Kanye West began his career as a producer in the mid-to-late 90s, with his first time being credited as a producer being on Grav's 1996 debut album Down to Earth. In 1998, Kanye was signed to the production company Hip Hop Since 1978, where he became a ghost producer for Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie. Around this time, Kanye formed a hip-hop group called The Go-Getters with rappers GLC, Timmy G, Really Doe, and Arrowstar. The group released their first and only album, World Record Holders, in 1999.
In 2000, Kanye was signed to Jay-Z's record label Roc-A-Fella Records, where he produced tracks for artists such as Jay-Z and Freeway, as well as producing beats for artists signed to other labels including Ludacris and Alicia Keys. At this time, Kanye was also working to get signed to a label as a rapper, but was turned down multiple times due to him not portraying the "gansta image" which was prominent in hip-hop at the time. Kanye was eventually signed by Roc-A-Fella's label head Damon Dash as a recording artist out of the fear that Kanye would stop working with Roc-A-Fella if not granted a chance to rap
In 2002, Kanye was involved in a car accident which led to his jaw being shattered and his mouth being temporarily wired shut. The accident inspired him to record the track "Through The Wire" which was included on his first mixtape Get Well Soon and was later added to his first atudio album The College Dropout which he began working on in LA during his recovery. Kanye planned for the album to release in August 2003, but he postponed it due to the entire album being leaked online, although instead of being mad, he used it as an opportunity to add verses, gospel choirs, and improve the drum programming. The album eventually released February 2004 and reched Number 2 on the Billboard 200, as well as gaining him 10 Grammy nominations and receiving the Grammy for Best Rap Album that year.
2005-2009
After the massive success of his first album, Kanye invested $2 Million into his second album Late Registration, which allowed him to hire a string orchestra and collaborate with composer Jon Brion who was known for working on film scores for hollywood movies such as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". When the album eventually released in 2005, it sold 2.3 million units by the end of 2005 alone. When his song "Touch the Sky" failed to win MTV's award for best music video in 2006, Kanye went on stage and argued that he should have won the award, which was criticized worldwide, leading to Kanye later apologizing for the whole incident.
In 2007, Kanye's third studio album Graduation released on September 11 2007, the same day as 50 Cent's Curtis which led to a friendly beef between the two artists to see who would sell more records. This album has been credited as a major reason that other hip-hop artist began to incorporate house elements into their music. Graduation has also been credited as playing a part in the disco revival.
In late 2007 Kanye's mother Donda West passed away around the same time that Kanye broke up with his fiance, Alexis Phifer. These two events deeply affected Kanye and led his next album 808s and Heartbreak to take a more introspective and sad turn, which confused most music audiences, partially due to it being one of the first albums to openly use Auto-Tune. While it was heavily criticized by critics pre-release, it has been quoted as one of the most influential hip-hop albums of the last 20 years due to it encouraging many new rappers to take more creative risks production-wise. Some examples of this include rappers, Future and Travis Scott, who both use heavy auto-tune in their music.
During the 2009 MTV VMAs Taylor Swift was being presented with her award for Best Female Video, when Kanye ran on stage and grabbed the microphone from Taylor to claim that Beyonce deserved the award instead of Taylor. This led to his removal from the show and a mass criticism from many people including, then president, Obama, who called Kanye a "jackass". Kanye later apologized to Taylor, but during an inverview in 2010, he called his actions "selfless".
2010-2013
Following the VMAs incident, Kanye spent multiple months in Hawaii, working on his fifth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. During this time in Hawaii, Kanye flew out many popular artists to work on the album, such as, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, and Kid Cudi. Kanye also reportedly kept a tight 24 hour schedule where he didn't get much rest. He released My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in November 2010, which went platinum, but was not nominated for Album of the Year, which multiple media outlets veiwed as a "snub".
In 2011, Kanye went on a festival tour for his album, which included performances at Lollapalooza and Coachella. Later the same year, Kanye released his first collaborative album Watch the Throne with Jay-Z. The album was followed by a "Watch The Throne Tour" from October 2011 to June 2012. Later in 2012, Kanye released the compilation album Cruel Summer, which compiled tracks by artists who were signed to Kanye's GOOD Music record label, including his close friends Kid Cudi and Pusha T
In early 2013, Kanye began working on his sixth solo album Yeezus which was originally planned to be named Thank God For Drugs and take a much darker tone. Kanye wanted Yeezus to be more expirimental, which led to him working with producer Rick Rubin to strip down the music for a more minimal approach. The album released June 2013 and became Kanye's sixth consecutive number one debut despite it having the lowest solo opening week sales.
