12 - Abhishek S: Yeezy Yeezy Yeezy

Throughout time there have been greatly impactful artists who have challenged how people think and broke the boundaries of what we once thought possible. Arguably one of the most influential artists of the twenty-first century has been Kanye West for his career in music and work in fashion.

Kanye West has always been a pioneer in music from his early career as a producer for Roc-a-Fella Records and in his own career as an influential rapper. He popularized a new style of instrumental that centered pitched up soul samples that were different from any of the current production at the time. 

The most influential portion of his career is seen in his challenging of norms within the hip-hop community and inspiring a new generation of artists and new sound in hip-hop and music at large. At this time there was a commercialized image of what black artists and rappers were supposed to be. This usually involved rapping about drugs, violence, and whatever else the market determined was appropriate for black artists to be. Kanye challenged this with his debut album “The College Dropout”. On this album he didn’t attempt to portray himself as someone who was involved in gang life. He rapped about social issues, personal affairs, and his own emotions. Throughout his career with future albums he only doubled down on this formula by making his music increasingly more personal, never refraining from being vulnerable in his music. 

Kanye West is also the creator of the Yeezy brand in partnership with Adidas. Yeezy footwear had brought in over $1.7 billion dollars in 2020. He has expressed his passion for fashion since early in his career and has been able to market his ideas on an extremely large platform. He strives to go beyond fashion and into designing more sustainable and efficient cities. 

Kanye’s ambition and confidence to take on seemingly insurmountable tasks serves as an inspiration for so many other creative alike. For this reason Kanye and his art will stand the test of time.