A group of Chicago-bred hip-hop legends gathered for a South Shore reunion, and for a moment, they transported to their teenage years — making music in the living room of their chosen mom, Donda West.
“This is not just a story about Donda West’s son,” said Chicago Public Schools Board member and rapper Che “Rhymefest” Smith. “This is really a story about a woman who raised a community of boys.”
West was known for being the mother of hip-hop artist Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. To many Chicagoans, she was also an English professor, a former Chicago State University department chairperson, a businesswoman, a Fulbright scholar — and as Smith would call it, a “village mom.”
The two-story blue house on the city’s South Side was both the Wests’ home and where Ye’s music career was launched alongside his childhood friends. Now signs on 78th Street between South Shore Drive and Coles Avenue, at two nearby intersections, bear Donda West’s name.
“I love my biological mama, and I’m so proud to have a village mom like Dr. Donda West,” Smith said, with the crowd erupting in cheers.
Che “Rhymefest” Smith speaks during a street-naming ceremony Tuesday honoring his late mentor, Dr. Donda West, in South Shore.
Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times
Dozens of West’s family members, friends and former colleagues joined area residents and elected officials for the event.
“You can win Grammys, you can win Oscars, but the most important award you can get is when community recognizes [you], and today, community recognized the mother of a lot of people who changed world culture,” Smith said.
Seventh Ward Ald. Greg Mitchell joined Ye in revealing the sign, with the crowd erupting in cheers. After the ceremony, Ye joined Smith and his childhood friends where it all started to reminisce.
Warren “Really Doe” Trotter, like many of West’s village “babies,” was introduced to her as one of Ye’s childhood friends coming to the house to make music.
He said whether they were in the living room making music or out partying — she was “all in.”
“One night, Kanye’s car wouldn’t start, and his mother — I don’t know how many mothers would do this — she got out of bed at like 4 in the morning, drove Downtown to pick me and Ye up from us being … stranded, trying to talk to girls,” Trotter said.
Ye, formerly Kanye, unveils a street sign Tuesday honoring his late mother, Dr. Donda West, at a dedication ceremony in South Shore.
Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times
Donda West was an early champion in academia who valued hip-hop and rap as respectable literature, and Don “Don C” Crawley said she was far from embarrassed when her son and his friends decided to drop out of college to pursue music.
“She said, ‘No, Kanye, I’m very proud of you,’” Crawley recounted. “You just sold a beat to a major artist, and you got things going for yourself. So I support that.”
Crawley said Ye tries to instill what he imagines West would want for her grandchildren — carrying on his mother’s legacy.
“I know how he approaches those situations is like, ‘Man, let me create this in a manner that my mom would be appreciative of her granddaughter doing this,’” Crawley said. “And I even see likenesses of North and Ms. West — like sometimes her smile, I see Ms. West in it.”
Ye, formerly Kanye, stands Tuesday outside his late mother Dr. Donda West’s home in South Shore.
Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times
Crawley said he believes of all of Donda West’s accolades, the story of her business acumen is what goes untold.
“Ms. West is the reason Ye got on,” Crawley said, listing the connections she made with Chicago-based record producer No I.D. and serving as the CEO of her son’s early business enterprises — West Brands LLC.
“She incorporated the company and hired us as employees and made it official,” Crawley said. “That was all her.”
West owned a number of real estate properties throughout Chicago. Leonard “GLC” Harris said she exposed Kanye and his friends to the business world as teens by teaching them how to work with tenants and manage multiple properties.
“When Ye first got his driver’s license, we used to go by all her properties to pick up rent money,” he said, discussing how he felt seeing his friend’s single Black mother buy him his first car, a Volvo, for his 16th birthday.
“She always taught that your choices could either come with a consequence, or it could come with a reward.”
Mentees of the late Dr. Donda West — GLC (top left), Don C. (top right), Really Doe (bottom left) and Mechalie Jamison (bottom right) — sit outside her home Tuesday after her street-naming ceremony in South Shore.
Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times
West’s mentees spoke of her legacy with reverence and pride.
“When we would write lines like, ‘We’re all self-conscious, I’m just the first to admit it,” Smith said, quoting “All Falls Down,” Ye’s 2004 hit song. “Those things come from the teachings of Dr. Donda West.”
He said West would challenge the young hip-hop artists, starting at 12 and 13 years old, about the lyrics they were writing.
“She would ask us, ‘If you ever got famous or popular or successful, and you’re not telling the truth, can you live with the caricature that you’re creating?’” he said.
As Smith embraced the childhood friends he considers brothers on the steps of their childhood home, he envisioned the people who would walk down South Shore Drive, see their mother’s sign, and learn of her impact.
“We were raised by a Black woman that raised a community of boys, that educated a community of students,” he said. “I think this day really makes Donda West a Chicago institution.”
Musician Really Doe holds a posthumous resolution from the Cook County clerk’s office Tuesday honoring Dr. Donda West at her street-naming ceremony in South Shore.
Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times