Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar

by Donda West, Karen Hunter

The mother of rap superstar Kanye West shares her experiences on being a single mother raising a celebrity.

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 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.

Featuring never-before-seen photos and compelling personal anecdotes, Donda's powerful and inspiring memoir reveals 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. Speaking frankly about her son's reputation as a "Mama's Boy," and his memorable public outbursts about gay rights and President George W. Bush, Donda supports her son without exception, and here she shares the invaluable wisdom she has taken away from each experience—passion, tolerance, patience, and above all, always telling the truth. Ultimately, she not only expresses what her famously talented son has meant to her but what he has meant to music and an entire generation.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Music, Biography, Art, Biography Memoir, Autobiography

255 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 17, 2007

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Raising Kanye was cute, funny and insightful. It was also poorly edited and poorly written. I believe Donda West not only wrote this book in defense of her son and her parenting style but also to show how incredibly proud she was of him. You can feel her love for him permeating from each page of this book. There's lots of parental advice and cute anecdotes in Raising Kanye. A couple of topics I wish she had touched on are how did Kanye manage to develop a disdain for reading with a professor as a mother and what were his relationships with women like, what did she teach him about respecting women, etc?

All in all, it was a cute book but not a "must read" by any stretch.

[Aleem! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why Kanye make a whole album about an author I don’t get it 😟🙏🏿🙏🏿😔😕🤔💯‼️‼️

[Anthony Lebedev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kaney whest god asf 💯 💯 💯 💯 luv him🥶❗️🙏🏻🙏🏻

[Greg (prince) Bandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raising Kanye West is one of my favorite books. Maybe my favorite for now. Kanye West as a rapper is my favorite and after reading this book and learning what kind of person he is he sounds like a real cool guy. From watching tv and listening to radio the media makes kanye west sound like a real arrogant and stuck up person. What i have learned from this book is that he is not the arrogant conceited person that everyone thinks he is, but he just has a really confident personality and he had to belive in himself because a lot of people doubted him. Kanye West also did a lot of charity for new orleans when hurricane catrina hit he even offered to speak at a red cross convention and that is really thoughtful and warm hearted of him.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this for a buck at a Dollar Store, or I never would've read it. I was wary of it due to the first two sentences in the forward, written by Kanye himself: "I've known my mom since I was zero years old. She is quite dope." Not exactly Shakespeare. But the book turned out being okay. Not groundbreaking or anything, but just okay.

[NON · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is too naive that I couldn't bear to read any more of it. She's not merely voicing her admiration and appreciation for her son, Donda is over-glorifying every little thing and it's just too annoying.

[Zayn Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

donda may you rest in heaven, u raised a god. A HEALER! 💯🙏🏼🙏🏼

kanye will help us heal the world 💯🙏🏼🙏🏼

[Joe Houghton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd book. I don't think it's very well written, and Donda seems to go off on major tangents which aren't all that relevant to a point she is trying to make or a story she is trying to tell about Kanye or her family. I believe you would have to be extremely fanatical about Kanye West to enjoy this book since it is very flawed and unnecessarily drags on in places where it doesn't need to.

That being said, as someone who pretty much idolises Kanye West, especially the era of Kanye in which this book was written, I really enjoyed parts of the book - learning more about what he was like growing up, his family life and and miscellaneous information like certain events or particular habits was really interesting. I especially loved the chapter about Roses, which is my favourite song of all time. Donda's first hand experience and perspective on what is such a personal and moving song about Kanye's Grandmother being gravely ill is fascinating to read and learn about.

So I am glad I brought this book, but I wouldn't recommend it to just the average person who has a mere interest in Kanye.

[Zane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in preparation for Kanye’s new album, Donda (named after his late mother, Donda West). It was a delightful read.
Donda is a nice writer, her style is chatty and reflective. She’s lived an interesting life and that was great to read about. The true pull of this book, however, was her and Kanye’s relationship. It’s clear to see that the friendship they had was a really strong one and this book highlighted what they each gained from each other. You can tell Donda West absolutely adores her son, it’s sweet to read.
It was also fun to learn more about Kanye, the way he was raised and what he was like. Learning about his charitable acts, Donda’s takes on his ‘ego’, the lessons Donda instilled in him and how he made his way into the music industry. She even uses lyrics of his when relevant, to show where the influence for his lines specifically came from.
A really fun auto-biography and quite bittersweet being read 14 years later. Donda seemed pretty cool.


(BTW, that Kanye album still isn’t out yet, it got delayed.)

[Joseph Delgado · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, but right off the bat i'd like to say i am a kanye fan which is probly why i picked it up in the first place.I see how some people could be turned away from the book due to her going on and on sometimes in the book about how she's really proud of her son,but i dident mind.I listen to kanye's music alot and how he talks about his life and family in his music, so i was wondering if this book would fill in the blanks and go into more detal, which it did. Over all its a cute,enjoyable, and funny book about donda west's life raising kanye and a easy read, do to me not being much of a reader.

