Kayne West

Kayne Omari West, fondly known as Ye, or Konman, was born on June 8, 1977 at Atlanta, Georgia. The West family that consisted of Kayne West, his photojournalist father, Ray West, and English professor, Dr. Donna West, all moved to Chicago when Kayne was three years old. His name is pronounced 'Khan Ye'. Kayne attended Chicago State University but dropped out to work on his music career. He started by producing tracks for local acts and became famous when he produced hit singles for artists such as Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Ludacris, John Legend, Common, DMX and many more. The release of Jay-Z's album 'The Blueprint' made West a major name in the music production world. In 2002, he had a very close shave with death when he was involved in a car crash that left his jaw fractured in three places. Inspired by the crash, he cut his first single 'Through the Wire'. He also demonstrated his faith in God through many of his songs including 'Jesus Walks'. His Debut Album, 'The College Dropout' (2004), received a great deal of critical acclaim and sold around 400,000 copies in its first week of release itself. His Second album, 'Late Registration', secured a numero uno position on the Billboard Hot 100. His 'The College Dropout' album won him the 2005 Grammy for Best Rap Album; the song 'Walks' was labeled the Best Rap Song; while 'Late Registration' and the album songs 'Diamonds from Sierra Leone', 'Gold Digger' won him three Grammy Awards in 2006.