Kanye West Is Opening A Prep School

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Hey Friends,

In Big Sean’s 2015 song “Blessings,” rapper Kanye West proclaimed:

Now, he’s turning that dream into a reality.

Kanye West is opening “Donda Academy,” a private school 30 minutes outside Los Angeles, California. The school is named after Donda West, Kanye’s mother, who passed away in 2007 after a 31-year career as a college professor at Chicago State University.

Donda Academy will be a private school open to just 60 students. The school will reportedly offer a diverse curriculum, including science, technology, engineering, math, computer science, Japanese, and physical education.

The best part? None of the 60 students will pay tuition.

Kanye has already purchased a 4-acre property where the former Stoneridge Preparatory School was located and is in the process of obtaining the necessary permits to reopen the school, despite not officially having a date set for students.

Stoneridge was a basketball prep school that operated from 1965 into the early 2010s but was forced to close after multiple rule violations related to its basketball program.

Here’s an aerial view of the property, which contains a 5,728-square-foot school with classrooms, labs, offices, kitchen, restrooms, storage, a basketball court, and an open field, according to the lease information posted by Crissman.

So what does this have to do with sports?

Well, despite having no official opening date for the school, approved permits, or even a head coach, it appears Kanye West is already attempting to build Donda Academy into one of the nation’s premier high school basketball destinations.

Kanye has secured commitments from various top prospects within the last few days, including four-and-five-star recruits Jalen Hooks, Robert Dillingham, Jahki Howard, and Zion Cruz.

How did he do it without the school being open?

According to the athletes, Kanye West has personally been direct messaging them on Instagram, asking them to join his team.

But this might be the craziest part — there are rumors that a game between Donda Academy and nearby Sierra Canyon, the high school that LeBron James’ son Bronny James attends, are set to face off at the Staples Center in February.

You literally can’t make this up if you tried.

When I tweeted this out yesterday, the reaction was polarizing. Some people called Kanye a “genius” and “visionary,” while others referred to Donda Academy as a “scam” and “Bishop Sycamore 2.0,” the fake high school that tricked ESPN into playing a nationally televised football game earlier this year.

I understand the doubts, of course, but I also think it’s probably too soon to call this a failure. Kanye is essentially purchasing a former school, hiring new staff, paying tuition for the students, and attempting to recruit the nation’s top prospects.

It’s not like he will be teaching the classes, sitting in the principal’s office, or making the day-to-day decisions. But then again, you never really know.

More so, my concern would sit with the student-athletes and their families that pick up their lives and move across the country based on the promise of additional exposure, fame, recruitment, and intense high school basketball competition.

If it doesn’t work, what type of impact will it have on them?

Every athlete and their family can make their own decision based on their circumstances. That’s a good thing. But I think this ultimately speaks more to the environment that has been created through social media.

Whether it’s Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, or some other social media platform, most top high school athletes today want to be famous. They see Mikey Williams (3M+ followers on IG) hanging out with Drake and can’t help but be jealous.

The problem is that success on social media doesn’t automatically translate to success in athletics.

Sure, whether Mikey makes it to the NBA or not, he will have a massive social base to fall back on that he can monetize by building a content business. But if his life dream is to make it to the NBA, does it really matter?

There is nuance to this, of course, and no one can predict the future. Still, it will be fascinating to see how this plays out over the next few months. As always, I’ll keep you updated.

I hope each of you has a great day, and I’ll talk to everyone tomorrow.

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Huddle Up is a daily letter that breaks down the business and money behind sports.

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