Kanye West's crumbling childhood home left abandoned and littered with drug paraphernalia a year after rapper's plans to turn it into tribute to dead mum
Kanye West's childhood home in Chicago has been abandoned - a year after his charity bought the property to convert it into a children's community centre in memory of his late mum.
The house in the South Side of Chicago is now littered with rubbish and drug paraphernalia.
The modest wooden home was where Kanye spent his childhood living with his mum Donda West - who died in 2007.
But the house is now a far cry from the community centre that was planned on the site to honour his late mother's memory.
Last year Kanye's protégé Rhymefest bought the house and planned to convert it into a "community arts incubator".
"My mom spent her life as an educator and I am happy that Donda's House can pick up her torch and honour her life's mission," Kanye said at the time.
Rhymefest - a rapper and philanthropist from Chicago - wanted to use the iconic building as the permanent home of West's Donda's House organisation, according to Rolling Stone .
"I'm excited to announce the purchase of Kanye's childhood home as a community Arts incubator," Rhymefest wrote on Instagram .
"It will be the first of our Nationwide Lite-Houses. A state-of-the-art recording studio, a curriculum space for @dondashouse and Southside music museum. We want to show bright spots in communities that've been divested from, we know more Lights exist here, they just need to be activated."
He told Billboard : "This is the beginning of the rebuilding of our community."
But now the building stands abandoned and is barely inhabitable.
It's littered with tin foil, fireworks and broken glass, and the doors have been blocked off with planks of wood.
Inside, an old fridge door is strewn across the living room where an old sideboard still stands proud.
The back bedroom is strewn with clothes left from a previous owner and has has a bed frame with a pair of old socks hanging from it.
Apart from the dilapidated house, the charity has worked tirelessly around the community with upcoming artists and hosting events.
According to the website, it has organised festivals such as AAHH! Fest, in partnership with Common and the Common Ground Foundation, Peace on the Beach and Teens in the Park (TIP) Fest.
In May 2015, West donated $133,000 to the charity from the proceeds of one of his Louis Vuitton Foundation concert series, with Rhymefest claiming his friend was making a massive impact on Chicago’s youth, which was a "true tribute to his mother’s legacy."
Chicago has seen a huge surge in crime in recent years.
On a gruesome day last February, seven people were shot dead including a woman who was eight months pregnant.
US President Donald Trump threatened to "call in the Feds" and tweeted: "What is going on there - totally out of control. Chicago needs help!"
Rhymefest, real name Che Smith, has previously spoken about the impact Donda had on his life.
"She brought all of his friends and treated us as her sons," he told online publication AV Club
He continued: "And when I would make raps as a young kid, and I’d be talking about how many people I shot, how many women I slept with, how much drugs I sold, she pulled me to the side and said: 'Rhymefest, did you really sleep with that many women? I mean, I’m not judging. Did you really shoot that many people?'
"And I said: 'No, I’m just trying to get famous. That’s how you get on the radio. You got to talk about stuff you ain’t did, but it gives an image of who they believe you to be anyway.
"She’s like: 'But can you be that? Because you’re going to have to live in the lie you told on yourself.'
"She activated who I am now. It was like she touched my forehead and brought the light out."
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