Fact File: Kanye West

Kanye West songs usually include vocal samples from soul songs incorporated with his own drums and instrumentals. Influences include 70s R&B, baroque pop, trip hop, arena rock, alternative, electronica, synth-pop and classic music.

His debut album "The College Dropout" was released in 2004, followed by "Late Registration" in 2005. The third albm "Graduation" saw the start of his mainstream success, with songs such as "Stronger" being popular worldwide. Since then two more albums have been released "808s & Heartbreak" and "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" which have both gone to #1 in the US. In August 2011 a collaboration album with Jay-Z was released "Watch The Throne".

Kanye has received many awards including 14 Grammy Awards. This is due to his overwhelming sales, his top five tracks have sold 18.1 million, which places him at third most digitally downloaded over the past decade.

Kanye now owns his own record label "GOOD Music" with artists such as John Ledgend, Common and Kid Cudi. He is known for his logo of the "Dropout Bear", a bear which has appeared on the covers of three of his five albums as well as several single covers and music videos.