Is Kanye West really leaving the 808's behind to pursue a career in Fashion?

After upending his musical style, the 'voice of this generation' sets his sights on fashion. Is he serious ... or breaking down?

By Sam Sutherland
MSN Music

Emerging from 15 months of personal tragedy, rap icon Kanye West responded first with a controversial stylistic leap on his bold, bleak fourth album, "808s & Heartbreak," and then with a defiant announcement that he's leaving rap to focus on fashion. It's a career move that, in West's blueprint, would see him swapping his studio reign for an apprenticeship with one of his design idols such as Louis Vuitton's Marc Jacobs or Jil Sander's Raf Simons.

(©DETAILS) More on Kanye in Details

That's the radical crossover West discusses in a provocative interview with Ivan Solotaroff in the March issue of Details magazine. In revisiting the arc of the Chicago rapper's personal and professional life for clues, Solotaroff contrasts the steely self-determination in West's rise to platinum superstardom with twin personal tragedies: Between the death of his beloved mother, Donda West, from complications to cosmetic surgery, and the end of his six-year relationship with fiancée Alexis Phifer, the 31-year-old artist lost "more than I could ever picture losing."

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*Thanks Kat