Kanye’s Late Mother Was His ‘Best Friend’—Here’s How Her Death Bettered His Relationship With His Father

stylecaster.com:

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.