2014-2018
In 2014 Kanye announced that his next album would be a follow-up to Yeezus, titled Yeezus II, but in early 2015, Kanye would instead announce that his next album would be titled So Help Me God, although this title was changed again in January 2016 to Swish and later in the same month changed to Waves. Several days before the album's release, Kanye renamed the album once again to The Life Of Pablo.
Shortly after the release of The Life Of Pablo, Kanye tweeted that his next album would be titled TurboGrafx16, an homage to the 90s video game console of the same name, although this album never released. He also teased his second GOOD Music compilation album Cruel Winter, although this album didn't release either. In August 2016, Kanye began his Saint Pablo Tour, which ended early due to Kanye having a mental breakdown on stage, which led to him being admitted to UCLA Medical Center and being diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder.
After his 2016 breakdown, Kanye fled to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for it's peaceful mountains where he began working on multiple albums as part of what is now known as "The Wyoming Sessions". During these sessions, Kanye worked on 5 albums: his eighth studio album Ye, his second collab album Kids See Ghosts with Kid Cudi, and 3 albums that he produced for members of GOOD Music, Pusha T, Teyana Taylor, and Nas. In May, the first Wyoming album Pusha T's Dayona released to critical acclaim and controversy due to the album cover being a photo of Whitney Houston's drug-filled bathroom. On June first, Kanye's album Ye, released followed by Kids See Ghosts a week later, as well as the other two albums he produced during this time, which both released later that same month.
In September 2017, Kanye stated that his ninth studio album would be titled Yandhi and that he would also release a collaborative album with Chance the Rapper titled Good Ass Job. Yandhi was postponed and neither of these albums ended up releasing. In the same month, Kanye also announced that he would be changing his stage name to "Ye"
2019-2021
In early 2019, Ye began his weekly Sunday Service which included soul covers of Ye's older songs. Sunday Services were attended by multiple celebrities including Kid Cudi. In June, Ye's wife at the time, Kim Kardashian, stated that Ye's next album would be titled Jesus Is King, which became the first ever album to top the Billboard 200, Top RnB/Hip-Hop Albums, Top Rap Albums, Top Christian Albums, and Top Gospel Albums at the same time. On December 25 2019, Ye's Sunday Service released their own album titled Jesus Is Born.
On June 30 2020, Ye released his single "Wash Us in the Blood" which he announced was going to be on his tenth studio album God's Country, which was later scrapped in favor of the album Donda, which Ye named after his mother. In September 2020, Ye stated that he wouldn't release any more music until his contract with Sony was over. In October he released his single "Nah Nah Nah" which he used as his presidential campaign song for the 2020 election, which he had decided to run in. Donda released on August 29 2021, but Ye stated that the album had been released by Universal and Sony without his permission, leading to him releasing a deluxe edition on November 14 2021, which added four songs and rearranged the tracklist. Later that year Ye and Drake hosted a "Free Larry Hoover" concert.
2022-2025
In January 2022, Ye announced his next album Donda 2, which was executively produced by the rapper, Future. Ye also worked on a collab album with James Blake titled War, which never released. In December 2022, Ye appeared on Alex Jones's podcast saying antisemetic things and supporting Hitler. After his antisemetic statements, James Blake cancelled the collab album.
In 2023, It was reported that Kanye was working on his eleventh studio album, the title of which was currently unknown. During this time many false leaks happened which included multiple fake leaks for the album's title. These names included "Y3", "Yesuke", and "Man Across The Sea", none of these albums ever released and they seem to have all been hoaxes. Around this time it was first reported that Kanye and Ty Dolla Sign were working on a collaborative album, this was later revealed to be the Vultures trilogy, which they would release under the name ¥$.
Vultures 1 released a day after expected on February 10 2024, and while Vultures 2 was expected to release in April, it didn't release until August. Vultures 3, however, never released and was permanently scrapped due to Ye stating that him and Ty are no longer on speaking terms due to Ye's twitter rant in February 2025. During his rant, Ye supported Hitler as well as Diddy. Around the same time as this rant, Ye aired an add during "Superbowl LIX". The advertisement directed viewers to his Yeezy website, which at the time was selling only one item, a white shirt with a Nazi swastika on it for $20.
