Kanye West Says Car Accident Enabled Rap Career

There's no denying Kanye West has become one of the most successful rap acts of this millennium, but his chances of becoming an MC were slim to none before the fateful car accident that almost took his life in 2002. In a recent sit-down with Interview, Ye revealed that his career as a budding producer all but stamped out his opportunity hone his mic skills, until the crash. "The accident gave me the opportunity to do what I really wanted to do," said West. "I was a music producer, and everyone was telling me that I had no business becoming a rapper, so it gave me the opportunity to tell everyone, 'Hey, I need some time to recover.' But during that recovery period, I just spent all my time honing my craft and making The College Dropout. Without that period, there would have been so many phone calls and so many people putting pressure on me from every direction—so many people I somehow owed something to—and I would have never had the time to do what I wanted to."

He added, "It gave me perspective on life—that it was really now or 100 percent never." One of Yeezus' crash inspired raps, "Through The Wire," would become his first hit single. The College Dropout would go on to sell over 4 million copies, worldwide. And the rest, they say, is history.

Check out the entire interview, here.