Kanye West's Mother, Dr. Donda West Dies

A family spokesperson for artist, Kanye West has stated that Dr. Donda West, the mother of super star producer& rapper, Kanye West passed away on Saturday November 10th in Los Angeles California. Dr. Donda West was 58 years old. Kanye was in London when he heard the news. He immediately flew to Los Angeles and is there with family and friends.

Dr. Donda West was a very respected professor and chairperson of the Chicago State University English department. She moved to Los Angeles two years ago. Dr. West was also in charge of Kanye West's foundation that focuses on keeping students in school. She was instrumental in his Loop Dreams foundation that helps finance musical equipment for school music programs.

Dr. West was very active and influential in Kanye's career. She was initially disappointed by her son's decision to drop out of college in pursuit of his music ambitions. Kanye whose name translates to "only one" in Kiswahili was his parents only child. His father, an award winning photo-journalist is a former black Panther and sociology professer/counselor who holds two masters degrees.

Being the product of two highly educated parents, Kanye's mother assumed he would follow his parents footsteps and earn a higher education degree. Dr. West told People Magazine that when Kanye dropped out of college he said "Mom I don't need to go to college because I've had a proffesor in the house with me my whole life." Instead Kanye went full force with pursing his music dreams and soon after his mother allowed him to follow his dreams.

Kanye's mother was influential and active in his career. She even acted as his manager assisting Kyambo "Hip Hop" Joshua and Gee Roberson of Kanye's management team Hiphopsince1978 with booking appearances and other aspects of her son's career. Dr. West would even call in radio stations and book her son for interviews.

She recently penned the book Raising Kanye: Life lessons from the mother of a hip hop superstar. The two close knit pair made appearances at Borders and other signings together this past fall. Dr. Donda West also appeared alongside her son as they performed on the Ellen Degeneras show last year. Kanye wrote the song Hey Mama for his mother to show his gratitude and pride for her.

Kanye and his mother's relationship was an admirable relationship to be envied in the eyes of any child. She was one hundred and ten percent involved in every aspect of his life until the very end. Dr. West provided Kanye with the background and foundation that allowed him to flourish into a diverse, intelligent, talented artists and man. Unlike other rappers, Kanye West shyed away from the typical glamorous thug/gangster persona that many Hip Hop artists adopt once getting a deal; although they've never actually lived that life.

Instead of adopting and recreating fantasies from other people's lives, Kanye focused on the reality his mother had brought him into. His songs are a reflection of the man Dr. Donda West raised. His consistently successful albums contain stories of a middle class upbringing with two divorced parents who loved him and had high expectations for him. Kanye is the young black son with educated parents trying to find his way in the world as he pursues his dreams, guided by a spiritual and strong woman who has left a remarkable impression on earth.

Dr. Donda West's teaching and raising has given bloom to an artists who has surpassed many people expectations. She raised a son who speaks about civil war in Africa, poverty in America, spirituality and the struggles of simply being a human being in this society. An artists whose truth and storytelling pick up where Tupac left off.

Dr. Donda West spoke fondly and proudly of her son in a recent article in the Baltimore Sun:
She told the Baltimore Sun: "I do think that Kanye is a voice that can definitely be used and should be used not only in hip-hop but across the arts, period.

"I think he is broader than a genre. ... I think he has a calling to reach a number of people. Kanye keeps it real. He touches the people.

"You never know how words can save a person's life, physically or otherwise. People like Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi or, in my view, Barack Obama, or Jesus Christ - people whose job it is to tell the truth - I see that in Kanye.

"Now, people like you are gonna go, 'Oh, Kanye's mom said he's like Jesus!' but ... when you have a gift, you didn't get it by yourself. ... Your truth is your truth."

The family issued a statement in the Chicago Sun asking everyone to respect the privacy of the family as they grieve for a woman who was simply phenomenal.