Kanye West is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, and fashion designer. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales of more than 125 million records. Kanye West got his start in the music industry in the early 2000s, as a producer and an MC. He first garnered attention producing beats for Jay-Z and other big-name artists. Kanye eventually got his big break when he created the song “Through The Wire,” which was based on his own experience; he was in a near-fatal car accident and wrote the song while recovering. The success of this song led to major record labels taking notice of Kanye and signing him to their labels. His career then took off, leading to iconic albums including The College Dropout, Late Registration and Graduation, production credits for numerous other artists, and five Grammy Awards.