American rapper Kanye West will perform his first concerts in Russia at the Gazprom Arena in Saint Petersburg on October 10 and 11, 2026.
Tickets for the performances at the venue, a 68,000-seat stadium on Krestovsky Island in Saint Petersburg, have gone on sale starting from 9,000 rubles.
The scheduled dates follow unconfirmed rumors in 2024 about a performance at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and canceled negotiations in 2025, when organizers halted talks following antisemitic statements by West.
Career overview and background
West, who legally changed his name to Ye, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter, fashion designer, and entrepreneur. He has released 17 studio albums and built major commercial partnerships with brands including Nike, Adidas, and Louis Vuitton.
His public profile has been marked by high-profile business successes, a marriage to reality television star Kim Kardashian that ended in divorce, and continuous controversy ranging from online harassment to public antisemitic remarks.
Childhood and education
Kanye Omari West was born on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia. His father, Ray West, was a member of the left-wing Black Panther Party and worked as one of the first Black photojournalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His mother, Donda West, was an English professor.
His parents divorced when he was three years old, and he moved with his mother to Chicago, Illinois, where she joined the faculty at Chicago State University. At age 10, West lived in Nanjing, China, for a year while his mother worked on a university exchange program.
During their time in China, Donda West noted her son's interest in music and drawing. West began rapping in the third grade and producing beats in the seventh grade. At age 13, he wrote a song titled Green Eggs and Ham and persuaded his mother to pay for studio recording time, where he met a producer who mentored him on sampling technology.
After graduating high school, West studied painting at the American Academy of Art in Chicago before transferring to Chicago State University to study English. He dropped out to pursue a career in music, a decision his mother initially criticized before supporting.
Although West did not complete a degree, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2015. The institution revoked the degree in 2022 following his antisemitic comments.
Music production and breakthrough
West began his music career in the mid-1990s producing beats for other artists, earning his first album credit on a 1996 record by Chicago rapper Grav. In the late 1990s, he formed the group Go-Getters, which disbanded after recording an unreleased album.
His commercial breakthrough occurred in 2001 after producing tracks for rapper Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Corey Carter, on the album The Blueprint for Roc-A-Fella Records. Despite his success as a producer, record labels resisted signing West as a solo artist because his middle-class background did not match the prevalent gangsta rap image of the era.
In 2002, West survived a severe car accident that fractured his jaw and, as he later stated, damaged his right frontal lobe. Two weeks after the crash, he recorded his debut single, Through the Wire, with his jaw wired shut, leading Roc-A-Fella Records to sign him as a performer.
Studio discography
West released his debut album, The College Dropout, in February 2004. The record went platinum, earned three Grammy Awards, and established his reputation as a solo performer. His second album, Late Registration, arrived in 2005, achieving triple-platinum sales and winning three additional Grammys.
His 2007 album Graduation, inspired by touring with Irish rock band U2, was released on the same day as an album by rapper 50 Cent and outsold it in initial sales. West shifted toward electropop and synth-pop on his 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak, which reflected his grief over his mother's death and a broken engagement.
In 2010, West recorded My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in Hawaii with a wide range of guest artists, earning critical acclaim as one of the major hip-hop albums of the decade. He followed it with the minimalist, industrial-influenced album Yeezus in 2013, and released The Life of Pablo in 2016, which he updated after its initial release and debuted at his Yeezy Season 3 fashion show.
West addressed his diagnosis of bipolar disorder and anxiety on his 2018 album Ye, which achieved commercial success despite mixed critical reviews. He launched Sunday Service choir performances featuring gospel versions of his songs, leading to his 2019 Christian-themed album Jesus Is King.
His 2021 album Donda was named after his mother and featured audio of her voice alongside themes of family, faith, and loss. In 2024, West planned a trilogy titled Vultures, releasing Vultures 1 and Vultures 2 while leaving the third installment unreleased. His 2026 album Bully debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart.
