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Despite his penchant for controversy, Kanye West remains to be one of the most influential artists of all time. Receiving a nod of recognition from the Chicago rapper has the power to catapult someone from being a fledgling local artist into a renowned superstar. As his profile and fanbase has grown, producers, brands and fashion houses have all leveraged Kanye's name to take their own careers to the next level.
Kanye has always been a divisive figure in music. Whether he's making people mad by referring to himself as a god or being exiled for infamously interrupting Taylor Swift's speech at the MTV VMAs in 2009, he's always successfully toed the line between the villain and valiant rebel. Everything he does is met with media attention and often widespread scrutiny, whether he deserves it or not.
As a musician, being tied to Kanye means enjoying a taste of this kind of attention. And for those struggling to make their mark, it's a priceless boost to their careers.
But does Kanye's stamp of approval carry the same prestige it once did?
Kid Cudi
Kid Cudi first met Kanye in a Virgin Megastore while he was just browsing. “I was looking at CDs, saw the gleam of a Jesus piece in the right side of my eye, looked up, and it was Kanye West,” Cudi told SPIN in 2009. He did what any aspiring rapper would do, so he pitched himself to Kanye, hoping this would be his life-changing moment— it wasn't. But he knew it was only a matter of time until they saw each other again.
That very same year, Cudi met and gave a demo to Plain Pat, who also happened to be Kanye's A&R. Eventually Pat played Kanye some of Cudi's music and he liked what he heard. Kanye called on him to work on 808s & Heartbreak, the album characterised by Kanye's iconoclastic foray into autotune. With writing credits on Heartless, Paranoid and Welcome To Heartbreak Cudi was a dominant force on the record.
Cudi was signed to Kanye's GOOD Music imprint in 2008, but left after a rift between the two artists in 2013. Trading blows through interviews and tweets, until finally in 2016 during Kanye's Pablo tour, he forgave Cudi.
In 2018, they released their debut collaborative album Kids See Ghosts after a number of other collaborations, including on Kanye's eighth studio album ye.
Kacy Hill
In 2015, a new name in pop emerged. Kacy Hill, co-signed by Kanye, arrived with a short red pixie haircut and a mellifluous voice that was light as air. Yet she had that insurmountable Yeezy-edge.
Before she was signed, Hill was a back-up dancer on Kanye's Yeezus Tour. After writing and shooting the video for Experience she caught the attention of Kanye, who signed her to GOOD Music in 2015.
Her much-anticipated debut record, Like A Woman, dropped in 2017 to a tepid response. While she's been featured on songs with Kid Cudi, Travis Scott and Cashmere Cat, Hill has been quiet. In 2018, she independently released the single, Dinner, while also teasing an upcoming album.
Pusha T
In 2015, Bronx rapper, Pusha T was appointed as the president of Kanye's GOOD Music record label. But his story doesn't start there.
In 1992, Pusha and his brother, No Malice, formed the hip-hop group Clipse. While they were integral to the burgeoning genre, Clipse split in 2014, which saw Pusha pursue a solo career. Almost immediately, Pusha was signed to GOOD Music. His first appearance on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was alongside Kanye on iconic hit Runaway. Since then he's released three albums on GOOD Music, My Name Is My Name (2013), King Push – Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude (2015) and Daytona (2018), which infamously sparked a feud between himself, Drake and Kanye.
This year, Clipse reunited for Kanye's ninth studio album, Jesus Is King on Use This Gospel alongside jazz saxophonist Kenny G.
Teyana Taylor
While Teyana Taylor was a choreographer on Beyoncé's music video for Ring The Alarm and signed to Pharrell Williams' Star Trek Entertainment label via Interscope Records, she wasn't a commercial success until her signing to GOOD Music.
After meeting Kanye at his Glow In The Dark tour, Taylor was invited to the studio where she laid down some vocals for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Taylor is credited on Dark Fantasy and Hell of a Life. It wasn't until 2012 that she joined the GOOD Music family, however her debut album, VII flopped, selling just 16,000 copies in the US.
