The first single released, Through the Wire, invoked his feelings from the accident. His next single, Jesus Walks, dealt with his faith (and would later lead to a controversial portraying Kanye West as Jesus on the cover of Rolling Stone). Roc-A-Fella Records released his debut album in February 2004 after the strong performance of the singles made it clear that Kanye tickets and albums were sure to sell.

The album featured strong wordplay and massive sampling. It also featured a number of artists Kanye West had worked with in the past. Jay-Z, Ludacris, Talib Kweli, Common, and Mos Def all lend their names and their distinctive styles to the tracks.

The follow up album, Late Registration, took a different artistic direction. West collaborated with Jon Brion, a film score composer, to help put together the new album. Music critics universally praised the album, which hit the shelves on August 30, 2005. USA Today, Spin, and Time deemed the album the best release of the year and Rolling Stone served up similar accolades, calling the album a hip hop classic.

Commercially, Late Registration dominated, selling 860,000 copies in the first week and eventually earning a triple platinum certification. This surge in popularity in such a short time made Kanye a popular public figure and gave him the chance to perform and speak at a benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Up till now his antics had been behind closed doors, but at this event West declared that the then President Bush did not care about Black people. The comment came after the failure of all levels of government to react to the disaster and the slow reaction by the President to address the natural disaster publicly. The comment also helped spur sale of Kanye West tickets and albums.

This type of outspoken controversy only helped drive his popularity. Kanye West tickets for the supporting tour for Late Registration. The award season in 2006 mirrored his popularity, with his album taking Best Rap Album and several other Grammy Awards (though he failed to capture the Album of the Year Award). The humility he displayed after losing out to U2 for Album of the Year disappeared at the MTV Europe Music Awards when he lost to Justice and Simian for Best Video. The incident was the first of a number of controversies that saw Kanye West's ego appear unchecked.

Still, he released his third album, Graduation, to an eager hip hop audience. Kanye tried to extend his influence, appearing as an actor or in cameo on shows like Entourage and even trying to get his own sitcom on the air at BET.

The 2007 MTV Video Music Awards proved to be a trying night for him. First he was passed over for Britney Spears to open the award show (a choice he attributes to his race) and he failed to win any of the five categories for which he was nominated. He declared that he would never return to the award show (which he did) and appeared physically upset after each loss.

He quelled this disappointment by starting the 18-month Glow in the Dark Tour. The 2008 concert series took him around the globe and featured upcoming acts like Lupe Fiasco, Rihanna, N.E.R.D., and Gnarls Barkley. Kanye West tickets for the tour sold very well as each act had a good amount of publicity on their own coming into the tour.

Kanye West's fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak, came out during the tour and failed to earn nearly the acclaim his previous three studio efforts had. Instead, he faced mounting criticism, especially for the debut song Love Lockdown. West performs the song singing using an auto-tune device. When performed the song at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards without the aid of the device there was a substantial backlash to an artist that seemed invincible in even his most candid moments.

He struggled with the sudden turn of the culture. He lashed out at tabloid photographers on multiple occasions when he seemed to weather if not relish their presence before. Since then, he has gone a long way to improve his image, especially in the light of his new tour with Lady Gaga. All that good will he built up may have gone to waste after the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. He jumped on stage while Swift was accepting the award for Best Female Video and all at once justified the preconception of West as an outspoken advocate with terrible timing. Then again, this might just be the thing to raise interest as Kanye West tickets for the Kanye West and Lady Gaga tour are released.