Kanye’s Late Mother Was His ‘Best Friend’—Here’s How Her Death Bettered His Relationship With His Father
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He may be Ye to the rest of the world (among other nicknames), but to Kanye West‘s parents, he was simply their son.
Kanye—whose full name is Kanye Omari West—was born on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia. His mother, Dr. Donda C. Williams, was an English professor, while his father, Ray West, is a photographer. His parents divorced when he was 3 years old, after which he moved to Chicago, Illinois, with his mother who raised him for most of his childhood, though he would still spend summers with his father. Donda died at the age of 58 in 2007. “I was very grateful that he in my view was an instrument, this voice or truth, that is coming through him,” Donda told Jet magazine in 2007 before her death. “He has the attention of many, a whole generation. I was proud he said those things and grateful he had that kind of courage and would step out and not be afraid,” she said. “I raised him that way, to think critically and analytically and not be afraid to voice what you feel. I helped shape that. I think leaders are people who must do that.”
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In an interview on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Kanye recalled one of his most cherished stories about his mother. “I remember my mother bought me a bear that was multicolored, and I was very into (artist) Takashi Murakami at the time of [my] third album, ‘Graduation,’ so she bought it and she said, ‘That kind of feels like Murakami,’” he said. “And then I was sort of like, ‘I don’t want that – that ain’t no Takashi Murakami bear.’” He continued, “I did everything I could to find that bear (and) place that bear on top of all the Takashi Murakami stuff I had in the house.” Kanye—who shares kids North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm with estranged wife Kim Kardashian—also told host David Letterman about how he knows his mother his with him. “But she’s here with us,” he said, “and she’s guiding us,” he said.
So who are Kanye West parents? Read on for what to know about Kanye’s mother, Donda, and his father, Ray, and what he’s said about them over the years.
Who is Kanye West’s mother, Donda Williams?
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Kanye West’s mother is Donda C. Williams. Donda, who was born on July 12, 1949, was raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia, in 1971 and a doctoral degree from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, in 1980. Donda started her teaching career in the early 1970s at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, before she took a job at Chicago State University, where she worked as an English professor for 31 years (24 of which she was the head of the department of English, communications, media and theater.)
“It was in her heart — English, poetry, literature,” Naimah Muhammad, one of Donda’s former students, told the Chicago Tribune in 2007 after her death. “She loved it and shared it with the world.” Luvenia Williams, another professor at Chicago State University, added, “She was a wonderful administrator. We became close friends. She was an intensely spiritual person who taught with that passion.” In a statement to the Chicago Tribune, Chicago State University credited Donda for establishing the school’s Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing “as an academic focus to teach writings of African-American authors and poets while fostering new literary talent.”
Donda welcomed her first and only child, son Kanye Omari West, on June 8, 1977, with her husband at the time, Ray West. Donda and Ray divorced when he was 3 years old. In 2004, after 31 years at Chicago State University, Donda retired from teaching and moved to California to work full time for her son, who released his debut album, The College Dropout, that same year. “I sat in the parking lot and listened to the whole CD. I couldn’t pull off. I wanted to be still and take it all in,” Donda wrote in her 2009 book, Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar. “I sat there, listening halfway holding back tears— halfway jamming. I had the music turned up real loud. I wanted to open my window and scream to everybody walking by, ‘Hey, this is my kid!'” In a 2004 interview with MTV, Kanye referred to Donda as his “best friend.” This is my mother. I love her. She is my best friend in the whole world. My mother let me work on music, she helped me out, she used to drive me to the studio. She was really my first manager. She’s still my general manger,” he said at the time. Donda also helped Kanye launch his charity, the Kanye West Foundation, a nonprofit that provides music education to underprivileged youth, in 2003. He renamed the organization the Donda West Foundation after his mother’s death in 2007.