[710anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a huge fan of Kanye West, it was really interesting to read a book about his life. This book was emotional yet extremely funny, and shows a side of Kanye West that is often not seen. It shows how much effort, time, and care he puts into his music and it shows how misunderstood he is. I would highly reccomend to anyone, even those who arent fans.

[Nissim · Rating 4 out of 5]

eh

[martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd be lying if I said I didn't buy this book exclusively for its cover. Kanye West is one of my favorite artists of all time. It was exciting to see a book written about him in the bargain bin of a small unmarked book store a friend and I had walked into; it was even cooler to see the book was written by his late mother, Donda West. For $8.99 it was a steal. I knew I needed it—at least as a display piece.

And it was a display piece for a good year. Marinating on my shelf while Kanye released the album Donda (long, but great), split from Kim Kardashian, had a few of his traditional charming and off-putting outbursts, and came out as antisemitic before I decided it was about time I get around to actually reading it. Sheesh.

Now, where do I start?

I guess I'll begin with saying it's fascinating to read this book 16 years after it's publication. You'd be able to write an entirely new book concerning the controversies of Kanye since then: since the release of this book, since the release of Graduation only a few months after, and since the passing of Donda West a couple months after that.

I don't think this book knows what it's trying to be nor who it's trying to appeal to. It's an autobiography on Donda West; it's an attempted explanation of how Kanye came to be who is in in the public eye (at least in 2007); each chapter seems to end with a moral regarding proper ways of parenting—and none it is fleshed out to the degree I wish it were.

I would have loved to have read an autobiography about Donda West, an accoladed and esteemed scholar who just so happened to raise one of the greatest artists of this generation. I would have loved to have read a shorter, more detailed book about Donda's experience raising Kanye, perhaps with more personal anecdotes. I would've even found enjoyment if this was just a lessons-in-parenting book.

But it's none of these. Not detailed enough that I'd call it a good autobiography of Donda West and her life. It's too broad regarding the experiences of Kanye growing up and and what precisely shaped him into who he became. The parenting advice I wouldn't disagree with, but I doubt you'd be reading this if you were interested in parenting advice.

I do also think this book has aged poorly. There is an entire chapter here applauding Kanye's criticism of homophobia within rap music at the time, and that's great, but some of the misogynistic and antisemitic comments recently... hope he only gets better from here as he did then.

What makes Raising Kanye worth reading is Donda's unwavering love for her son. Again, while I wish the book were more focused to flesh out that love a bit more, it's apparent with every sentence she writes how much she loved Kanye and how much he loved her. No matter the troubles she experienced with Kanye during his upbringing or those that persisted through adulthood and stardom, that love remained as clear and unbreakable as it does today through Kanye's music.

I'd say Raising Kanye is worth the read if you are especially curious about Kanye's upbringing and his family business (pun intended). I found a lot of fulfillment simply reading about how much Donda loved Kanye, and can only imagine how he'd currently be had she not passed away so suddenly after the book's publication.

[Douglas Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

As many of the other reviews will tell you, this is not a particularly well written memoir on a technical level, and often laced with subjective views of the world. But one thing that you can sense is the honesty of a woman who understands that his son is a complicated and controversial figure that she feels is the only one who truly understands on a deep emotional level. Because such honest looks into a black American household are so rare, I decided to give it 5 stars because we need more books like this, as black liberal memoirs are always couched in this bitterness that Donda never ventures into, despite acknowledging the injustices that the black American community has faced, choosing towards optimism, and showing how she raised her son to adopt that mentality in his own life.

By 2007, Kanye West had already achieved things well beyond anyone else's wildest dreams in terms of fame and success and general acknowledgement of his undeniable talent. Except for Kanye himself. As someone who aspired to be more than just a typical black kid raised by a single mom in south central Chicago, it's clear that Kanye didn't only want to be black American hip hop famous, but that he wanted to push the limit to what a black American superstar could achieve, seeing and being frustrated by the small mindedness of many of his peers.

However, Kanye's ultimate quest for pushing towards pure truth were always controversial, as Donda will attest to, particularly the moment when Kanye spoke out against Bush and the FEMA response towards Hurricane Katrina victims. Throughout her memoir, it's clear that Kanye always cared about the hopeless and the powerless, and most of all the voiceless. He saw himself as wanting to achieve the impossible because he wanted to become that voice for those he saw as those unable to speak for themselves. There was a very palpable risk he took in saying what he said in 2004, his career could have definitively ended right there had not the black American community rallied towards his defense.

And even more tragically, his mother passed away the same year Kanye released his victory lap album, Graduation, while she barely had just released this book, due to complications of cosmetic surgery, later revealed to be performed by a questionable surgeon with a history of malpractice. It makes reading her talk about "Hey Mama" even more chilling, a song where Kanye declares her the most important person in his life, despite all his fame and fortune.

In order to understand Kanye West, one must read this book.

[豆儿 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book after I learned that Kanye spent some of his childhood in China when his mother was working as an English professor there. I thought that was so interesting. Kanye obviously never recovered from the untimely death of his mother. It was quite tragic. And his life kinda went downhill from there, marrying Kim Kardashian and all the public breakdowns, etc.

