The rise to fame and stardom is unique to all who have earned it. At times however, it is found that the circumstances and motivations fueling their success mirror each other. These constance branch across time periods and genres. Even in two distinct genres, such as hip-hop and jazz, two greats can be found with similarities in their tutelage, rise to fame and personas. Miles Davis and Kanye West, despite having so much between them, contain many parallels when observing what made them into icons.
Miles Davis is one of the greatest, if not the greatest jazz musician ever. His album, “Kind of Blue”, is the best selling jazz album of all time, going platinum four times. That is nearly four times the sales of the runner up. The second best, …show more content…
When Davis finished high school, he moved out to New York, where all the best jazz players went. Miles’ father was a doctor though and believed his son needed higher education. So while in New York he attended Juliard playing classical music during the day and jazz at night. Slowly he got noticed by such legends as Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. eventually though he became fed up with college. He could take no more of Juliard having to deal with racist teachers and the exhaustive workload decided if he was going to play jazz he needed to do it full time. He called his dad and told him he wanted to quit Juliard. Shortly after he becomes part of Charlie Parker’s Quintet. Kanye also Attended college as an English major and dropped out as well to do music full time. However, while Davis always said that “The classical training he received at Julliard helped him to better understand music and become a better musician,” Kanye dismissed his time at college as a waste. His first album was even full of satirical skits which claimed college to be fruitless venture. So, after dropping out Kanye also moved to New York. There he began to gain a reputation as a producer, making beats for Ludacris, Beyonce and many other big name artists. The most significant artist he worked with in this time though was Jay-Z. he made …show more content…
Both men have become well known for their hubris. When asked what he had ever done worthwhile, Miles Davis is once quoted as saying, “I changed music 5 or 6 times.” Kanye West once said in an interview that “I am Warhol, I am Walt Disney, I am Shakespeare in the flesh. While both men are very firm in their own affirmation, Kanye West is much more intense in his affirmations. Both men were also unrelenting critics who were willing to say whatever they truly thought about things. Downbeat magazine had Miles critic a number of acclaimed jazz recordings and he reacted to ones he did not like with comments such as, “You see the way people can fuck up music,” “Take it off thats some pathetic shit.” Kanye west also had his infamous moment when he walked on stage while Taylor Swift was receiving her award for best female video and Kanye went on stage and said, "Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!" Both these artists are very self standing and rarely let other 's opinions affect them. When walking down the street an old man told Miles that "he really liked his music but didn 't like that new stuff (fusion)." In reply he said, "Am I supposed to wait for you mothafucker?" These strong personality trait, while often giving them criticism have helped them build the personas that made them
Miles Davis is one of the greatest, if not the greatest jazz musician ever. His album, “Kind of Blue”, is the best selling jazz album of all time, going platinum four times. That is nearly four times the sales of the runner up. The second best, …show more content…
When Davis finished high school, he moved out to New York, where all the best jazz players went. Miles’ father was a doctor though and believed his son needed higher education. So while in New York he attended Juliard playing classical music during the day and jazz at night. Slowly he got noticed by such legends as Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. eventually though he became fed up with college. He could take no more of Juliard having to deal with racist teachers and the exhaustive workload decided if he was going to play jazz he needed to do it full time. He called his dad and told him he wanted to quit Juliard. Shortly after he becomes part of Charlie Parker’s Quintet. Kanye also Attended college as an English major and dropped out as well to do music full time. However, while Davis always said that “The classical training he received at Julliard helped him to better understand music and become a better musician,” Kanye dismissed his time at college as a waste. His first album was even full of satirical skits which claimed college to be fruitless venture. So, after dropping out Kanye also moved to New York. There he began to gain a reputation as a producer, making beats for Ludacris, Beyonce and many other big name artists. The most significant artist he worked with in this time though was Jay-Z. he made …show more content…
Both men have become well known for their hubris. When asked what he had ever done worthwhile, Miles Davis is once quoted as saying, “I changed music 5 or 6 times.” Kanye West once said in an interview that “I am Warhol, I am Walt Disney, I am Shakespeare in the flesh. While both men are very firm in their own affirmation, Kanye West is much more intense in his affirmations. Both men were also unrelenting critics who were willing to say whatever they truly thought about things. Downbeat magazine had Miles critic a number of acclaimed jazz recordings and he reacted to ones he did not like with comments such as, “You see the way people can fuck up music,” “Take it off thats some pathetic shit.” Kanye west also had his infamous moment when he walked on stage while Taylor Swift was receiving her award for best female video and Kanye went on stage and said, "Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!" Both these artists are very self standing and rarely let other 's opinions affect them. When walking down the street an old man told Miles that "he really liked his music but didn 't like that new stuff (fusion)." In reply he said, "Am I supposed to wait for you mothafucker?" These strong personality trait, while often giving them criticism have helped them build the personas that made them