Audience Research

Kanye WestIntroduction to the artist:• Kanye west was born in Georgia but was raised in Chicago• After completing high school he went on to do art at the Chicago State University

but only stayed on for a year due to West wanting to peruse a music career • After moving to New York, Jay-Z hired Kanye West to produce songs for his album

The Blueprint. This album went on to sell 420,000 copies in the first week• Kanye West then produced various music for well known artists• He then signed a deal with Jay-z’s label – Roc-A-Fella Records in 2002• He has 6 studio albums (The college drop out (2004) Late Registration (2005)

Graduation (2007) My beautiful dark twisted fantasy (2010) Yeezus (2013) and the up coming SWISH (2015)

• The College Drop Out sold 2.6 million copies and won the Best Rap Album. Late Registration and Graduation also won the Best Rap Album in 2005 and 2007

• West collaborated with famous rap artist Jay-Z to produce ‘Watch The Throne’ which was a top selling album

• Kanye West does a lot of charity work and after the death of his mother has supported ‘the Kanye West Foundation’ which helps reduce the number of high school dropouts

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Peoples assumptions about audience

• Mostly male • Lives in urban areas • Mostly teenagers• Gets angry a lot • Gets in a lot of trouble with the authorities • Are drug users • Broken family • Very materialistic • Cares a lot about their image and how they are portrayed

Evidence for the assumptions

Broken families: Kanye West had a broken family, with his parents divorcing when he was just 3 years old. He and his mother then moved to ChicagoMostly male: The rap genre is dominated by men, so the songs are mostly relatable to malesLives in urban areas: A lot of rappers and hip hop artists live in urban areas making it more appealing to people who also come from urban areas because they can look up to the artists who came from a similar background Mostly teenagers: A lot of the music Kanye West has created is about his life as a youth which makes the listeners link their lives and feelings to his making the experience more personal

Gets angry a lot: A lot of his music uses harsh beats and instruments making people feel the anger emotion Gets in trouble with the authorities: Kanye West has been in the press for attacking a paparazzi and getting charged due for it. This could give the people the wrong image of Kanye therefore people listening to him to look ‘cooler’ Are drug users: Kanye West is quite open about taking drugs, such as weed. This makes the fans see it as acceptable, making them follow in his footsteps Are very materialistic: Kanye West appreciates the more expensive things in life and has stated it in his music. Care a lot about their image and how they are portrayed: Kanye West has produced a clothing line and likes to keep up to date or create fashion and trends

Evidence using Kanye West’s image

Trouble with the authorities

Materialistic

Urban Up to date image

Survey results

I created a survey on survey monkey and uploaded it to a Kanye West forum.

Describe what you like about Kanye West’s music

Describe how Kanye West’s music makes you feel

How true were the assumptions

• Mostly male TRUE• Lives in urban areas FALSE• Teens TRUE• Gets in a lot of trouble with the authorities

FALSE• Broken family HALF TRUE HALF FALSE