It’s the 35th birthday of Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend, and though we don’t have details on what will surely be one of the parties of the year, we do know that the rapper has probably lived more outrageously in the past week than most of us will in our entire lives.

On Wednesday there was the latest video from Kanye’s GOOD album, and on Saturday a shoe he designed goes on sale – and people who don’t yet own the footwear are selling their putative purchases on eBay where bids have topped $10,000.

So let’s take a moment to review this Atlanta-born rapper’s progress to celebri-God status. He began his career in rap in 1996, eventually producing an album critics consider to be one of the best of the 2000s – The Blueprint by Jay-Z.

But a year before releasing his debut album, West was in a Los Angeles car crash and had to have his jaw wired shut for six weeks. During his recovery, he came up with ideas and songs for his critically-acclaimed debut – 2004’s The College Dropout – and hasn’t shut up since. Here we present a few examples of why that is a very, very good thing.