was swaying to the music, I felt a connection to a higher power, something greater than myself. It was a moment of absolute perfection where I didn't feel alone and hopeless in the world.

Whether his messianic stature is bona fide or self-professed, one thing’s still for certain: an evening with Kanye West will blow your freaking mind.

Love him or loathe him, there are number of things we say about ‘Ye for certain. The guy boasts a repertoire of hits hotter than Seth Rogen’s motorcycle seat. This is a guy with the talent to dethrone his mentor, with the vision to produce the totally unexpected, and with the ego to say and do exactly what he wants. All in all, those ingredients synthesise to produce the greatest live music experience on offer in the modern age. Hands down.

However it’s what we can’t say for certain about West that polarises crowds the world over. The rants, the fights, the Jesus lookalikes; to some extent, it’s no great surprise that the rapper has found himself at loggerheads with audiences on multiple occasions.

But if that’s the price we have to pay to accept this visionary into our lives, then show me where to sign. When Kanye delivers, he arrives first class. “One of the greatest hip-hop sets of all time”, so said the Hollywood Reporter of Coachella 2011. “I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things”, so said Kanye of himself. Hear, hear, Mr. West.

The sounds of hydraulic machinery filled Oracle Arena, as the stench of dirt weed mingled with the faux fog that had been pumping into the air over the past two hours. The opening samples of “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” were slowed down and turned elastic, thus leaving alien chemtrails of sound in the wake of the shadowy figure tethered to the hovering spacecraft. With heads upturned in anticipation of first contact, the crowd was lost in darkness. Chants of “Kan-ye! Kan-ye!” filled every empty space, until the object of their affection shone his light down on the chosen few.

The party-sized hoverboard had traversed the entire length of the arena (from a height of about 10 feet above the tallest head), before blasting spotlights on those below; instantly creating the largest circle pit a hip-hop tour has ever seen.

“Just wanna feel liberated, I, I, I…”

Kanye West had arrived in Oakland, and while many outside the venue failed to understand the appeal, those who had been waiting patiently (well past start time) were losing their collective mind.

See more at http://ilistensoyoudonthaveto.com/2016/10/26/kanye-west-oracle-arena-10-22-16/

Kanye was a lot more humble than I expected. I've always loved a lot of the lyrics of his songs as they speak about real stuff that's going on, like the media covering up on what's actually important and people higher up trying to make everyone conform. His concert was better than I thought it would be. He was entertaining, interactive with the crowd, tried to get the people on the floor to start a mosh pit (haha) and he talked about some shit in the media against him that wasn't true. The massive screen thing he had happening put an interesting twist to seeing Kanye as it was done in like negative colouring and you could only half see him a lot of the time, which was a bit frustrating but also added to the drama of him. I LOVED the freaky masks he wore half the time, very Kanye- all that bling. He played a good mix of his music from a bunch of new stuff right back to the older stuff. Almost the whole seated crowd were standing the whole time (something I've NEVER seen at a concert) I have a newfound respect for Kanye West and am really happy I finally got to see him. I'd definitely go back

it was fucking horrible as shit like really kanye?

i, as well as everyone else who came to see your show in sacramento, were so hyped. it was literally going to be the highlight of my thanksgiving break. i bought your tickets for $70 as well as a shirt for $20, only for you to show up AN HOUR AND A HALF LATE, perform three songs that you didn't even finish, and to listen to your inaccurate rant about politics. honestly man, i respected you so much as an artist; you were and still are a musical genius and i will forever support your music career, but i lost all respect for you as a person yesterday. you disrespected your fans last night, who have been nothing but loyal to you throughout your career. that was a real shitty move, and to be honest with you man, i feel sorry for you. the money so up in your mind that you don't know who you are anymore.

we miss the old kanye

the socially woke kanye

the finish the show kanye

we hate the new kanye

walk off the stage kanye

the hella fake kanye...

The beginning of the TLOP tour was soo epic ! He plays the extended sample of Father stretch my hands, and when you hear "If young metro don't trust you" the whole stadium goes crazy !! If you want to have a top 5 concert experience download the playlist shown below, bump that with your friends the week of the concert and be ready to leave the concert with no voice lol !!!!

##################################

Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1

Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2

Pop Style (Drake cover)

THat Part (ScHoolboy Q cover)

I Don’t Like

Black Skinhead

Freestyle 4

I Love Kanye

Can’t Tell Me Nothing

Blood on the Leaves

Jesus Walks

Devil in a New Dress

All Falls Down

Flashing Lights

All of the Lights

Niggas in Paris

Real Friends

#############################

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The Saint Pablo Tour was by far the dopest energy in one place that I have felt at a venue the size of Verizon Center. The stage was suspended in air and the attendees with floor seats were actually a mosh pit! They stood the entire time fueling the energy as he floated above their heads and out stretched arms. Everyone in the building stood the entire concert. Everyone. Though the lights were dim and the big screen had an hallucination type effect, the lyrics and his movement came thru with Kanye precision. I had the time of my life at this concert. The cherry on the top was that I was invited as a surprise from my love. The hands down best surprise I've ever received!! I love the old Kanye. I love the new Kanye. I love Kanye. Period.

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The Most Memorable Moments of Kanye West and Drake’s Reunion Concert

T he feud is over. Last night, two titans of pop music, Kanye West and Drake, publicly settled their longstanding differences in a joint concert at the L.A. Coliseum. In November, the music mogul J Prince helped broker a peace between them centered upon their mutual interest in the emancipation of Larry Hoover , a long-incarcerated Chicago gang leader. On Thursday, over two hours, the pair traded hits, paid each other compliments and talked about their religious faith. Here are the main takeaways from the show.

The concert was a display of friendly competition, emphasis on friendly

The bad blood between the pair runs deep: lyrical shots have been fired back and forth between their respective crews—West’s G.O.O.D. Music and Drake’s Young Money—for years. The rift hit its apex in 2018, when West’s close ally Pusha T traded vicious diss tracks with Drake, with the former publicly revealing that Drake had a son in “The Story of Adidon.” Drake would accuse West of spilling that personal detail to Pusha T, and proceeded to subtly diss West on the number one Travis Scott hit “SICKO MODE.” This year, Drake and West traded barbs in the press, on social media and in songs, with Drake going so far as to leak a song from Donda that featured André 3000.

But the pair agreed to reconcile last month, in part to raise awareness for prison reform activism. On Thursday, they appeared to be relieved, if not happy, to appear on stage together once again. They entered the stadium striding down the stairs shoulder to shoulder; when they got up onto the stage—a giant, barren white landscape that looked either like a hockey rink or a UFO—they hugged and exchanged heartfelt handshakes. They performed each other’s songs enthusiastically: West sang Drake’s 2010 hit “Find Your Love” (although he struggled to stay on pitch), while Drake returned the favor with a soulful version of “24.” “L.A.’s not finished, Ye’s not finished, Drake’s not finished,” he crooned. Later, West remarked on their collective accomplishments: “It’s like a hundred million hits between the both of us…we’d be out here for three days,” he said.

