The hip-hop artist's mom dies in Los Angeles.

DONDA WEST, the mother of Grammy winning singer/songwriter KANYE WEST, passed away on Saturday in Los Angeles, according to People magazine.

West acted as her son's manager; her previous career was as a college English professor. She recently wrote a book on her experiences with Kanye called Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar.