West was born on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia.^[c] After his parents divorced when he was three years old, he moved with his mother to Chicago, Illinois.^[16][17] His father, Ray West, is a former Black Panther and was one of the first black photojournalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ray later became a Christian counselor,^[17] and in 2006, opened the Good Water Store and Café in Lexington Park, Maryland, with startup capital from his son.^[18][19] West's mother, Donda C. West (née Williams),^[20] was a professor of English at Clark Atlanta Universityand the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University before retiring to serve as his manager.

West was raised in a middle-class environment, attending Polaris School for Individual Education^[21] in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois, after living in Chicago.^[22] At the age of 10, West moved with his mother to Nanjing, China, where she was teaching at Nanjing University as a Fulbright Scholar.^[23] According to his mother, West was the only foreigner in his class, but he settled in well and quickly picked up the language, although he has since forgotten most of it.^[24] When asked about his grades in high school, West replied, "I got A's and B's."^[25]

West demonstrated an affinity for the arts at an early age; he began writing poetry when he was five years old.^[26] West started rapping in the third grade and began making musical compositions in the seventh grade, eventually selling them to other artists.^[27] West crossed paths with producer No I.D., who became West's friend and mentor.^[28]: 557 After graduating from high school, West received a scholarship to attend Chicago's American Academy of Art in 1997 and began taking painting classes. Shortly after, he transferred to Chicago State University to study English. At age 20, he dropped out to pursue his musical career.^[29] This greatly displeased his mother, who was also a professor at the university, although she would later accept the decision.^[28]: 558

West began his early production career in the mid-1990s, creating beats primarily for burgeoning local artists in the Chicago area. He received his first official production credits at age nineteen, when he produced eight tracks on Down to Earth, the 1996 debut album of Chicago-based underground rapper Grav.^[30] In 1998, West was the first producer signed to the management-production company Hip Hop Since 1978, founded by Gee Roberson and Kyambo "Hip-Hop" Joshua.^[31] For a time, West acted as a ghost producer for Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie. Due to his association with Angelettie, West was not able to release a solo album, so he formed the Go-Getters, a hip hop group composed of him and fellow Chicago natives GLC, Timmy G, Really Doe, and Arrowstar.^[32][33] The Go-Getters independently released their first and only studio album, World Record Holders in 1999 through West's company, Konman Productions.^[32] West spent much of the late 1990s further producing for several musical acts.^[34] He produced the third track on Foxy Brown's second studio album Chyna Doll (1999), which became the second hip-hop album by a female rapper to peak atop the US Billboard 200 chart.^[34]

In 2000, West began producing for artists on Roc-A-Fella Records as an in-house producer. West is often credited with revitalizing Jay-Z's career with extensive contributions to his 2001 album The Blueprint,^[35] which Rolling Stone ranked among their list of greatest hip-hop albums.^[36] West produced songs for label cohorts such as Beanie Sigel and Freeway, but also produced beats which were used by artists on other labels including Ludacris, Alicia Keys, and Janet Jackson.^[35][37]Meanwhile, West struggled to attain a record deal as a rapper.^[38] Multiple record companies, including Capitol Records,^[27] denied or ignored him because he did not portray the gangsta image prominent in mainstream hip hop at the time.^[28]: 556 Desperate to keep West from defecting to another label, then-label head Damon Dashreluctantly signed West to Roc-A-Fella as a recording artist.^{[28]: 556 [39]}

A 2002 car accident, which shattered his jaw,^[40][41] inspired West; two weeks after being admitted to the hospital, he recorded "Through the Wire" at the Record Plant Studios with his jaw still wired shut.^[40] The song was first included on West's debut mixtape Get Well Soon..., which was released in December 2002.^[42] At the same time, West announced that he was working on an album titled The College Dropout, whose overall theme was to "make your own decisions. Don't let society tell you, 'This is what you have to do.'"^[43]

West recorded the remainder of the album in Los Angeles while recovering from the car accident. It was leaked months before its release date,^[38] and West used the opportunity to remix, remaster, and revise the album before its release;^[44] West added new verses, string arrangements, gospel choirs, and improved drum programming.^[38] The album was postponed three times from its initial date in August 2003,^[45][46] and was eventually released in February 2004, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 as his debut single, "Through the Wire" peaked at No. 15 while on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for five weeks.^[47] "Slow Jamz", his second single, featuring Twista and Jamie Foxx, became the three musicians' first No. 1 hit. The College Dropout received critical acclaim, was nominated for the top album of the year by American Music Awards and Billboard,^[48][49] and has consistently been ranked among the great hip-hop works and debut albums by artists.^[50][51]

"Jesus Walks", the album's fourth single, reached the top 20 of the Billboard pop charts, despite industry executives' predictions that a song containing such blatant declarations of faith would never make it to the radio.^[50][51] The College Dropout was certified triple platinum in the U.S., and garnered West 10 Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year, and Best Rap Album (which it received).^[52] During this period, West founded GOOD Music, a record label and management company that housed affiliate artists and producers, such as No I.D. and John Legend,^[53] and produced singles for Brandy, Common, Legend, and Slum Village.^[54]

West invested $2 million and took over a year to make his second album.^[55] West was inspired by Roseland NYC Live, a 1998 live album by English trip hop group Portishead, produced with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra,^[56] incorporating string arrangements into his hip-hop production. Though West had not been able to afford many live instruments around the time of his debut album, the money from his commercial success enabled him to hire a string orchestra for his second album Late Registration.^[56] West collaborated with American film score composer Jon Brion, who served as the album's co-executive producer for several tracks.^[57][58] Late Registration sold over 2.3 million units in the United States alone by the end of 2005 and was considered by industry observers as the only successful major album release of the fall season, which had been plagued by steadily declining CD sales.^[59]

When his song "Touch the Sky" failed to win Best Video at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards, West went onto the stage as the award was being presented to Justice and Simian for "We Are Your Friends" and argued that he should have won the award instead.^[60][61] Hundreds of news outlets worldwide criticized the outburst. On November 7, 2006, West apologized for this outburst publicly during his performance as support act for U2 for their Vertigo concert in Brisbane.^[62] He later spoofed the incident on the 33rd-season premiere of Saturday Night Live in September 2007.^[63]

West's third studio album, Graduation, garnered major publicity when its release date pitted West in a sales competition against rapper 50 Cent's Curtis.^[64] Upon their September 2007 releases, Graduation outsold Curtis by a large margin, debuting at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and selling 957,000 copies in its first week.^[65] Graduation continued the string of critical and commercial successes by West, and the album's lead single, "Stronger", garnered his third number-one hit.^[66] "Stronger", which samples French house duo Daft Punk, has been accredited to not only encouraging other hip-hop artists to incorporate house and electronica elements into their music, but also for playing a part in the revival of disco and electro-infused music in the late 2000s.^[67] His mother's death in November 2007^[68] and the end of his engagement to Alexis Phifer^[69] profoundly affected West, who set off for his 2008 Glow in the Dark Tour shortly thereafter.^[70]

Recorded mostly in Honolulu, Hawaii in three weeks,^[71] West announced his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak, at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, where he performed its lead single, "Love Lockdown". Music audiences were taken aback by the uncharacteristic production style and the presence of Auto-Tune, which typified the pre-release response to the record.^[72] 808s & Heartbreak was released by Island Def Jam in November 2008.^[73][74] Upon its release, the lead single "Love Lockdown" debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100,^[75] while follow-up single "Heartless" debuted at number four.^[76] While it was criticized prior to release, 808s & Heartbreakis considered to have had a significant effect on hip-hop music, encouraging other rappers to take more creative risks with their productions.^[77]

While Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, West went on stage and grabbed the microphone from her to proclaim that Beyoncédeserved the award instead. He was subsequently removed from the remainder of the show for his actions.^[78][79][80] West was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst,^{[78][81][82][83]} and by President Barack Obama, who called West a "jackass".^{[84][85][86][87]} The incident sparked a large influx of Internet photo memes.^[88] West subsequently apologized,^[82][89] including personally to Swift.^[90][91] However, in a November 2010 interview, he seemed to recant his past apologies, describing the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless".^[92][93]

Following the highly publicized incident, West took a brief break from music and threw himself into fashion, only to hole up in Hawaii for the next few months writing and recording his next album.^[94] Importing his favorite producers and artists to work on and inspire his recording, West kept engineers behind the boards 24 hours a day and slept only in increments. Noah Callahan-Bever, a writer for Complex, was present during the sessions and described the "communal" atmosphere as thus: "With the right songs and the right album, he can overcome any and all controversy, and we are here to contribute, challenge, and inspire."^[94] A variety of artists contributed to the project, including close friends Jay-Z, Kid Cudi and Pusha T, as well as collaborations with artists including Justin Vernonof Bon Iver and Gil Scott Heron.^[95]

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, West's fifth studio album, was released in November 2010 to widespread acclaim from critics, many of whom considered it his best work and said it solidified his comeback.^[96] In stark contrast to his previous effort, which featured a minimalist sound, Dark Fantasy adopts a maximalist philosophy and deals with themes of celebrity and excess.^[53] The record included the international hit "All of the Lights", and Billboard hits "Power", "Monster", and "Runaway",^[97] the latter of which accompanied a 35-minute film of the same name directed by and starring West.^[98] During this time, West initiated the free music program GOOD Fridays through his website, offering a free download of previously unreleased songs each Friday, a portion of which were included on the album. This promotion ran from August to December 2010.^[99] Dark Fantasywent on to go platinum in the United States,^[100]but its omission as a contender for Album of the Year at the 54th Grammy Awards was viewed as a "snub" by several media outlets.^[101]