Drake covering Kanye West’s “24” #KanyeDrakeLive #FreeLarryHoover https://t.co/RTAn5DaWQT — XXL Magazine (@XXL) December 10, 2021

Kanye claimed the past, while Drake claimed the present

In this Verzuz era , fans have been clamoring on social media for a musical battle between the pair. On the Drink Champs podcast last month, West stoked the flames by saying that if he were to conduct a face-off with Drake, “I’m winning every situation.”

While the concert wasn’t officially a Verzuz battle, the subtext loomed over the night, and it was clear that each of them took the assignment very seriously. West came out swinging by energetically steamrolling through his biggest hits in semi-chronological order: “Jesus Walks,” “All Falls Down,” “Gold Digger,” “Stronger,” “All of the Lights.” It was a clear reminder that he’s ruled the past two decades of hip-hop and pop; that his body of work is nearly unparalleled. Drake acknowledged as much onstage, calling it a “dream… to be on stage with one of my idols while he’s running through one of the best catalogs in music, period.”

Drake and Kanye walking off stage last night pic.twitter.com/KT1bzuo2jJ — Drake Fan Page (@DrakeDirect_) December 10, 2021

But rather than trying to match West hit for hit, Drake took a very different tack: by using the concert as a showcase for his new album, Certified Lover Boy. “I came to do some new sh-t for you all,” he said, and fans at the stadium responded enthusiastically, crying out in excitement from the very first synth notes of “Girls Want Girls” (167 million Spotify streams) and screaming every word to “Way 2 Sexy” (228 million streams). While West’s throwback songs came from 2004, the earliest songs Drake performed during his set were from 2018 (“God’s Plan”). It was a clever tactical juke: a reminder that while West might have a deeper catalog, Drake currently remains one of the biggest, if not the biggest, pop star in the world today.

West made a direct plea to Kim Kardashian

For the last decade, one of the marquee moments at any Kanye West show is the outro of his 2010 opus “Runaway.” He uses the tortured song as a confessional, an opportunity to monologue his darkest or most controversial thoughts . While he typically delivers these rants in autotune, West instead stripped back the outro to just piano and voice, singing over and over: “When you run away, I need you to run right back to me.” And at the end, he left no ambiguity about who he was singing the song to: “Run right back to me/ More specifically, Kimberly.”

RUNAWAY BY KANYE WEST, MIKE DEAN VERSION 🐐🐐 #FREELarryHover pic.twitter.com/UsmbDIcE9o — 𝘈𝘕𝘎𝘌 ★ (@Laflame_World) December 10, 2021

Later in the show, West delivered a Kim Suite of sorts, first singing “Bound 2”—a 2013 love song detailing the early days of their relationship—before cutting himself off and launching into “Come To Life,” his heartbreaking recounting from this year that details the crumbling of their relationship. After singing the line “You know exactly where to find me,” he covered his face with his hands seemingly in anguish, and cameramen walked toward him slowly from all sides, as if personifying the oppressive glare of the spotlight. It was an extremely vulnerable moment in a night mostly characterized by bombast.

West censored a cringey lyric

For the concert’s last song, the pair reunited one final time to perform their 2009 collaboration “Forever”; it marked their origin stories and how far each has come. But the song’s performance was notable for another reason: rather than deliver an off-color lyric about statutory rape, West instead rapped, “nope, nope, nope,” and laughed uncomfortably.

Kanye skipping over the statutory line with “no no nope” and laughing sent me 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/GI74TRCchx — Jeff Wong (@jwongnyy) December 10, 2021

Mike Dean was the real MVP

The producer Mike Dean has long been West’s right-hand man, contributing in some way to nearly all of West’s studio albums. In more recent years, he’s joined West on tour to play synthesizer, piano and guitar. On Thursday, he never appeared visually, but dominated the night sonically by adding unpredictable instrumental jolts to West’s pristine production. He added a strobe-y synthesizer to “Touch The Sky” and menacing feedback on “Black Skinhead.” He absolutely shredded the riff to “I Wonder” on guitar, and his luscious piano noodling on “Runaway” was the ideal backdrop for West’s sermonizing to Kardashian. While Drake and West themselves more or less performed each other to a draw, it was Dean’s vital musicianship that pushed West’s set over the top.

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Ye’s New LP Debuts at a New York Arena. Why Do His Fans Stay Loyal?

The rapper formerly known as Kanye West has been mired in controversy after making a string of antisemitic remarks. Thousands showed up to hear “Vultures 1” on Friday night.

By Julia Jacobs

Reporting from Elmont, N.Y.

Adidas severed ties with him. His talent agency dropped him . But on Friday night, an arena on Long Island was filled with thousands of people who most certainly had not turned their backs on Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West.

Shortly before releasing “Vultures 1,” his first album since making a string of antisemitic remarks that cost him business deals and drew widespread condemnation, Ye previewed his new collaboration with the R&B singer Ty Dolla Sign at a listening party at UBS Arena, further testing the boundaries of his fandom with lyrics that did not tiptoe around the controversy.

“‘Crazy, bipolar, antisemite,’ and I’m still the king,” Ye raps in “King,” the final song on the LP, which drew a modest wave of cheers.

Ty Dolla Sign and Ye appeared a bit before 11 p.m. on a smoke-filled stage — at least, that was the impression, though it was hard to confirm who was there. Wearing a full mask, the rapper, designer and longtime provocateur never showed his face as he exulted in his new music, which included samples from Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and the Backstreet Boys (“Yeezy’s back, all right!”).

Originally slated to come out in December, delays and false starts pushed the release of “Vultures 1” to early Saturday morning, soon after the hourlong listening party had ended.

As those who showed up for Ye on Friday know, patience is a central tenet of being a fan of the rapper.

In recent years, as Ye’s behavior has careened from erratic to extreme, loyal listeners have also had to grapple with the controversial things he has done, including wearing a shirt that read “White Lives Matter” at Paris Fashion Week, posting on Twitter (now X) that he would go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE” and repeatedly accusing “Jewish media” and “Jewish Zionists” of feeding a paparazzi frenzy and canceling his shows.

“I’ve had to explain myself to a lot of people,” said Markus Phillips, 18, listing his Jewish friends and his “friends who listen to Taylor Swift” among those wondering why he has remained a fan.