Not long after his Twitter rant, Ye released a promotional "Version 1" video for his upcoming studio album Bully. Along with Bully, Ye also announced another album he was working on titled WW3. In March he created a second spotify account named "Ye" where he released his controversial songs: "WW3" "Heil Hitler" and "Cousins". He later stated that the album WW3 had been renamed to CUCK which fully leaked in May 2025 and featured 15 songs which contained topics of antisemetism and talked about his own childhood trauma. Later that month, Ye stated on twitter that he was "done with antisemetism" and asked God to forgive him. He also rereleased his song "Heil Hitler" as "Hallelujah" where he censored the Nazi messages. On June 27, Ye released King Comb's EP Never Stop, which Ye had executive produced.
Kanye's eleventh studio album, Bully, which was originally planned to release on June 15 2025, which was also the birthday of Ye's oldest daughter, North West. The album missed the original release date. Ye ended up releasing the first three songs on the album, "Beauty and the Beast", "Preacher Man", and "Damn" as singles on June 16. This was followed by the fourth and fifth songs, "Last Breath" and "Losing Your Mind" being released on June 27. Ye also posted a countdown for the full album on Spotify which had it's release date set to July 25. Bully was then delayed until September 26 and then again until November 7. On November 3
Discography
Intro (Skit)
We Don't Care
Graduation Day
All Falls Down (ft. Syleena Johnson)
I'll Fly Away
Spaceship (ft. GLC, Consequence)
Jesus Walks
Never Let Me Down (ft. Jay-Z, J. Ivy)
Get Em High (ft. Talib Kweli, Common)
Workout Plan (Skit)
The New Workout Plan
Slow Jamz (w/ Twista, ft. Jamie Foxx)
Breathe In Breathe Out (ft. Ludacris)
School Spirit (Skit 1)
School Spirit
School Spirit (Skit 2)
Lil Jimmy (Skit)
Two Words (ft. Mos Def, Freeway, The Boys Choir of Harlem)
Through the Wire
Family Business
Last Call
Wake Up Mr. West
Heard 'Em Say (ft. Adam Levine)
Touch the Sky (ft. Lupe Fiasco)
Gold Digger (ft. Jamie Foxx)
Skit No. 1
Drive Slow (ft. Paul Wall, GLC)
My Way Home (performed by Common)
Crack Music
Roses
Bring Me Down(ft. Brandy)
Addiction
Skit No. 2
Diamonds from Sierra Leone (Remix) (ft. Jay-Z)
We Major (ft. Nas, Really Doe)
Skit No. 3
Hey Mama
Celebration
Skit No. 4
Gone (ft. Consequence, Cam'ron)
Diamonds from Sierra Leone (bonus track)
Late (hidden track)
Good Morning
Champion
Stronger
I Wonder
Good Life (ft. T-Pain)
Can't Tell Me Nothing
Barry Bonds (ft. Lil Wayne)
Drunk and Hot Girls (ft. Mos Def)
Flashing Lights (ft. Dwele)
Everything I Am
The Glory
Homecoming (ft. Chris Martin)
Big Brother
Good Night (bonus track)
Say You Will
Welcome to Heartbreak (ft. Kid Cudi)
Heartless
Amazing (ft. Young Jeezy)
Love Lockdown
Paraniod (ft. Mr Hudson
RoboCop
Street Lights
Bad News
See You in My Nightmares (ft. Lil Wayne)
Coldest Winter
Pinocchio Story
Dark Fantasy
Gorgeous (ft. Kid Cudi, Raekwon)
Power
All of the Lights (Interlude)
All of the Lights
Monster (ft. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Bon Iver)
So Appalled (ft. Swizz Beatsz, Jay-Z, Pusha-T, CyHi the Prynce, RZA)
Devil In A New Dress (ft. Rick Ross)
Runaway (ft. Pusha-T
Hell of a Life
Blame Game (ft. John Legend)
Lost in the World (ft. Bon Iver
Who Will Survive in America
No Church in the Wild (ft. Frank Ocean, The-Dream)
Lift Off (ft. Beyonce)
N*ggas in Paris
Otis (ft. Otis Redding)
Gotta Have It
New Day
That's My Bitch
Welecome to the Jungle
Who Gon Stop Me
Murder to Excellence
Made in America (ft. Frank Ocean)
Why I love You (ft. Mr Hudson)
Illest Motherfucker Alive - Deluxe Track
H.A.M - Deluxe Track
Primetime - Deluxe Track
The Joy - Deluxe Track
To the World (by Kanye, R. Kelly, Teyana Taylor)
Clique (by Big Sean, Kanye, Jay-Z(
Mercy.1 (by Kanye)(Ft. 2 Chainz, Big Sean, Pusha T)
New God Flow.1 (by Kanye, Pusha T, Ghostface Killah)
