Granderson: Kanye West’s life and art are one. You don’t have to keep watching West to get the same effect. The man makes so much noise he could fill five cities.
You don’t need to watch Kanye West every day to see the man’s influence. Just a few episodes of “My Bad” or “Watch My Back” will pull you right in. It’s like a one-stop shop for the most incendiary hip-hop artists around.
West is the king of the “nothin’ll stop me now” crew, the guy who can take whatever a man throws at him and turn it into gold. You’ve seen it in “Bound 2,” where he and Drake spit some of the best lines in rap ever. He’s the guy who can deliver the line “I’m on a different level.”
His career has only gotten better as he’s been able to expand beyond his base of fans and make new fans of just about everyone. His most recent project “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” turned into the biggest-selling album of all time (it sold 10 million copies in a couple hours). He signed a big contract with Universal Music Group and his album “Watch the Throne” has sold over 3 million copies worldwide—that’s the third-highest-selling album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales of CDs in 1991. He’s also been named the magazine’s “Breakthrough Artist of the Year” four times and is one of the highest-paid musicians on the planet.
At the same time, West has been steadily building his empire from his own backyard. He’s released his own line of handbags, jewelry, and accessories (he has a new line of handbags coming out called “Vans” and he has a new line coming out called “Rihanna Wears”) and has a production deal with his friend Jay-Z, who has his own jewelry, watches, and clothing line, “J.Z. Custom.” His album “The Life of Pablo” was his seventh studio album and it sold over 4 million copies. He has a clothing line called “Yeezy” and a fragrance called “Yeezy XXX,” as well as clothing.com, the