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Kanye West artist case study
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- 2. EARLY DAYS • Weststarted off as a music producer for local artists where he found his signature style called ‘chipmunk soul’ characterized by the use sped ups soul samples. • He got his big break when he moved from his birth place Atlanta Georgia to New York where he produced multiple tracks on Jay-Z’s album The blueprint which is widely considered the greatest rap album of all time. He then went on producing songs for artists such as Alicia Keys and Beyonce. • He was signed to Roc-A-Fella in 2002 and his debut album sold 2.6million copies making West a star.
- 3. Brand Identity • Whenyou first enter kanyewest.com there is no clear text or visuals indicating that it is the official site for Kanye West. His latest music video ‘Famous’ begins to play making it quite an artistic site and also suggests people are expecting to be greeted by abstract and ambiguous imagery from West. • As you scroll down the site this page fills the screen and is followed by a list of tour dates for his upcoming tour. Right at the bottom of the page is a tab saying ‘SHOP’ this is the influence of the label being made evident as their aim is to sell the artist.
- 4. There is aconsistent theme in West’s album artwork being that he doesn’t feature in any of them and they’re all very artistic. This is very unconventional for a mainstream rapper. In Kanye’s lyrics and interviews it is clear that he tries to be very artistic and unique hence why he can get away with not using his own images on his album cover. This also tells us there isn’t much record label influence in West’s work and he the most creative input in his work. Wests 1st three album covers have a semantic field of college so this use of the bear in his earlier album covers could either symbolize west thinking the school experience was scary/bewildering to him due to teddy bears being associated to do being too young for College. This could also be explained by the by the doors of the Late Registration being massive compared to the bear that resembles Kanye. Same kind of thing for the Graduation cover as once again he is catapulted into a scary completely new world hence the look in his eyes and the seemingly chaotic look of the cover. Another theory is that the bear simply represents the school mascot.
- 5. MUSIC VIDEO-FAMOUS Kanye’s latestmusic video Famous starts with a collection of what looks like found footage with it being very scratchy and in film as opposed to digital. It has Kanye speaking over these montages helping to understand the narrative behind the lyrics of the song. The video consists of a handheld camera panning across a huge bed of wax figures all naked in a bed all of whom have celebrity status. There are many cultural references that must be understood, especially on the topic of kanye’s life to understand the intensity of the video for example Ray J being in the bed who is Kim Kardashian, Kanye’s wife’s ex boyfriend who he did a sex tape with. Taylor swift is also in the video who he has had problems with in the past and there is also a line about her in the song that can be deemed offensive by some.
- 6. Overview • In conclusionit is clear that west has a lot of input in his work and maybe less influence from his label. This is possible as he is such a well known artist, loved and hated for the outrageous and egotistic things he says as well as his lyrics. Also the amount of scandals he has been in making West an extremely controversial artist. Because of his he has become a household name meaning his brand identity is himself as opposed to any one specific typology or symbol.