“I don’t support everything that he does outside of the music, but I still acknowledge how much of a generational artist he is,” said Phillips, who had driven down from Buffalo with his friends that day for the event.

In a crowd that skewed toward Gen Z, the fans who paid $140 and up for the listening party included those who professed to be thoroughly unbothered by Ye’s actions — “Doesn’t affect me,” one 18-year-old from New Jersey said with a shrug — and those who were struggling to reconcile the artist they have loved since his first studio album, “The College Dropout,” with the one who said “I do love Hitler” on a talk show with the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

“Is he saying it because he means it, or is he saying it because he just likes to be controversial?” asked Jack Urig, a 20-year-old waiter from New Jersey who was wearing a lavender hoodie that he received for donating to Ye’s 2020 presidential campaign as a teenager.

“Separating the art from the artist” was a common refrain among those who lined up before doors opened, as were speculations about the role that mental health played in Ye’s behavior. (He has said he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder .) Some preferred to believe that it was all a performance or some sort of attention-grabbing marketing ploy, pointing to his statement of apology to the Jewish community — posted in Hebrew — that was released late last year , as he was preparing to drop new music.

“It was not my intention to offend or demean, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused,” Ye said in the post, writing that he was “committed to starting with myself and learning from this experience to ensure greater sensitivity and understanding in the future.”

The lyrics in the new album hardly communicate the same kind of contrition. In the song “Stars,” he raps that he keeps “a few Jews on the staff now.” An infamous line from “Vultures,” the track he released last year in which he raps that he can’t be antisemitic if he had sex with a Jewish woman, was one of the best known in the arena. The music cut out for the verse so the crowd could shout it themselves.

In an album that encompasses gospel-infused house, R&B and trap, Ye features a long panel of collaborators, including Quavo, Playboi Carti, Chris Brown, Lil Durk and for one verse, Ye’s daughter North West, who appeared at the first listening party in Chicago on Thursday. Ye’s verses often confront the drama over his reputation over the past few years, presenting himself as emerging triumphant despite his detractors. (“I burned eight billion to take off my chains,” he raps in “Burn.” )

Whether or not the mainstream music industry will be willing to recognize Ye’s new music remains a question. Even before the antisemitic remarks that lost him lucrative fashion deals with Adidas, Gap and Balenciaga, the Grammys had dropped Ye as a performer for the 2022 award show, citing his erratic and troubling public behavior, which, at the time, included the release of an animated music video that portrayed the kidnapping and burial of a figure who looked a lot like Pete Davidson, the comedian who had been dating Kim Kardashian, Ye’s former wife.

At the arena on Friday, many fans said they found it hard to disentangle Ye from the musical nostalgia of their childhoods — and from their closets.

Wearing Yeezy sneakers to the show, Mahatub Ahmed, 27, said he had 11 more pairs at home, and asked, “What do they want me to do? Throw them away, burn them?” Friends and family have wondered why he doesn’t change his social media handles that play on “Yeezus,” the name of the rapper’s sixth solo album, but he rebuffs them.

For Shareef Rashid, 47 — who attended with his 13-year-old son Jair, a much newer fan — his relationship with Ye is largely steeped in the past. He said he was first drawn to Ye’s 2007 album “Graduation,” with its creative soul samples and lyrics that resonated with him as a young, middle-class Black man of roughly the same age as Ye.

A rapper himself in his free time, Rashid recently posted a snippet of a song in which he says he misses “the first four Kanyes,” and raps of the star: “Put America on blast with everything you say/Now you just talk because and it don’t feel the same way/I hope you are OK.”

But there will always be a segment of Ye’s fan base for which the calculus is much simpler: Whatever he says, whatever he does, they will stand by him.

Waiting in line to buy merch, Kiara Fuller, 23, who considers herself a dedicated Ye fan, wondered aloud whether the person behind the mask onstage that night would be, in fact, Ye.

“We were on the way here and I was thinking, wouldn’t it be the funniest prank if it wasn’t even him out there, and he just has a random person doing it?” she said in a gaggle of her friends.

After traveling past the outskirts of Queens and waiting hours for a problematic fave , wouldn’t such a stunt be the final indignity?

“Eh,” Fuller said and shrugged, “just got to see it through.”

Julia Jacobs is a general assignment reporter who often covers legal issues in arts and culture. More about Julia Jacobs

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Kanye West is an outspoken Grammy Award-winning rapper, record producer and fashion designer.

Who Is Kanye West?

Kanye Omari West was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 8, 1977. His father, Ray, was a photojournalist for the Atlanta Journal newspaper and was also politically active in the Black Panthers; he later became a Christian counselor. West's mother, Donda, was a teacher who became a professor of English at Chicago State University, and eventually, her son's manager before she died at the age of 58 from heart disease after cosmetic surgery in 2007. Her passing would profoundly affect West musically as well as personally.

Ray and Donda divorced amicably when West was three. After that he was raised on Chicago's middle-class South Shore neighborhood by his mother, and spent summers with his father. At the age of 10, West moved for a year with Donda to China, where she taught as part of a university-exchange program; he was the only foreigner in his class. After returning to Chicago, West was drawn to the South Side's hip-hop scene, and he befriended the DJ and producer No I.D., who became his mentor. West graduated from Polaris High School and won a scholarship to study at Chicago's American Academy of Art — but dropped out of college altogether to pursue music, an act that would inform the title of his first solo album years later.

Music Producer

After spending time producing for local artists, West developed a signature style, dubbed "chipmunk soul," characterized by sped-up soul samples. He then moved to New York in 2001. Here he got his big break handling the production for the Jay-Z track "This Can't Be Life," which appeared on the 2000 album Dynasty: Roc La Familia . The following year he cemented his burgeoning reputation by producing four songs on Jay Z's The Blueprint , widely regarded as one of the greatest rap albums of all time. From there, West went on to produce for other stellar talents, including the rappers Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Ludacris , and the singers Alicia Keys and Beyoncé .

But West was not content to be a backroom player. He wanted to be the headline act but initially struggled to be taken seriously as a rapper. He pleaded with Roc-A-Fella records to let him rap, but as co-founder Jay-Z later told Time magazine, "We all grew up street guys who had to do whatever we had to do to get by. Then there's Kanye, who to my knowledge has never hustled a day in his life. I didn't see how it could work." West got a similar response from other labels. "I'd leave meetings crying all the time," he recalled.

With reluctance, Damon Dash signed West to Roc-A-Fella in 2002, but he did so mostly to retain him as a producer. That October, as West was driving home from a recording session in a California studio, he was involved in a head-on car collision that left him with a shattered jaw. He wrote and recorded a song about the experience, "Through the Wire," with his jaw still wired shut following reconstructive surgery. He then wrote much of the rest of his debut album while recuperating in L.A. But once the album was complete, it was leaked online. In response, West decided to make it better: he revised and rewrote songs and refined the production, adding stronger drums, gospel choirs and strings (he paid for orchestras out of his own pocket).

