Kanye West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004 , continuing in 2005 Late Registration , Graduation in 2007 , 808s & Heartbreak in 2008 , My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010 , Watch the Throne ( with Jay -Z) in 2011 and Cruel Summer ( with GOOD Music) in 2012, while the June 18, 2013 will release his sixth solo studio album , Yeezus . All have received numerous awards , including 21 Grammys , making it the rapper who has won more awards , exceeding 13 Eminem and Jay Z (2010), and has been critically acclaimed .
All have been very commercially successful , 808s & Heartbreak becoming his third No. 1 album in the United States after its publication . West also runs his own production company, GOOD Music label artists such as John Legend, Common and Kid Cudi . The pet and seal West is " Dropout Bear " ( in English, " teddy field ( school ) " ) , a teddy bear which has appeared on the covers of four of his five albums as well as singles and several covers music videos. About.com has described as Kanye West # 8 on their list of " The 50 Greatest Hip- Hop Producers " . The May 16, 2008 , West was crowned by MTV as the No. 1 on MTV 's Annual Hottest MC List.
As of early January 2012 , West had sold more than 30.2 million downloads worldwide , being the ninth artist with higher digital sales of all time . The artist has received 7 nominations for the 2012 Grammy Awards , making him the most nominated artist . Then beat in 4 categories.
Kanye West is one of the most successful artists of the twenty-first century as it has a total of 21 Grammy awards and three of his discs were placed on the list of top 500 albums ever in Rolling Stone.
He grew up as a child in Chicago, Illinois, where he moved with his mother at the age of three years, and currently resides in Hoboken , New Jersey.
Kanye is the son of Ray and Donda West . Ray West worked as a photojournalist ( coming to be rewarded ) when Kanye was born, and currently works as a pastoral marriage counselor. Donta West chaired the English Department at the University of Chicago, until he retired to be the representative of his son. After attending the International Academy of Art and Design and Technology, a school of fine arts in Chicago, and later to the University of Chicago , West dropped everything and began his musical career. Gained fame by producing rap artists and R & B like Alicia Keys, Jay -Z, Janet Jackson , Brandy, Talib Kweli , Dilated Peoples , Ludacris and John Legend . The West was working on his own solo album for a long period , but the album's release had to be delayed repeatedly .