Occasionally photographed out and about with his son, Ray West is best known for being one of the first black photojournalists at the Atlanta Constitution - one of America's largest and most influential daily newspapers. An artistic trailblazer who Kanye frequently references as being a big inspiration to his own work, However in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ray West was a proud member of the revolutionary black nationalist and socialist organisation The Black Panthers. Founded as a response to the increase in police brutality against members of the black community, the party grew so quickly that the then Director of the FBI called them "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country". Since then he's become a Christian pastor, and in 2006 he even opened a clean water cafe in Maryland that's been backed by the Kanye West Foundation. If you're ever in the area they specialise in bubble tea, wraps, salads, yogurt, smoothies and coffee, and there's a huge picture of Kanye on the wall.
WhatCulture's Managing Editor and Chief Reporter | Previously seen in Vice, Esquire, FourFourTwo, Sabotage Times, Loaded, The Set Pieces, and Mundial Magazine