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Donda West

Born: July 12, 1949
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Dr. West was the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University from 1980 - 2004.

Biography: Dr. West, was an educator, author, and businesswoman. She was the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University for 24 years. She was the mother of Kanye West, the grammy award-winning hip-hop superstar. She left academia to help manage Kanye's career. She was the chief executive of ''West Brands LLC'', the company that handles Kanye's various business ventures, and she also served as the chairwoman of the board for education-oriented nonprofit the Kanye West Foundation, where she helped her son create its first initiative, ''Loop Dreams''.Dr. West raised Kanye by herself after his father left when he was three years old. Her book titled ''Raising Kanye: Life Lessons From the Mother of a Hip-Hop Star'' is a touching memoir of her relationship with her son Kanye and his song 'Hey Mama' is his touching documentation of their close relationship.


Awards:

Primary Literary Genre(s): Non-Fiction

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Donda West on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=donda++west


Selected Titles

Raising Kanye :
ISBN: 1416544704 OCLC: 123119684

Pocket Books, New York : 2007.

As the mother of hip-hop superstar Kanye West, Donda West has watched her son grow from a brilliant baby boy with all the intimations of fame and fortune to one of the hottest rappers on the music scene. And she has every right to be proud: she raised her son with strong moral values, teaching him right from wrong and helping him become the man he is today. In Raising Kanye, Donda not only pays homage to her famous son but reflects on all the things she learned about being his mother along the way, revealing everything from the difficulties she faced as a single mother in the African-American community to her later experiences as Kanye's manager as he rose to superstardom.--From publisher description.

 

 

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