Raising Kanye by Donda West
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Donda died on November 10, 2007. She was 58 years old. Donda—whose death came a day after she underwent cosmetic surgery with plastic surgeon Dr. Jan Adams—died at the Centinela Freeman Medical Center in Inglewood, California, after friends and family called 911 from her home in Playa Del Ray to have her taken o the hospital. “The final manner of death could not be determined,” the coroner said in a statement at the time. “Multiple post-operative factors could have played a role in the death. The exact contribution of each factor could not be determined. There was no evidence of a surgical or anesthetic misadventure.” A spokesperson for Donda also said that she passed away “as the result of complications from a cosmetic surgical procedure.”
According to a copy of the autopsy report obtained by People, Donda was able to walk out of the clinic 5.5 hours after her surgery with bandages and Vicodin prescribed for pain. . “She opted to return to her home for care even though she was advised that she receive post-operative care at another facility,” the report stated. At home, Donda received care from an “experienced nurse” and two caregivers. The night after her surgery, Donda took Vicodin for pain, slept and felt better in the morning, according to the autopsy report. However, as the day went on, she reported a sore throat, pain and tightening in her chest, before collapsing early that evening. A friend who was with her at the time called 911 and Donda was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead in the emergency room. “What came out of the autopsy released today was exactly what I thought was going to be reported,” Dr. Adams told Extra at the time. “Out of respect for Kanye West’s family, I want to honor the doctor patient confidentiality agreement.” According to Newsweek, it was later found that Donda’s death was caused by heart failure due to multiple post-operative factors. The magazine reported that Donda had had a liposuction, tummy tuck and breast reduction prior to her death.
In 2021, Kanye dedicated his 10th album, DONDA, to his mother. “Mama I need you to tuck me in I done made some mistakes and they rubbed it in / I know you and grandma had enough of them / Why I gotta be so stubborn then?” Kanye raps in the song “Donda.” Two years before her death, Kanye also wrote the song “Hey Mama” from his 2005 album Late Registration in honor of his mother. He performed it in front of her on an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2005. In a 2015 interview with Q magazine, Kanye said that he believed his mother would still be alive if he hadn’t moved from Chicago to Los Angeles to pursue a music career. “My mom. If I had never moved to Los Angeles, she’d be alive… I don’t want to go far into it because it will bring me to tears,” he said at the time via Newsweek.
Who is Kanye West’s father, Ray West?
Kanye West’s father is Ray West. Ray divorced Kanye’s mother, Donda Williams, when he was 3 years old. After their divorce, Kanye moved with his mother to Chicago, Illinois, and spend his summers with his father in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was born, according to the Daily Mail. ray was a Black Panther in the 1960s and 1970s. After that, he became one of the first Black photojournalist at the the Atlanta Constitution-Journal, photographing former President Ronald Reagan and Maya Angelou. According to Hollywood Life, Ray also worked as a paparazzo, a marriage counselor and a store owner.
Like his son, Ray has taken on a variety of career endeavors over the years. In the ’60s and ’70s, he was a Black Panther. After that, West became one of the first black photojournalists at the Atlanta Constitution-Journal, photographing former President Ronald Reagan and Maya Angelou. In addition to his reputable credentials, West also worked as a paparazzo, a marriage counselor, and a store owner. Ray is also the founder of the Good Water foundation in the Dominican Republic. In an interview with BBC in 2013, Kanye opened up about his father’s charitable personality and told the outlet that his father once moved into a homeless shelter “not because he was homeless, because he wanted to help the ex-drug addicts, he wanted to get that close.”
Over the years, Kanye has written several songs about his father. In his song “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1.” from his 2016 album Life of Pablo, Kanye hinted that his parents’ split may have been because of financial issues. In his “Champion” from his 2007 album Graduation, West also rapped, “I don’t know I just want it better for my kids/ And I ain’t saying we was from the projects/ But every time I wanna layaway or deposit/ My dad’d say “when you see clothes, close your eyelids”/ We was sort of like Will Smith and his son/ In the movie I ain’t talking ’bout the rich ones/ Cause every summer he’ll get some/ Brand new harebrained scheme to get rich from/ And I don’t know what he did for dough/ But he’ll send me back to school with a new wardrobe.” According to Cheat Sheet, Kanye and his father became closer after his mom passed. Ray even filmed for Kanye’s “Follow God” music video in 2019. “It took me 42 years to realize that my dad was my best friend,” Kanye said at the time.
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