Kanye’s “Hey Mama” is a song that brings me to tears when I miss my own mother in a foreign country by myself. I remember there was this one time my hot yoga studio did a Mother’s Day special playlist for the class. The teacher played Taylor Swift and some of the super basic bullshit songs but not Kanye’s Hey Mama, and I was secretly so offended lol

Another reason why I read this book was because I have always been interested in how genius, especially genius artists, are made. Here is this one quote in this book that I think every parent should read even if they don’t read this book:

“I would give Kanye the world if I could. But I guess I did the next best thing — I exposed him to the world. I knew that more than money, clothes, and things, exposure to new things, exposure to different things, is perhaps the best gift you can give your child. My goal was to show Kanye the world so that he could make up his own mind how things were — but he would do it from experience.”

[Ryleigh Dorman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather than review this book, I would like to instead share the note inscribed within my copy's front cover.

"To Tyrell:
Remember your a young Prince in your house.
Do not let anything at school make you feel different.
Step up to each challenge.
Love,
Aunty Sharlie
Uncle Glen
July 2008"

This book may not rehabilitate Kanye West in the minds of those familiar with his public outbursts and rampant ignorance, but the raw emotion Dr. West uses to motivate her son's individuality emphasizes just how normal the man truly is. Kanye is just some kid who loved his mother, and his mother loved him just the same.

If nothing else, the note in the front shows how Kanye's early persona centered around being unique for your own sake really resonated with those who may have felt alienated by a stifling culture. West is the outsider that broke in, and perhaps young kids saw that as a beacon of hope.

[Thomas]

Anyone who writes a thinkpiece about Kanye should be forced to read this book at least twice, as it explains Kanye's personality and preoccupations better than even his own albums. Raising Kanye is a magnum opus of the surprisingly small "I love my beautiful boy" book genre, which is vastly preferable to the glut of "I hate my son for taking my freedom but will only express it passive aggressively" memoirs. I read this book in middle school as a bit, and mostly remember their residency in east Asia, her major health concerns about breakdancing (Kanye was a great breakdancer as a child and I am not joking), and the time she caught Kanye with a dirty VHS tape and forced him to write an essay about respecting women. Honestly, she sounds like a great mom, and she has some great advice on supporting a teenager who is creatively driven but academically disinclined. Highly recommended for Kanye enthusiasts and critics alike.

[LaShana Claude]

The Agony- Raising a young black male in America when you aren't sure what he will do with his talent.

The Ecstasy- Understanding that God is with him on every mile and Jesus never saw his real father, that's what J. Cole said but the future dis- includes black woman and should there happen to be disaster that strikes in the absence of sympathetic notions on walking lands you weren't meant to destroy, well hey you loss the professor.

[Satoshinakamoto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicht spektakulär geschrieben, doch was eine wahnsinns Frau Donda war. Sehr inspirierende Erziehungsmethoden, kann ich nur unterschreiben.

Nach ihrem Tod 2007 wirkt Kanye sehr verwirrt und zunehmend unberechenbar. Aber dieses Buch beleuchtet nochmal genauer, dass Ye das Polarisieren schon vor dem Tod seiner Mutter drauf hatte. Donda hat ihm nur die Zügel abgenommen. Und jetzt läuft er, treu zu seiner Natur, wie ein wildes Tier herum.

[Rachel Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting book, with some interesting insights not only about Kanye and parenting, but also about the history of black culture and people in the US. Just little things, like how a lot of black folks used to be Republicans way back, or how the term 'black' used to be considered far more unacceptable by black folks. Definitely an informative read.

[Jude · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is basically a journal/autobiography where Donda outlines her life, how it affected her perspective, and how that perspective informed her relationship with Kanye. She comes across as a very intelligent and considerate person who sometimes gives Kanye more credit than he deserves (something I can say with the benefit of hindsight), but generally seems very aware and level-headed

[Januszow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Myślałem, że jak Donda zacznie pierdolić od rzeczy to już w życiu nie skończy. Ostatnie rozdziały począwszy od jakiegoś 17 to istna mordęga do przejścia, ponieważ człowiek widzi już, że książka powinna się powoli kończyć, ale jednak Donda nadal gada, ale gada tak od rzeczy, że czytać się nie da. Nigdy więcej.

[Tej Shergill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how she had struggles and raised a famous artist. I also liked how his mother taught him how to tell from right and wrong. Donda also taught him her strong moral values. She also pays homage to her famous son.

Thank you

[Callum Daquarius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donda West did actually make Yeezus, in a sense

[Demi Takahashi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donda is a perfect mother.
i wish my one could be her.

[Bogdan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/ 5. Great read for Kanye fans giving some insights into his extended family life and roots.

[india ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ · Rating 3 out of 5]

don't go into this book thinking it's going to be a biography: the title says it all - it is literally about how he was raised

[51 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very endearing

[Brandon Mclaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright, I guess art is in the eye of the beholder.

[Mary Luba · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Everyone should make a commitment to enjoy every day on this earth, to stop and smell the roses and to make a real attempt to touch the sky”

Donda loved her son.