An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa (Latin: "for the sake of the honor") is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations. The degree is typically a doctorate or, less commonly, a master's degree, and may be awarded to someone who has no prior connection with the academic institution.

Usually the degree is conferred as a way of honoring a distinguished visitor's contributions to a specific field, or to society in general. The university often derives benefits by association with the person in question.

The practice dates back to the middle ages, when for various reasons a university might be persuaded, or otherwise see fit, to grant exemption from some or all of the usual statutory requirements for award of a degree. The earliest honorary degree on record was awarded to Lionel Woodville in the late 1470s by the University of Oxford. He later became Bishop of Salisbury.

Kanye Omari West ( /ˈkɑːnjeɪ/; born June 8, 1977) is an American musician, film director and fashion designer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and Janet Jackson. His style of production originally used pitched-up vocal samples from soul songs incorporated with his own drums and instruments. However, subsequent productions saw him broadening his musical palette and expressing influences encompassing '70s R&B, baroque pop, trip hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronica, synthpop, and classical music.

West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004, his second album Late Registration in 2005, his third album Graduation in 2007, his fourth album 808s & Heartbreak in 2008, and his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010. West released a collaborative album, Watch the Throne with Jay-Z in 2011, which is the duo's first collaborative album. His five solo albums, all of which have gone platinum, have received numerous awards and critical acclaim. As of 2012, West has won a total of eighteen Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all-time. All albums have been very commercially successful, with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy becoming his fourth consecutive No. 1 album in the U.S. upon release. West has had 5 songs exceed 3 million in digital sales as of July 2011, with "Gold Digger" selling 3,086,000, "Stronger" selling 4,402,000, "Heartless" selling 3,742,000, "E.T." selling over 4,000,000 and "Love Lockdown" selling over 3,000,000 placing him third in overall digital sales of the past decade. He has sold over 30 million digital songs in the United States making him one of the best-selling digital artists of all-time.

Eason Chan Yik-shun (陳奕迅) is a prominent male singer in Hong Kong's music industry. Undoubtedly one of the most dominant male singers in the post-1997 era of Hong Kong music industry. Eason Chan has been praised by Time magazine as a front runner in the next generation of Cantopop. He is considered by some to be Hong Kong's third "god of song" after Samuel Hui and Jacky Cheung.

His Cantonese album U87 was nominated by Time Magazine as "Five Asian Albums Worth Buying" in 2005. Eason Chan was the big winner at the prestigious Golden Melody Awards in 2003 and 2009. In 2003, he won "Best Male Singer" and "Album of the Year awards" for his work in Mandarin album "Special Thanks To...". In 2009, Chan won "Album of the Year" again for his work in Mandarin album "Don't Want to Let Go".

Chan is the son of Chan Kau-tai, a former housing official of the Hong Kong administration sacked after being proven corrupted. Chan was sent to the United Kingdom for study at the age of 12. He attended St. Joseph's kindergarten, St. Joseph's Primary School in Hong Kong, Dauntsey's School in Wiltshire, England and later Kingston University, reading architecture. Chan returned to Hong Kong before the completion of his degree to participate in the 1995 New Talent Singing Awards Competition. He won first place. Immediately after his victory, Capital Artists signed a contract with him, ending his future career as an architect while launching his successful career in music.