Kanye West receives honorary doctorate from Chicago art school – hear his graduation speech

Kanye West has received an honorary doctorate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The rapper, a native of the US city who released his debut album ‘The College Dropout’ in 2004, was described by the art school as “a leader in the music industry as a Grammy Award-winning recording artist and producer, as well as a fashion designer and interdisciplinary artist whose work provokes cultural discourse by reflecting a realism of the street.”

In a speech, which you can hear below, West said, “I am a pop artist, so my medium is public opinion, and the world is my canvas.”

West continued to say that the honour “proves what I’ve been saying my entire life”, “whether it’s the cosign of Paul McCartney… or the Time [Magazine] most influential cover, or now a doctorate from the Art Institute of Chicago”. Listen to the speech in full below and see photos from the graduation ceremony.

Last night also saw West appearing at one of Chance The Rapper’s OpenMike nights in Chicago, an event aimed at high school kids. Kanye performed his recent single ‘All Day’, as well as ‘U Mad’ with Vic Mensa. See footage below.

Over the weekend, Kanye West made an impromptu appearance at a Chicago Bulls basketball game. He performed ‘All Day’ at Sunday’s Chicago Bulls NBA playoffs game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The rapper introduced both teams before the tip-off, and during a first-quarter timeout, jumped back on the court for a rendition of the track. According to the Bulls’ official Twitter account, the short show was impromptu.

‘All Day’ is expected to feature on Kanye’s forthcoming album. Last week he made the surprise announcement that he’s changed the name of the record from ‘So Help Me God’ to ‘SWISH’, though that may not be the final title. “I’m changing my album name to SWISH,” he wrote on Twitter. “I might change it again but that’s the name now.”