Kanye West is one of hip-hop’s finest multi-hyphenates, as he is well versed in rapping, production, fashion design, and a number of other fields of endeavor. Kanye is also a visual artist, and now some artwork from his teenage years has been appraised on the long-running PBS series Antiques Roadshow.
The art was dated 1995, and the owner said he acquired a large portfolio of Kanye’s work after the rapper’s mother passed away in 2007. A select group of pieces from the portfolio were displayed for the show, and appraiser Laura Woolley said she chose the pieces she did because they “demonstrate an extraordinary facility as an artist” and because they show the different mediums in which Kanye was capable of working. The pieces included a surreal portrait of a man in chains, an unfinished and more realistic portrait of a woman, and some depictions of nature.
Part of the collection was also a flyer that promoted a showing of West’s work when he was 17 years old, and interestingly, it notes that “Kanye will begin his studies for the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and continue to pursue a career as a music producer as well.”
The graphite portrait was ultimately valued at around “$6,000 to $8,000,” while the other pieces on display were given similar appraisals.
Check out the clip from the episode above.