'The College Dropout'

The album was finally released in February 2004 — it sold 2.6 million copies and made West a star. Titled The College Dropout , it broke the gangsta-rap mold, with themes including consumerism (he was critical of it back then), racism, higher education and his religious beliefs. On the single "Jesus Walks" he rapped, "They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus /That means guns, sex, lies, videotapes/But if I talk about God, my record won't get played." The College Dropout peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart, and West received 10 Grammy nominations, winning three awards including Best Rap Song for "Jesus Walks" and Best Rap Album. Shortly after the album was released, West founded his record label, GOOD music — an acronym for Getting Out Our Dreams — in conjunction with Sony BMG. He would put out music by John Legend , Big Sean, Common , Pusha-T and more.

'Late Registration'

West spent a year and $2 million on his sophomore album, hiring an orchestra and working with the composer Jon Brion, who had never worked with a rapper before. West, the restless bourgeois-creative, wanted to "see how far he could expand" hip hop, he told the New York Times. The results were spectacular, yielding another three Grammy wins — Best Rap Album again, plus Best Rap Song for "Diamonds from Sierra Leone," and Best Rap Solo Performance for "Gold Digger." Late Registration debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 — a feat West would repeat with every subsequent solo album release.

"On Late Registration , the Louis Vuitton Don doesn't just set out to create pop music — he wants to be pop music," wrote Rob Sheffield in Rolling Stone's five-star review of the album. "So he steps up his lyrical game, shows off his epic production skills, reaches higher, pushes harder, and claims the whole world of music as hip hop turf."

In September 2005, a month after Late Registration 's release, West appeared on an NBC broadcast to raise funds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. He caused a national media storm — his first, but by no means his last — when he opined live on air that " George Bush doesn't care about Black people," articulating widespread criticism of the president for not visiting the devastated city of New Orleans right away. Bush was deeply stung by West's comment, later calling it a "disgusting moment."

'Graduation'

After touring with U2 in 2005-2006, West was inspired to make hip hop more anthemic, to be performed in stadiums and arenas. He began to draw influence from both rock 'n' roll (the Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Killers) and house music (which originated in his hometown of Chicago). This led to his third album, Graduation , on September 11, 2007. It dropped the same day as 50 Cent 's album Curtis , in what was hyped as a battle for hip-hop's soul — the erudite showman versus the bullet-scarred street thug. But with Graduation 's groundbreaking (for hip-hop) palette of layered electronic synthesizers, and sloganeering wordplay — "I'm like the fly Malcolm X /Buy any jeans necessary," he smirked on "Good Morning" — there could only be one winner. West's album sold 957,000 copies in its first six days, going straight to No. 1.

With the music industry beginning to wring its hands about the effect of the internet on its profit margins, West simply embraced the change with his video for the single "Can't Tell Me Nothing," for which he hired the comedian Zach Galifianakis to lip-sync along to the lyrics on an alternate version, creating a viral sensation on YouTube.

Mother's Death

West was on top of the world, hailed as the artist who had killed gangsta rap. And then, in November 2007, tragedy struck. His beloved mother, Donda, died from a heart attack following cosmetic surgery. During his first concert following the funeral, he dedicated a performance of "Hey Mama" to her. Months later, West broke up with his fiancée, Alexis Phifer. His next album, 808s & Heartbreak , released 12 months after his mom died, was shot through with grief, pain and alienation. West even abandoned rapping altogether, preferring to sing through an Auto-Tune vocal processor, which lent his voice a robotic tone — a technique now ubiquitous in hip hop. He classified the new album as "pop art" (not to be confused with the visual art movement) and announced: "Hip hop is over for me." (It wasn't — he won two Grammys for guest raps he made that year, on Estelle's "American Boy" and TI's "Swagga Like Us.")

Taylor Swift VMA Diss and Feud

The fragility of West's state of mind was called into question at the MTV Video Music Awards the following year. At the ceremony in Radio City Music Hall in New York, he invaded the stage during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for the Best Female Video award (for "You Belong to Me") to protest that Beyoncé should have won instead.

The reverberations from that moment are still being felt. West apologized, then retracted his apology in a New York Times interview in 2013. By 2015 they had become friends and were even spotted at dinner together. Then in 2016 Kanye rapped on his song "Famous": "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that b**** famous." Swift hit back from the stage at the 2016 Grammy Awards — this time uninterrupted — with the words: "I want to say to all the young women out there: There will be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments... Don't let those people sidetrack you."

READ MORE: Taylor Swift and Kanye West: A Timeline of the Musicians' Decade-Long Feud

After the Swift debacle, West took a break from music to focus on fashion. He had already been collaborating with labels including A Bathing Ape and Nike on limited-edition sneakers since 2006. He even reportedly interned at Gap in 2009, and later Fendi, to gain experience. He launched his first collection in Paris in 2011 — but it was widely panned. "You can't just dump some fox fur on a runway and call it luxury," sniffed Long Nguyen, style director of Flaunt magazine. West gave a wounded-sounding speech at the show's after-party. "Please be easy," he said. "Please give me a chance to grow." After his second collection a year later received a lukewarm reception, West announced he would no longer be showing in Paris.

He collaborated with the French label APC on a capsule collection in 2013 and signed a $10 million deal with Adidas, launching his first apparel collection Yeezy Season 1, with the brand in October 2015. The line has had a mixed reception — although his Season 5 collection in February 2017 won praise from Anna Wintour . "I liked it a lot," she told the New York Post. "A little bit more focus than sometimes we've seen from him."

'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'

West returned to music in November 2010 with his fifth album — with paranoid celebrity and rampant consumption the dominant themes: it was a bombastic and towering monument to self-aggrandizement that sounded "like an instant greatest hits" according to Pitchfork. It was the best and worst of Kanye West rolled into one: a magnum opus that bordered on the delusional. It yielded four singles, including "Monster," on which West, Jay Z and Rick Ross were memorably battered into runners-up spots by a blistering guest verse from Nicki Minaj . West and his old sparring partner Jay Z then released a collaborative album, Watch the Throne in 2011 — it yielded seven singles including "Otis" and "Niggas in Paris"; and added three more Grammy wins to West's and Jay Z's respective hauls.

