Kanye West’s grandfather was born in Delmar and later moved to Wilmington.
West’s father attended the University of Delaware and lived in Delaware for quite a while.
And now West has a First State girlfriend.
Should we just go ahead and make Ye an honorary Delawarean at this point?
With long-established Delaware family roots, which include cousins who still live here, West has been spotted many times over the years aside from his lone Delaware performance at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark in 2004.
Sightings include his visit to UD’s Delaware Stadium in 2011 for a family member’s college graduation, causing plenty of tweets from stunned grads who spied West.
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Three years later, he surfaced in Wilmington twice: once for a summer family wedding at Wilmington’s University and Whist Club with Kim and daughter North and again in the winter for a family birthday at the Riverfront’s Stratosphere Trampoline Park.
While he’s been detected upstate plenty of times, it’s downstate where he’s found his latest love.
For the past two months, West has had one woman on his arm and she’s University of Delaware graduate Chaney Jones.
That was Jones in the tabloids only a few days ago as they breathlessly reported on West buying Jones a $275,000 Hermès Birkin bag from Privé Porter.
“We’re told West, 44, watched the bag, which is silver metallic Chèvre leather with palladium hardware, be delivered to Jones, 24, in Houston Tuesday night via FaceTime,” the New York Post reported. “Our sources also tell us that Jones, who put in the request first, wanted this exact version of the bag, as it is ‘very very rare’ and not in circulation anymore.”
And that was the Dover native on TMZ last month being asked about her resemblance to West’s soon-to-be ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
Approached on a Los Angeles International Airport sidewalk by a cameraman, Jones seemed much more shy than reality star Kardashian.
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“What do you make of people comparing you to Kim, the way you guys look?” she was asked.
Jones laughed and responded, “I don’t really want to speak on that,” before adding that she doesn’t see the resemblance.
The suddenly famous Jones is a graduate of Caesar Rodney High School in Camden, where she was a honor roll student and played softball and field hockey.
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Currently, she is listed as the chief operation officer of First State Behavioral Health in Camden, where her father, Avon, is the chief executive officer. On the website for the counseling services company, Jones writes that she’s working on her master’s degree in counseling at Wilmington University.
Jones, her father, former coaches and school officials did not respond to requests to speak for this article.
Before landing at UD, she had also attended Bryant University in Rhode Island, playing softball for the school.
Jones, who has been dubbed “Kim Klone” by some entertainment websites for her Kardashian-style look, was first attached to West when they were seen leaving a “Donda 2” listening party at Nobu in Malibu, California, on Feb. 6.
Ever since, they’ve seemingly been everywhere together.
They turned heads at the Hollywood premiere of the Netflix documentary “Jeen-Yuhs,” sat courtside at both Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat home basketball games and have paparazzi scrums on Miami shopping trips.
Even though they seem to be everywhere, they haven’t been to Delaware yet, as far as we know.
It is here in Delaware where the West family history runs deep and perhaps previewed West’s provocative nature.
West’s father Ray famously landed on the front page of The Review, the UD student newspaper, in April 1970.
The article, headlined “Blacks Liberate Lounge; Trabant Tried For Racism,” focused on how Ray West and 24 others took over a student lounge and held a mock trial, sentencing former UD President E.A. Trabant to death for “racism, lying, hypocrisy and stabbing people in the back.”
Fifty-two years later, his son is still making headlines — and winning Grammy Awards. (He won two on Sunday, bringing his grand total to 24.)
With his own family state connections already set, maybe Jones will whisper sweet Delaware nothings in West’s ear and we can get the superstar to make his first Firefly appearance.
After all, Jones’ Camden workplace is only about 6 miles south of Firefly’s home.
It’s been 18 years since Old Kanye brought his “College Dropout” tour to the Bob. It’s time for New Kanye to wow The Woodlands.
Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormierdelawareonline) and Twitter (@ryancormier).