But that wasn't the end of Taylor. In 2016, she became the star of Kanye's music video for Fade which garnered the star widespread attention. In 2018, Kanye announced the release of Taylor's follow-up album, K.T.S.E. to round out a slew of releases for the imprint that year. Melding old R&B with her boundless energy, Taylor has since become a star in her own right even touring Australia recently.
2 Chainz
For 2 Chainz, without Kanye's co-sign, he may still be an underground artist called Tity Boi. Kanye appeared on BET's 106 & Park, standing silently next to 2 Chainz as he gave an interview about his collaboration with Nicki Minaj on Beez In The Trap and GOOD Music super song, Mercy. Kanye didn't say a word, which fueled media attention, and 2 Chainz happily took his slice of the pie.
Since then, the Atlanta rapper has released four studio albums, including Pretty Girls Like Trap Music and the LeBron James produced Rap or Go To The League, making him a central figure in hip-hop.
Travis Scott
Travis Scott is one of Kanye's original proteges and seeing how they're now practically family, the co-sign runs deep. When they first met in 2012 through Travis's engineer, Kanye was immediately impressed. After Scott co-produced several songs on the label's compilation album, Cruel Summer, Kanye signed Travis to GOOD Music as a producer.
The release of his debut record Rodeo didn't exactly cause a splash, but his follow-up efforts Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight and Astroworld have propelled the Houston rapper to worldwide acclaim.
Big Sean
Big Sean's rise to prominence is like something out of a fairytale. After spitting a few bars for Kanye outside of a local radio station in Detroit, he caught the Louis Vuitton Don's attention. Just two years later, he was signed to GOOD Music. Now a platinum-selling artist, he's heavily featured across the GOOD Music roster, including on the compilation albums. Sean's rise to the top is what dreams are made of.
Chief Keef
When Chief Keef's 2012 hit, I Don't Like became a regional hit in Chicago, Kanye took notice. For the label's compilation album, Cruel Summer, the label-mates Pusha T, Big Sean, Kanye, as well as Jadakiss remixed the song. This caused major labels to flock to Keef.
Suddenly dubbed the bae of Chicago drill, a bidding war between major labels started, with Keef eventually signing to Interscope. Yet just two years later, the label dropped the rapper after releasing his debut album, Finally Rich.
Kanye came to Keef's side again, featuring the rapper on Hold My Liquor from his eponymous album, Yeezus, in 2013. Keef's guest feature was praised by none other than Lou Reed, who said, "Hold My Liquor is just heartbreaking and particularly coming from where it's coming from – listen to that incredibly poignant hook from a tough guy like Chief Keef, wow."
Nicki Minaj
Trinidadian rapper, Nicki Minaj was a burgeoning force in hip-hop before being tapped to appear on Kanye's album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. But it was her legendary guest verse on opening track Monster that sealed her fate.
Kanye even admitted he thought of taking the Queens rapper off the song, worrying that he'd be upstaged because "that was the best verse on the best hip-hop album of all time or arguably top 10 albums of all time". But he also made a point that he wouldn't let his ego getting in the way of making hip-hop history.
Minaj and Kanye remain good friends and collaborators, most recently working together on Tekashi 6ix9ine's Mama and the scrapped Jesus Is King track, New Body.
Chance The Rapper
In 2016, when Kanye was given five minutes at the MTV VMAs to do anything he liked, he gave one of his classic speeches. In it, he dubbed Chance The Rapper "the future". This came off the back of Chance's guest feature on Ultralight Beam off Kanye's gospel-lite record, The Life Of Pablo.
Before that, Chance was just another regional rapper from Chicago. While he made a splash with his 2013 record, Acid Rap, it was his veritable mixtape Coloring Book in 2016, released following the success of Ultralight Beam that broke all sorts of records, including the first streaming-only project to earn a Grammy nomination.
