 Kanye West
Previously best known for producing hit singles for major Hip-Hop/R&B artists, including Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, and Ludacris, West himself worked on his solo album for a long period of time, having the release pushed back time and time again. Due to his appearance and overall style, West struggled to find a way to get his own voice on record. Multiple record companies put him aside due to the fact that Kanye West is from the suburbs of Chicago, not a former 'street hustler', or even one that wears the orthodox hip-hop apparel. A car crash on October 23, 2002 left his jaw fractured in three places. With his mouth still wired shut and only weeks after his his accident, he recorded "Through The Wire". "Through The Wire", which sampled Chaka Khan's classic track "Through The Fire", would eventually become his lead single from The College Dropout, which was released on Roc-a-Fella Records in February 2004.
On August 30th, 2005, Kanye West released his second album Late Registration. "Diamonds (From Sierra Leone)" (which contained samples from Shirley Bassey's "Diamonds Are Forever") and "Gold Digger", were the first two singles from Late Registration, the album sold over 904,000 in its first week. West announced that his 3rd and 4th albums will be titled Graduation and A Good Ass Job, respectively.
Kanye has collaborated with numerous artists including rapper Twista, on songs such as "Overnight Celebrity" and "Slow Jamz" (also featuring Jamie Foxx) - which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. Kanye also features on Brandy's single, "Talk About Our Love". Some of the many other artists he has worked with include Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Dilated Peoples, Mariah Carey, Miri Ben-Ari (who's violin arrangements featured heavily on The College Dropout), and John Legend (who also features on West's first album, providing soulful background vocals). Kanye West is also credited with revitalizing and bringing new life into the careers of such rappers as Common and Twista.
In 2004, Kanye appeared on Punk'd, MTV version of Candid Camera. Ashton Kutcher tricked Kanye into thinking that his music video shoot for the song "Jesus Walks" was censored by the Los Angeles Film Commission for violating a law about filming on Sundays without a permit. To the audience's amusement, Kanye stole the music video footage back from them and then jumped into his van for his safety until Kutcher stopped the van. Couple months later, the single went out safely without any destruction by Ashton Kutcher or his crew members, and eventually won the Grammy Awards.
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