Marriage to Kim Kardashian and Children

In 2012 West released a compilation album, Cruel Summer , showcasing artists on his GOOD Music label. But that year the headlines were more concerned over his relationship with the reality-TV star Kim Kardashian, which began in April. They got engaged in October 21, 2013, after West proposed at the AT&T baseball stadium in San Francisco, and they married on May 24, 2014, in the historic Fort di Belvedere in Italy. Andrea Bocelli sang as Kardashian walked down the aisle, in front of guests that included the designer Rachel Roy, the tennis champion Serena Williams , the film director Steve McQueen and music stars Legend, Q-Tip, Rick Rubin, Tyga and Lana Del Rey . The couple have three children: daughter North (born June 15, 2013) son Saint (born December 5, 2015) and another daughter (born via surrogate January 15, 2018). The couple welcomed their fourth child, son Psalm, via surrogate in May 2019.

In February 2021, Kardashian filed for divorce from West.

Anyone listening to West's sixth album, Yeezus , which came out in June 2013, would hear little evidence that the rapper was living an idyllic existence. Sonically the album was abrasive, raw and almost entirely melody-free — West had enlisted the producer Rick Rubin to make wholesale changes just days before the release. Lyrically, West sounded paranoid and narcissistic to the point of bathos, especially on "I Am a God," which contained the immortal line "Hurry up with my damn croissants."

West claimed the album was an "attack on the commercial," and certainly it contained little that was radio-friendly — barring the magnificent glam-rock-inspired single, "Black Skinhead" (the first of only two singles from the album). Yeezus remains the only West album to have sold fewer than 1 million copies in the US. Yet it was critically well received — not least by the rock legend Lou Reed, who told Rolling Stone that "Each track is like making a movie... The guy really, really, really is talented."

Jimmy Kimmel Beef

A Twitter spat erupted that September with West and Jimmy Kimmel , after the talk-show host mocked an interview West had given to the BBC in the UK. Kimmel hired child actors to recite some of West's more bombastic quotes on his show. But West was far from amused. "Jimmy Kimmel is out of line to try and spoof in any way the first piece of honest media in years," read one of a series of angry tweets. Kimmel gleefully read out West's tweets during his next show — sparking more opprobrium from the rapper, who shared a link to a Slate article titled: "Kanye was right."

The following month West appeared in person on Jimmy Kimmel Live — the interview lasted most of the episode, and featured several free-flowing Kanye monologues, covering everything from his career to his thoughts on the paparazzi, Steve Jobs and Jesus. "I don't know if you know this, but a lot of people think you're a jerk," joked Kimmel, although he went on to praise West's character. It turned out the two had known each other prior to the spat, which was why West had been hurt by Kimmel's portrayal of him. Kimmel admitted that considering a celebrity's feelings was "not something that comes to mind when I'm cooking up a comedy sketch." By the end of the show they had cleared the air.

Collaboration with Paul McCartney, Rihanna and More Public Outbursts

At the start of 2015 West became the only rapper in history to record with Paul McCartney , releasing a single, "Four Five Seconds," with the Beatles legend and Rihanna . But a month later came another award-show disruption, this time at the Grammys, where West objected to Beck winning the Best Album award. "Beck needs to respect artistry, and he should have given his award to Beyoncé," West said after the ceremony. Months later he retracted his statement in an interview with The Sunday Times newspaper in England. "I was inaccurate with the concept of a gentleman who plays 14 instruments not respecting artistry," he said.

In March, West was announced as a co-owner of the music-streaming service Tidal, along with various other artists including Beyoncé, Jay Z, Rihanna, Madonna , Chris Martin and Nicki Minaj. In June he headlined the Glastonbury festival in the UK, despite a petition of 135,000 signatures asking for him to be removed from the bill.

'The Life of Pablo'

There was more controversy in the run-up to his seventh album, The Life of Pablo . Before its release on February 14, 2016, West hit the headlines for a series of controversial tweets - including one that proclaimed Bill Cosby , on trial for drugging and raping women, to be innocent. He started a beef with the rapper Wiz Khalifa , whom he mistakenly believed to have criticized his wife, Kim Kardashian ("I am your OG and I will be respected as such," West tweeted.). He also apologized to Michael Jordan for appearing to diss the basketball legend in his lyrics. And then the day after his album came out, West bizarrely urged his followers to lobby Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to invest $1 billion into West's "ideas." He also claimed to be $53 million in debt.

The album itself was another change of direction, and another triumph. It covered a much broader sonic sweep than Yeezus , incorporating a vast array of sounds, styles and influences, from trap to gospel to Auto-Tune crooning, to avant-pop, classic soul and dancehall. Guest vocalists included Frank Ocean , Chance the Rapper , Rihanna, Desiigner and Kid Cudi. It became West's sixth solo album in succession to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Tour Cancellation and Return to the Spotlight

On November 20, 2016, while on his Saint Pablo Tour, West stopped a concert in Sacramento to embark on a garbled rant about radio playlists, MTV, Barack Obama , Donald Trump , Beyoncé and Jay Z ("Jay Z, call me, bruh... I know you got killers. Please don't send them at my head..."). It was the second time within a week that he had ranted onstage and voiced support for Trump, and this time it sounded like a public breakdown — he did not complete the show. The following day he canceled the remaining 21 dates of his tour citing exhaustion, subsequently spending eight days hospitalized at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

In February 2017, the GOOD music president, Pusha T, said in an interview that West was working on a new album. Rumors surrounding the album's development continued to surface, with some reports saying the award-winning artist had retreated to the mountains of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for creative inspiration.

West began working his way back into the news cycle in April 2018 with the announcement that he was writing a philosophy-themed book, Break the Simulation . Days later, he confirmed the rumors about new material in a rapid-fire series of tweets, declaring he would drop two albums within a week of one another in June, the second one involving longtime collaborator Kid Cudi.

The artist then caused a stir when his tweets veered toward his support for President Trump, calling him "my brother" and noting how they shared "dragon energy," even posting a selfie in which he wears Trump's "Make America Great Again" hat. West later sought to clarify things by saying he loved Hillary Clinton too and didn't agree with everything the president said. "I don't agree 100% with anyone but myself," he wrote.

In an early May interview with TMZ, West revealed that he had been addicted to opioids prior to his November 2016 onstage meltdown and hospitalization, which he began taking after undergoing liposuction because "I didn’t want y'all to call me fat." He also raised eyebrows by describing the history of African American enslavement in the U.S. as a "choice," his words again inflaming social media outrage and prompting another attempt at a clarifying explanation later.

Topping the Charts with 'Ye'

On May 31, West held an exclusive listening party in Jackson Hole for industry insiders and select celebrities, like Chris Rock and Jonah Hill , to debut his new studio effort, Ye . The seven-track album, which included contributions from Kid Cudi and Minaj, touched on issues ranging from the sexual assault accusations facing Russell Simmons , to the Tristan Thompson - Khloé Kardashian cheating saga, to the rapper's own controversial comments about slavery and being bipolar.

