Kanye West who was born on the 8th of June in the year of 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States) is very much an American producer, rapper, as well as fashion designer who made a name for himself as a successful and widely lauded solo artist in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
West having grown up in Chicago, the son of a photographer & former Black Panther father and even a college professor mother. He studied at Chicago State University for one year before dropping out to seek a music career. He started his career as a producer earlier on, adding to Jermaine Dupri’s album Life in 1472 (1998) before going to the New York City region, wherein he developed a reputation for himself as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, particularly on rapper Jay-album Z’s Blueprint (2001). West’s mastery of fast sample-based rhythms quickly made him a sought-after producer, but he battled to be permitted to produce his music, partly due to the assumption that his middle-class upbringing disqualified him as a rapper. Once he finally released The College Dropout (2004), it was a huge hit: sales surged, and critics praised the album’s aural complexity and brilliant language, which merged humour, faith, insight, and political consciousness on songs like “Through the Wire” and the gospel-chorus-backed “Jesus Walks.” He found a lot of success thereon.
West debuted the first “season,” or collection, of his long-awaited fashion line, YEEZY, during February 2015 in collaboration with German sportswear company Adidas. YEEZY Season 1 included oversized sweaters, military and surplus-inspired coats, sneakers, boots, but more for both men and women.
West’s design work extended within months leading up to the release of The Life of Pablo (2016), his eighth studio album; in fact, he revealed tunes from the album at the YEEZY Season 3 concert at Madison Square Garden in New York. West’s ingenuity as a producer was showcased even more on the gospel-tinged album, but many considered it fragmented. West was unusually quiet for a few months before making a daring return to social media around April 2018. Further, we have talked about how along with these successes he also made good money off Donda using creative marketing.
Previously:
Kanye West introduced a new endeavour called DONDA on his Twitter account on January 5, 2012. DONDA will be a 22-division firm named following his late mother, with broad, overarching principles like “things and experiences that individuals want or can afford” and ambitions to “marriage our wishes and needs.” Summer school with Spike Jonze, organizing the MTV Awards, and encouraging schools to give out free iPhones to students are just a few examples.
His selfless declaration was met with suspicion and mockery, to the point where OKFocus, a creative agency, established a phoney DONDA Twitter handle as well as the website, deceiving everyone from The Washington Post to Buzzfeed. After numerous credible news outlets reported on the “ridiculousness” and subsequently falsity of the DONDA project they established, Kanye issued a cease and desist letter to OKFocus. People acted as if DONDA was indeed a joke somewhere at that time.
Ever since, DONDA has been recognized with Kanye West’s Cruel Summer film, our G.O.O.D. Music Complex cover, West’s concerts at Revel in Atlantic City, West’s Yeezus album marketing roll-out, & album and single covers for A$AP Rocky, Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, Pusha T, Big Sean, and Theophilus London. DONDA’s creative work thus far has been almost entirely music-related, comprising of hip-hop album covers, concert stages, plus music videos, another far cry from Kanye West’s grandiose vision.
Kanye West has a reputation for being a marketing genius
While fans wait for his tenth studio album, he has been keeping them on their toes with a series of listening events. Donda was expected to come in 2020, but it never did. Yeezy had his first listening event at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on July 22. There were 42,000 supporters in attendance. The Jasmine Brand reports that tickets ranged from 25 dollars to 100 dollars. With 3.3 million people who viewed, the concert set a new record for live streaming on Apple Music.
Fans expected Kanye to release Donda the following day, but he did not. Kanye conducted another listening event in Atlanta two weeks later. TJB claims that he beat his previous Apple Music live stream record with 5.4 million viewers, and those in-person goods sales earned almost 7 million dollars. According to the article, both events grossed between 1.5 million dollars and 2.7 million dollars each. Kanye earned an extra 350,000 dollars after his on-demand streaming in the United States climbed by 37 per cent.
On August 26, Kanye will hold his third hearing event at Soldier Field in Chicago. Donda was supposed to be released after the event, but it has been pushed back to September 3, the same day as Drake’s Certified Lover Boy.
Kanye West had so far made a lot of money from ‘Donda’ even before it had been released
The Yeezy effect seems real, regardless of whether you like it or not. When we wait for DONDA to arrive, Kanye West has already made 7 million dollars from the album’s retail sales.
From teases to leaks to listening parties and everyone in between, the anticipation for West’s new album is at an all-time high. There is no doubt that fans all around the world are eager for a taste of new music because his first and second listening parties on Apple Music Global attracted a total of 8.7 million viewers. These are staggering figures, and so when Kanye is involved, huge money always follows large numbers.
What exactly is the enormous cash in question? Those lucky fans who were able to attend the Atlanta Mercedes-Benz Stadium listening party proceeded to spend, with in-person retail sales reportedly bringing in 7 million dollars. The number matches the reported one-night sales of the impending red Yeezy x GAP jacket in a typical double or nothing manner. A simple glance at resale sites like StockX, Grailed, and eBay is all it takes to understand such a staggering statistic. Hip-hop merchandise is a significant seller.
Sales of hip-hop items are booming, allowing fans on opposite sides of the globe to show their support or wanted to be a part of a moment they otherwise would not be able to experience. The secondary market thrives where there has been demand, therefore it’s reasonable to expect item sales from the biggest names in music to continue to soar.
While you are on the lookout for DONDA merch, we will keep you posted on the album’s impending release.
