Ye has been a musician, designer, and many other titles; now, he's trying out the title of educator with his latest project, Donda Academy.
Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, hopes to prepare his students to become the next generation of leaders.
"DONDA ACADEMY MISSION USING AN ETHIC OF INTEGRITY AND CARE," the statement on the school's website. "DONDA ACADEMY PREPARES STUDENTS TO BECOME THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS, THINKERS, AND INNOVATORS BY PROVIDING THEM WITH A WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION THAT INCLUDES A RIGOROUS CORE CURRICULUM, AND AN EMPHASIS ON SUSTAINABILITY, CREATIVITY, CRITICAL THINKING, AND PROBLEM SOLVING."
Ye has been building a high school basketball team to challenge the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers of the Prep school Sierra Canyon in Los Angeles. Scottie Pippen Jr., Kendell Jenner, Willow Smith, Brandon Boston Jr., and others have attended the co-educational private school.
Ye, in charge of the recruitment process, has signed NBA hopeful Jalen Hooks. Hooks, a 6'7" junior from Indiana, already had offers from Kansas, Michigan State, and Purdue; however, the Indiana native said he didn't bat an eye when the academy contacted him directly.
"It's just one of those things you can't pass up," Hooks told the Indianapolis Star. "It was more of a family decision, too. All of us just felt like it was a chance to reach my full potential and grow and get ready for the college level."
According to SLAM, the Donda Academy, located in Simi Valley, California, has already shown how well they treat their basketball team, the Donda Doves—featured on the cover of the latest issue of SLAM magazine. The publication reports that the players receive top-quality luxury treatments courtesy of Ye, including custom jerseys by Balenciaga, YEEZY 500s to wear during their games, and even had meals prepared by Ye's personal chef at one point. The team also lives together in luxury apartments and uses an online curriculum approved by the NCAA known as K12 Private Academy.
Donda Academy's Vice President and Director of Athletics, Shayla Scott, said that Ye wants to do big things with the academy.
"When I have opportunities to talk with [Ye] about his vision for the school, it's by no stretch of the imagination something that's out of reach. He wants to do all the things, and big things," Scott said. "I get really excited whenever we have a chance to just sit down and talk about what we're doing and how it's so minor in some respects to what he wants to do."
Scott, a former four-year starter at the University of Pittsburgh, served as an assistant coach at La Salle University and the athletic director at The Ellis School. Scott revealed that she believes that Ye's mother, the late Donda West, looks over her and thinks of ways of making things beneficial to what they are doing with the school.
"I always think I got Donda looking down on me. I gotta make this right," Scott said. "That's one thing that we're constantly thinking about—how can we do things in a way that is beneficial to who we are and what we have going on. And that might not mean that it's traditional."
It may seem that Ye's name pops up everywhere you look—from YEEZY to Donda Academy and his music, everyone wants to be a part of whatever he has going on. Antonio Brown is no different as he has officially joined Ye's Donda Sports.
A representative for Brown, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers player, confirmed with Complex, that he will be joining Ye and social media personality Justin LaBoy in efforts to "bring an athlete's perspective to all aspects of the organization." The news broke first through the news outlet Hollywood Unlocked.
.@AB84 officially joins DONDAsports ???? pic.twitter.com/jEgYqJVgKw
— TeamKanyeDaily (@TeamKanyeDaily) February 2, 2022
"Former NFL Pro-Bowler and Super Bowl champion Antonio Brown joins Donda Sports where he will join Ye and Justin LaBoy to bring an athlete's perspective to all aspects of the organization. Donda Sports was founded with the vision of providing holistic support to athletes during and beyond their sport's [sic] career."
Brown spoke about his relationship with Ye and the exciting things they both have in store for Donda Sports.
We’re just excited about the Donda sports brand, and making this thing a competitive sports brand to the athletes," Brown said. "I don’t think there’s a lot of fashion lines for athletes, wearing fashionable and comfortable clothes, so with a guy like Kanye West, being able to partner with him and work with him to provide more creative, genius ideas for fashion looks for athletes in general… I’m just grateful for the opportunity here soon, to share what we’ve got with the world. And you guys are hearing it first, we got some exciting things to look forward to this year."