West expanded on the bipolar topic in a subsequent interview, confirming that he had recently been diagnosed. Echoing his track's lyrics about how it is his "superpower," he insisted that the condition fueled his creativity, but also admitted that it led to unfortunate consequences. "Think about people who have mental issues that are not Kanye West ... think about somebody that does exactly what I did at TMZ but they just do it at work," he said. "Then Tuesday morning they come back and they lost their job."

On June 12, it was revealed that Ye had debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200; it marked West's eighth consecutive chart-topping album, matching the record held by the Beatles and Eminem . Additionally, all seven tracks from Ye had cracked the Top 40, with "Yikes" charting highest, at No. 8.

Sunday Service Sessions

In early 2019, West debuted his Sunday Service sessions — performances of the rapper and associates singing gospel versions of his hit songs from various locations. Little was known about these invite-only sessions, with the public getting glimpses via social media clips.

West then brought a larger-scale version of his new project to Coachella in April for a special Easter Sunday show, in which he and a large contingent of singers and dancers, dressed in matching mauve robes, performed atop a man-made mountain.

'Jesus Is King,' 'Jesus Is Born,' 'Emmanuel' and Operas

Meanwhile, the artist continued working on a new album. Titled Yandhi , with a planned release date of September 29, 2018, the album was pushed back to November 23, before being delayed indefinitely. In August 2019, it was announced that another studio project, Jesus Is King , would be released on September 27, though that date also passed with no sign of the promised album. The gospel-tinged Jesus Is King was finally unveiled on October 25, the same day as a 35-minute IMAX film of the same title that documented one of the artist's Sunday Service sessions.

At the Hollywood Bowl in November, West debuted Nebuchadnezzar , an opera featuring Sunday Service-style choir singing with its creator reading Bible passages from off to the side of the stage. He followed with Mary , an opera based on the nativity story, before releasing the 19-track gospel album Jesus Is Born on Christmas Day.

West dropped the five-track Emmanuel on Christmas Day 2020, consisting of “ancient and Latin inspired new music,” according to the press release .

2020 Presidential Run

On July 4, 2020, West tweeted that he is running for president: "We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States."

West held his first campaign rally on July 19, 2020, in Charleston, South Carolina. With "2020" shaved into his head, he spoke about Planned Parenthood, marijuana and slavery, among other subjects, in his speech that lasted over an hour.

On October 12, he dropped his first campaign video urging voters to write his in on their ballots.

West eventually conceded and alluded to a presidential run in 2024.

QUICK FACTS

• Birth Year: 1977
• Birth date: June 8, 1977
• Birth State: Georgia
• Birth City: Atlanta
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Kanye West is an outspoken Grammy Award-winning rapper, record producer and fashion designer.
• Astrological Sign: Gemini
• Chicago State University
• Polaris High School
• Interesting Facts
• Kanye is one of the most successful artists in Grammy Awards history. As of 2017 he has won a total of 24 Grammys.
• As of 2015 Kanye's net worth is around $147 million.

Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn’t look right, contact us !

• I am Warhol. I am the No. 1 most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare in the flesh.
• I liberate minds with my music. That's more important than liberating a few people from apartheid or whatever.
• Fashion breaks my heart.

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Kanye West and Taylor Swift's Tumultuous History: A Timeline

Kanye West and Taylor Swift have had a tumultuous dynamic over the years - but what started the bad blood between the artists?

The infamous feud between the duo began when West shockingly ambushed Swift during the 2009 MTV VMAs. While Swift was giving her acceptance speech after taking home the trophy for Best Female Video, West took the stage to interrupt her and let the world know that Beyoncé should have won instead.

After West received tons of backlash from the incident, he ultimately apologized. While the pair seemingly made up after the awards show, the truce didn't last for long.

Their bitter rivalry - which spanned for more than a decade - inspired several songs for both artists. The drama even led to Swift creating an entire era for herself with her iconic Reputation album.

Keep scrolling to see Swift and West's history over the years:

The feud started when West interrupted Swift as she accepted the Best Female Video Award for "You Belong With Me" at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2009. During her speech,

West grabbed the microphone out of her hand and yelled, "Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you. Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time."

The camera immediately panned to a horrified Beyoncé, who was nominated in the same category for her "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" video, saying, "No, Kanye."

At the end of the night, Beyoncé came to Swift's rescue. When she won her award for Video of the Year, Beyoncé brought Swift on stage to let her finish her speech.

West was immediately hit with backlash from celebs and fans alike. Then-president Barack Obama even called the rapper a "jackass" for the incident in an off-the-record comment during a CNBC interview.

Two days after the VMAs, West made a tearful appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. "It's been a difficult day. … I immediately knew in the situation that it was wrong and it wasn't a spectacle," he explained at the time. "It's actually someone's emotions that I stepped on. It was rude, period. I'd like to apologize to her in person."

After West shared his intentions to say he was sorry, Swift confessed the pair had spoken about the incident.

"Kanye did call me and he was very sincere in his apology, and I accepted that apology," Swift told ABC Radio at the time. "The support I got from other artists and from the fans, and so many people sticking up for me, that's what got me to the place where I could accept that apology. And I'm just very thankful that everyone showed me so much love."

Swift released the track "Innocent" on her Speak Now album. The song alluded to her drama with West.

"It's all right / Just wait and see / Your string of lights is still bright to me / Who you are is not where you've been / You're still an innocent / … It's okay / Life is a tough crowd / 32 and still growing up now," she sings.

Later that year, Swift took the stage at the 2010 VMAS to perform "Innocent," which was widely interpreted as a dig at West.

While everything seemed to be at peace for West and Swift, things escalated for the musicians three years later. In June 2013, West sat down with The New York Times for an extensive Q&A and the infamous moment with Swift was brought up. When asked if he regretted the outburst, West stood by his decision to storm the stage.

"I don't have one regret," he said to the outlet. "If anyone's reading this waiting for some type of full-on, flat apology for anything, they should just stop reading right now."

West and Swift made headlines in February 2015 when they were photographed smiling and having a conversation at the Grammy Awards. The next day, West told Ryan Seacrest in an interview that Swift approached him after Beck won the Album of the Year Award over Beyoncé and told him he should've gone on stage. "This is the irony in my life," he quipped.

Seven months later, Swift revealed in the Vanity Fair  September 2015 issue that she was gradually considering West as one of her friends.

"I feel like I wasn't ready to be friends with him until I felt like he had some sort of respect for me, and he wasn't ready to be friends with me until he had some sort of respect for me - so it was the same issue, and we both reached the same place at the same time," she explained. "And then Kanye and I both reached a place where he would say really nice things about my music and what I've accomplished, and I could ask him how his kid [North is] doing. … We haven't planned [a collaboration] … But hey, I like him as a person. And that's a really good, nice first step, a nice place for us to be."

