Kanye West
West in 2009, Miro Vrlik Photography LLC / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name: Kanye Omari West
Place of Birth: Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Date of Birth: June 8, 1977
Ethnicity: African-American
Kanye West is an American hip hop recording artist, rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, entrepreneur, actor, and far-right conspiracy theorist. His legal name has been Ye since 2021. He produced singles for prominent artists before turning to a solo music career, with a style often sampling traditional soul music; utilizing orchestras, synthesizers, and autotune, and partaking in Christian music and gospel. He founded record label GOOD Music; founded, and has been head of, creative content company Donda; and created clothing and footwear for Nike, Louis Vuitton, Gap, A.P.C., and Balenciaga, as well as Adidas’s Yeezy brand. His music has sold over 160 million records worldwide. He is also known as Yeezus, Saint Pablo, Yeezy, and Louis Vuitton Don.
He was The Birthday Party’s nominee for President of the United States in 2020. He was also an independent candidate for President of the United States in 2024.
Kanye was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and moved to Chicago, Illinois, with his mother at the age of three, living in Oak Lawn. His father, Ray West, was a member of the Black Panthers and a photojournalist, and is now a Christian counselor. His mother, Dr. Donda C. (Williams) West, who died in 2007, was a professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, and Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University. Donda raised Kanye as a single mother. He is a cousin of producer and songwriter Devo Harris and singer and songwriter The Wrldfms Tony Williams.
The name Kanye is an Igbo, West African name, and the name of a town in Botswana.
Kanye is married to Australian-Italian architect, designer, entrepeneur, and model Bianca Censori. He has four children, including singer and actress North West, with his former wife, television and social media personality, actress, socialite, and model Kim Kardashian.
Kanye is a devout Christian.
Kanye’s paternal grandfather was James Frederick West, Sr. (the son of Virgil Henry West and Estella/Stella Selby). James was born in Delaware. Virgil was the son of Handy B. West, whose parents were free people of color, and of Mary Holloway.
Kanye’s paternal grandmother was Fannie Mae/B. Hooks (the daughter of Early Hooks and Mary Rolfe/Row). Fannie was born in Arkansas. Early was the son of Elsie Hooks. Mary was the daughter of Lott/Lot Rolfe.
Kanye’s maternal grandfather was named Portwood Williams (the son of John Williams and Clara). Portwood was born in Oklahoma, and was a civil rights activist.
Kanye’s maternal grandmother was Lucille/Lucyle E. Eckles (the daughter of Clarence Anthony Eckles and Beuloh/Beulah M. Jones). Lucille was born in Oklahoma. Clarence was the son of Samuel Morris Eckles/Eckels and Mary Jane Watley.
Kanye West with daughter North West in 2015, photo by Prphotos
Sources: http://findarticles.com
Article about Kanye’s ancestry, by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak – https://medium.com
Genealogy of Kanye West – http://www.geni.com
Genealogy of Kanye West (focusing on his father’s side) – http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com
Kanye’s paternal grandfather, James Frederick West, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Kanye’s paternal great-great-grandfather, Handy B. West, on the 1860 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Kanye’s paternal grandmother, Fannie Mae/B. Hooks, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Genealogy and obituary of Kanye’s mother – https://old.findagrave.com
To Drexxx
Here’s an example I can help you with.The famous Spanish explorer Estevanico.Now going by his name as we did,we never knew he was a black man from West Africa
your surname doesn´t always indicate your ethnicity, if i give you my surname you probably couldnt guess my ethnicity. (cameroonian)
for example, in central africa, a lot of ppl have surnames which sound japanese, or senegalese ppl with the surname Li which sounds more asian. Does it mean that congolese, zairian or senegalese ppl are part asian ???? I don´t think so
I’ll give you a last example: in ivory coast, there is a very common surname: Blé. This surname is also a french word (the french for wheat). And i asked a lot of ivorian-blé-named persons i know, if they´re part french, and they all answered NO !!!
So when i made my hypothesis about the slave name, it´s quite useless to bring me down
so what does it mean?
why rating my comment down ??? I just made an hypothesis !!
Anyway, kanye west´s father´s name doesn´t indicate a polish ancestry.
To Drexxx
Alot of times in the past,they just picked names they liked.Because on many occasions this is what happen.They also change it from their ex-masters name to like I said another they liked,or what was very common in that area.