After several years, hip-hop artist Kanye West realized that his father, Ray West, is his best friend.

However, there was a time when Ray didn’t embrace fatherhood.

His parents, Ray and Donda West divorced when he was three. Kanye moved with his mother to

Chicago but would spend summers with his father in Washington, DC. Brenda Bentley, who started

dating Ray after his divorce, says Kanye was a curious kid who asked many questions.

Ray, who was born in 1949, was a photojournalist and once worked with former U.S President Ronald Reagan. He also worked with the late renowned poet Maya Angelou. Ray, who’s currently living in the Dominican Republic, has a charity organization known as the Good Water foundation.

Who Is Ray West, and Why He Once Moved into a Homeless Shelter
In 2013, during an interview with BBC, Kanye disclosed that his dad once lived in a homeless shelter because he wanted to help ex-drug addicts, victims of corruption and prostitution. Ray raises finances for his foundation by selling purified water and using the profits to fund projects.

In his song “Father Stretch My Hands,” Kanye West talks about the relationship he had with his dad. He states that they were never on good terms.
Kanye West’s dad became a famous journalist and was once a member of the Black Panther Party back in the 1960s and 70s before giving up his media career for charity work. In 2018, Ray was diagnosed with prostate cancer and traveled back to the U.S for treatment.

Kanye was devastated by his father’s cancer diagnosis, which came ten years after Donda’s death. During that time, Ray attended recording sessions for his son’s album “Ye.” After fighting cancer, his father insisted on returning to the Dominican Republic.

Brenda, 66, who was engaged twice to Ray, spoke about his life on the Caribbean island. Brenda said that despite the frequent earthquakes and high crime in the Dominican Republic, Ray remains focused on his charity work.

Donda West’s Death Was a Hard Loss for Kanye as They Were Extremely Close
In an interview with Q Magazine, the rapper opened up about the untimely death of his mother, saying that he holds himself accountable for her demise:

“If I had never moved to L.A., she would be alive. I don’t want to go far into it because it will bring me to tears.”

Donda, who was an English professor and chair of Chicago State University’s Department of English, Communications, Media, and Theatre, died in November 2007. She passed on while being admitted to a hospital in Marin del Rey after developing complications from elective surgery.