Fashion lines and business ventures
In addition to music, West established ventures in fashion, starting with the closed clothing line Pastelle between 2005 and 2009. He designed the Nike Air Yeezy sneaker in 2009 and created footwear for French luxury house Louis Vuitton before launching a long-term partnership with German sportswear company Adidas under his Yeezy brand.
The Yeezy Boost line of everyday sneakers featuring streamlined designs became high-demand limited releases. In 2021, an early prototype pair of Yeezy shoes sold at auction for $1.8 million. In 2024, West collaborated with Russian designer Gosha Rubchinskiy on a capsule collection titled Black Dogs, selling hoodies, t-shirts, sweatpants, and socks printed with Cyrillic text.
West also founded the record label GOOD Music, held an ownership stake in the music streaming service Tidal, and launched the charitable organization Donda's House.
Marriages and family life
During the 2000s, West was engaged to designer Alexis Phifer until their separation in 2008. He then dated model Amber Rose for two years; Rose later accused West of subjecting her to ten years of bullying following their split.
In 2012, West began dating reality television personality Kim Kardashian, who was known for nude photos in Playboy, a sex tape, and reality television appearances, while West was an established Grammy winner. West proposed at AT&T Park stadium in San Francisco on her 33rd birthday, and the couple married on May 24, 2014, in Florence, Italy.
The couple had four children together: daughter North in 2013, son Saint in 2015, daughter Chicago via surrogate in 2018, and son Psalm in 2019. Tensions in the marriage increased during a flare-up of West's bipolar disorder in 2018 and 2020, when West posted online accusations that Kardashian attempted to hospitalize him, insulted her mother, and expressed a desire for divorce before issuing an apology.
Kardashian filed for divorce in February 2021, and the split was finalized in March 2022 with joint custody awarded to both parents. During the proceedings, West targeted Kardashian's partner, comedian Pete Davidson, on social media with public threats and posts barring him from seeing the children.
Following a brief relationship with actress Julia Fox in early 2022, West married Bianca Censori at the end of that year. Censori had previously worked as head of architecture at Yeezy.
Their marriage attracted attention for Censori's revealing public outfits, including attending the 2025 Grammy Awards ceremony in a transparent dress without underwear while accompanied by West.
Public controversies and corporate fallout
West generated national attention in 2005 during a live benefit telethon following Hurricane Katrina, which killed 2,000 people, left 700,000 homeless, and caused $125 billion in damage across the United States. During the broadcast, West stated that he hated how Black people were portrayed in media coverage, contrasting descriptions of Black families looting with white families searching for food, before asserting that President George Bush did not care about Black people. West later apologized to Bush, who accepted.
At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, West walked onto the stage during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech, took her microphone, and announced to the audience that Beyoncé should have won the award. He was removed from the venue, and singer Lady Gaga canceled a scheduled joint tour with him.
During a 2018 live broadcast on TMZ, West stated that four centuries of slavery in North America sounded like a personal choice for enslaved people. He later wrote that his comment was intended to advocate for free thinking rather than living with an enslaved mindset.
In 2022, West wore a White Lives Matter shirt at Paris Fashion Week, posted a tweet stating he was going death con 3 on Jewish people, and appeared on an interview hosted by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, where he expressed love for Nazis, praised Adolf Hitler, and denied the Holocaust.
Following those statements, Adidas terminated its partnership with West, stating it did not tolerate antisemitism or hate speech. Balenciaga, Gap, and banking institution JP Morgan also severed contracts, causing West to lose his billionaire status, while social media platforms blocked his accounts.
In 2025, West sold apparel featuring swastikas on his website and released songs containing Nazi references. The Australian government revoked his visa and banned his entry over the track Heil Hitler. In January 2026, West published a column in The Wall Street Journal addressed to those he had hurt, attributing his actions to a four-month manic psychotic episode linked to his 2002 brain injury and stating that he loved the Jewish people.
Despite the column, the United Kingdom government barred West from entry in 2026, forcing organizers to cancel the Wireless festival where he was scheduled to headline. Venues and organizers in Poland, France, Switzerland, Italy, and the Czech Republic also canceled his planned performances.