At the 2015 VMAs, Swift and West had a full-circle moment. Swift presented West with the coveted MTV Video Vanguard Award at that year's ceremony.

"I first met Kanye West six years ago - at this show, actually!" she quipped before explaining that the rapper's debut album, The College Dropout, was "the very first album my brother and I bought on iTunes when I was 12 years old."

She continued: "I've been a fan of his for as long as I can remember because Kanye defines what it means to be a creative force in music, fashion and, well, life, So, I guess I have to say to all the other winners tonight: I'm really happy for you, and imma let you finish, but Kanye West has had one of the greatest careers of all time."

When West dropped his album The Life of Pablo in February 2016, he included a track titled "Famous" - which shaded Swift. "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that b*tch famous," he raps.

After receiving backlash for the controversial lyrics, West clarified on Twitter that he had an "hour long convo with [Swift] about the line and she thought it was funny and gave her blessings."

While many of Swift's friends and family members addressed the song, the singer broke her silence on the situation days later as she accepted the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

"I want to say to all the young women out there: There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame," she said at the time. "But if you just focus on the work and you don't let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you're going, you'll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world."

Four months later, West premiered the NSFW "Famous" music video , which featured naked look-alikes of himself, then-wife Kim Kardashian , Swift, Rihanna , Chris Brown and several more in bed together at a star-studded event at the Forum in Los Angeles. The voyeuristic visual, which was inspired by Vincent Desiderio's "Sleep" painting, was heavily criticized by multiple stars, including Lena Dunham , who called the clip "one of the most disturbing ‘artistic' efforts in recent memory."

The following month, Kardashian came to West's defense and claimed that Swift was aware of - and allegedly endorsed - the rapper's lyrics before the song dropped.

"She totally approved that," Kardashian told GQ magazine in July 2016. "She totally knew that that was coming out. She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn't. I swear, my husband gets so much s–t for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved."

However, Kardashian's involvement in Swift and West's drama did not come to an end. While a July 2016 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians was airing, Kardashian released a series of Snapchat videos of West speaking to Swift on the phone. In the clips, Swift seemingly signed off on the controversial lyric and even called it "a compliment."

That same day, Kardashian posted on her Twitter noting it was National Snake Day. "They have holidays for everybody, I mean everything these days!" she quipped alongside a series of snake emojis, throwing subtle shade at Swift.

Shortly after the videos were released , Twitter went wild and the hashtag #KimExposedTaylorParty became a worldwide trending topic. Swift responded via Instagram, saying that she was unaware that she'd be referred to as "that bitch" on the tune.

"Being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination," she penned. "I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009."

While Swift's friends publicly came to her defense, West saw the moment as a victory himself. "I'm so glad my wife has Snapchat, 'cause now y'all can know the truth," West told the crowd at a Drake concert in July 2016 where he came on stage to perform their collaboration "Pop Style."

More than a year after the drama unfolded online, Swift announced her new album Reputation . Before breaking the news, Swift teased the release with a series of snake emojis on her social media.

When the album dropped in November 2017, a series of songs alluded to her feud with West and Kardashian including "Look What You Made Me Do," "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things," "I Did Something Bad" and "Call It What You Want."

Two years later, Kardashian cleared the air about where she stood with Swift following her feud.

"I feel like we'd all moved on," Kardashian said of Swift during a January 2019 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen while noting that she was "over it."

Swift, for her part, reflected on the drama and how she overcame it in a March 2019 interview with Elle .

"I learned that disarming someone's petty bullying can be as simple as learning to laugh," Swift explained. "In my experience, I've come to see that bullies want to be feared and taken seriously. A few years ago, someone started an online hate campaign by calling me a snake on the internet."

Swift explained that the symbolism of the snake and how she claimed it as her own helped her overcome the negative memories.

"It would be nice if we could get an apology from people who bully us," Swift continued. "But maybe all I'll ever get is the satisfaction of knowing I could survive it, and thrive in spite of it."

In this same year, Swift engaged in a battle with Scooter Braun over the ownership of her masters when he purchased Big Machine Records in June 2019. While opening up about the struggle, Swift called out how the music manager fueled the flames of her feud with West.

"Or when his client, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked," she wrote in a lengthy Tumblr post. "Now Scooter has stripped me of my life's work, that I wasn't given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it."

Three months later, Swift confessed to Rolling Stone that she was done trying to make amends with West. "I realized he is so two-faced," she said at the time. "That he wants to be nice to me behind the scenes, but then he wants to look cool, get up in front of everyone and talk s–t."

Four years after the phone call incident, the full version of the chat between Swift and West leaked online. In the clip, West asked Swift to help promote the song, but it did contain a controversial lyric. Swift then asked if it was "gonna be mean" which West acknowledged he tamed it down after consulting with Kardashian. West played the snippet and Swift laughed and noted it was "not mean."

However, the singer told West that she needed to "think about it because it is absolutely crazy." West then promised to send her the full song and they would talk through it later - which never occurred.

When the clip went viral, Swift addressed the situation. "Instead of answering those who are asking how I feel about the video footage that leaked, proving that I was telling the truth the whole time about *that call* (you know, the one that was illegally recorded, that somebody edited and manipulated in order to frame me and put me, my family and fans through hell for 4 years) … SWIPE UP to see what really matters," she wrote via her Instagram Story then concluded the post shedding light on organizations that needed aid during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Swift released her album Midnights , she dropped the track "Vigilante S–t" which could be referring to her drama with West or Braun.

The second verse finds Swift dreaming about becoming "thick as thieves with your ex-wife," which could refer to Kardashian or Yael Cohen . "Now she gets the house, gets the kids, gets the pride," Swift sings. "And she looks so pretty / Drivin' in your Benz / Lately she's been dressin' for revenge." (Following their feuds, both West and Braun divorced from their wives. West and Kardashian split in 2021 while Braun and Cohen called it quits in 2022.)

During Swift's Eras Tour stop in Mexico City in August, the singer joked to the audience about the moment that ignited her feud with West nearly two decades prior. While on stage sharing the inspiration behind her tour, fans interrupted her speech to cheer her on.

"People chanting your name, it's really the only way to be interrupted," Swift quipped as she sat at her piano. "And I would know."

Swift later referenced the feud during her TIME Person of the Year interview in December.

"That took me down psychologically to a place I've never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn't leave a rental house for a year," she recalled, referring to the 2016 recording being released. "I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn't trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard."

When Swift released her The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology album in April, fans seemingly picked up on references to her past feud with West in the song "Cassandra."

