Ye, born Kanye Omari West on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur. Raised in Chicago, Illinois, after his parents' divorce—his mother Donda West was a professor and his father Ray West a photojournalist—he briefly attended Chicago State University before dropping out to pursue music. West gained prominence as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, working with Jay-Z on The Blueprint (2001). His debut album The College Dropout (2004) won multiple Grammys and shifted hip-hop paradigms with soul samples and introspective lyrics. Follow-up albums including Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007), 808s & Heartbreak (2008), My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), Watch the Throne with Jay-Z (2011), Yeezus (2013), The Life of Pablo (2016), Ye (2018), Jesus Is King (2019), and Donda (2021) earned critical acclaim and commercial success, with over 160 million records sold. He founded the GOOD Music label in 2004, signing artists like Kid Cudi and Big Sean. West expanded into fashion with his Yeezy line, partnering with Nike (ended 2013), Adidas (2013-2022), and Gap (ended 2022), generating billions in revenue before partnerships dissolved amid controversies. Married to Kim Kardashian from 2014 to 2022 (divorce finalized November 29, 2022), they have four children: North West (born June 15, 2013), Saint West (born December 5, 2015), Chicago West (born January 15, 2018, via surrogate), and Psalm West (born May 9, 2019, via surrogate). Ye has publicly discussed his bipolar disorder diagnosis (2016) and underwent liposuction and other procedures in 2019. He ran for U.S. President in 2020 as the Birthday Party candidate, receiving about 70,000 votes. In October 2021, he legally changed his name to Ye. Ye has been embroiled in controversies, including storming the 2009 MTV VMAs stage during Taylor Swift's speech, calling slavery 'a choice' on TMZ in 2018, and wearing a MAGA hat in support of Donald Trump (2018). In 2022, he made high-profile antisemitic remarks, including tweeting 'death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE' (October 8, 2022), praising Hitler in an Alex Jones interview (December 2022), and other statements leading to bans from Twitter (later reinstated), Adidas terminating the Yeezy deal (estimated $1.5 billion loss), Gap and Balenciaga severing ties, and losing billionaire status. He faced lawsuits, including from ex-employees alleging discrimination (2023) and a battery lawsuit from a paparazzo (2021). Ye converted to Christianity around 2019, releasing gospel albums, but later made provocative religious claims.