"When the truth comes out, it's quiet / So, they killed Cassandra first 'cause she feared the worst / And tried to tell the town," the song's lyrics read. "So, they filled my cell with snakes, I regret to say / Do you believe me now?"

Fans have speculated that Swift is referring to the entire 2016 phone call situation, where the public didn't believe her until years later when the entire conversation was released.

Neil Young Stuns at 2024 Tour Launch, Unveils Lost ‘Cortez the Killer’ Verse

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

In typical Neil Young fashion, virtually nothing was revealed about his 2024 U.S. tour before it kicked off Wednesday night at San Diego’s Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre, other than the fact he’d be backed by Crazy Horse , and that Micah Nelson would be taking over guitar duties from Nils Lofgren. Would he pull a Greendale and debut an entire rock opera nobody had ever heard? Would he focus the set around the three new studio albums he cut with Crazy Horse between 2019 and 2022? Might he repeat the concept of his 2023 solo tour by spotlighting obscure Eighties and Nineties album tracks and skipping most of his hits?

They jammed for six minutes before Young sang the opening lines, igniting the crowd into a frenzy, but the big moment came near the end, when he began singing completely unfamiliar words. As he teased earlier this month , it was the legendary lost segment of the song that failed to record during the 1975 Zuma sessions because the console briefly lost power. Young recently found the lyric manuscript, and worked out where they originally fit in the song.

“I floated on the water,” Young sang. “I ate that ocean wave/Two weeks after the slaughter/I was living in a cave/They came too late to get me/But there’s no one here to set me free/From this rocky grave/To that snowed-out ocean wave.”

It was a remarkable moment to witness. After 49 years and over 540 live performances, the world finally got to hear the song as Young originally wrote it.

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Young was talking about “Scattered (Let’s Think About Livin’),” from 1996’s Broken Arrow, which was the newest song they played all evening. The rest of the set was music recorded when Briggs was alive, largely between 1969 and 1979, beginning with “Don’t Cry No Tears.” He followed it up with a triple shot of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere : “Down by the River,” “The Losing End,” and the title track. And it was a particularly mesmerizing “Down by the River” that stretched out for 16 blissful minutes.

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After the Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere mini-set, the quartet (Crazy Horse 4.0?) kicked into one of the greatest renditions of “Powderfinger” I’ve ever heard, thanks to improvisational guitar work prior to each verse by Young and Nelson. What came next was a 16-minute “Love and Only Love,” the band walking offstage, and then Young strapping on an harmonica rack for solo acoustic renditions of “Comes a Time,” “Heart of Gold,” and “Human Highway” that had the entire amphitheater singing along.

The band returned to wrap up the night with “Don’t Be Denied,” an autobiographical tale that carries a lot more emotional weight when Young sings it at age 78 as opposed to 28, and a thrashed-out “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black).”

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He might duplicate this exact set when the tour continues the following night at the same venue. He might not repeat a single song. He may even perform a complete classic album, which is something he started doing late last year. The joy of seeing Neil Young is that you never have any idea what’s going to happen once the lights dim.

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Taylor Swift’s 'The Tortured Poets Department' album breaks Spotify streaming record

Taylor Swift is writing her way into the Spotify history books (her version) with "The Tortured Poets Department."

On Friday, Swift released her new album which became the first album in the streaming platform's history to garner over 300 million streams in a single day. The album also became the most-streamed album in a single day in 2024, according to a rep for Spotify.

The album's lead single “Fortnight," featuring rapper and genre-bending singer Post Malone , also made history and became the most-streamed song in a day. Swift also claims the top three albums most streamed albums in Spotify history with 2023's "Midnights" and " 1989 (Taylor's Version)."

Swift is also now the most-streamed artist in a single day in Spotify history after the release of "The Tortured Poets Department" and its extended version "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology," a 31-song collection of songs about coming of age, heartbreak, and the private pitfalls and peaks of her public life.

'Tortured Poets' release live updates: Taylor Swift drops 15 extra songs at 2 a.m.

What is Taylor Swift's new 'The Tortured Poets Department' album about?

The Eras Tour singer also makes reference to romance with current partner, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce , in and her longtime ex-boyfriend, the British actor Joe Alwyn . On "Tortured Poets," Swift continues to point her songwriting pen at rapper Kanye West, who is now known as Ye , and his ex-wife, reality TV star Kim Kardashian .

"I don't think you've changed much  and so I changed your name and any real defining clues ; And one day, your kid comes home singin' a song that only us two is gonna know is about you," Swift sings in "thanK you aIMee," which features Kim Kardashian's name spelled out in capital letters while the rest are lowercase.

Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, Ye feud: VMAs to 'The Tortured Poets Department'

The song is an apparent reference to the daughter of Kardashian and Ye (formerly  Kanye West ), North West. Early last year, North West  posted a TikTok  featuring Kardashian, with the two dancing to "Shake It Off," from 2014's "1989."

SZA and Keke Palmer to Star in Untitled Buddy Comedy at TriStar Pictures

By Katcy Stephan

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Keke Palmer and SZA are set to star in an untitled buddy comedy film for TriStar Pictures.

Lawrence Lamont (“Rap Sh!t”) is set to direct with the screenplay written by “Rap Sh!t” showrunner Syreeta Singleton.

HOORAE’s Issa Rae and Sara Diya Rastogi, ColorCreative’s Deniese Davis and MACRO Film Studios’ Charles D. King, James Lopez, and Poppy Hanks are producing. Singleton is co-producing. Big Boss’ Palmer and Sharon Palmer are executive producing. MACRO Film Studios is coming on board to co-finance and produce.

Palmer and SZA first teamed up for “Saturday Night Live” in Dec. 2022, when Palmer hosted and SZA was the musical guest.

Lamont has directed music videos for some of the music industry’s biggest artists including J. Cole, Big Sean, Kanye West, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Jhene Aiko, Nas and Snoop Dogg.

Palmer is an Emmy-winning actress, singer, producer and television host, who first rose to prominence through her breakout role in “Akeelah and the Bee” and has gone on to star in films such as Jordan Peele’s acclaimed “Nope.” She recently made history as the first Black woman to win outstanding game show host at the 2023 Emmys for her work hosting NBC’s reboot of “Password.”

SZA, who will make her acting debut in the project, is an Academy Award nominee and four-time Grammy-winning recording artist. She was named Variety’s Hitmaker of the Year in 2023.

Palmer is repped by 3 Arts Entertainment, Hertz Lichtenstein, Young & Polk and LUNA PR. SZA is repped by WME for theatrical and Top Dawg Entertainment. Lamont is repped by CoCre and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Singleton is repped by CoCre and UTA.

Deadline was first to report the news.

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