How is The Net Worth of Kanye West an Insane $2B?

What is Kanye West’s Net Worth?

The Usual Intro

Kanye West is a 45-year-old American Rapper, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur. He is well-known for his album “The College Dropout,” which was a tremendous commercial success. 

Since the late 1990s, Kanye has been consistently taking the music industry by storm with his ability to seamlessly combine rap verses with innovative beats. In addition to his massive success in the music industry, Kanye founded many new avenues to success through business ventures and his outclass fashion sense.

Kanye frequently broke into the headlines as the most influential hip-hop artist, having earned many prestigious awards. Today, he stands as one of the three richest black people in US history.

Before the Spotlight

Kanye Omari West, also known as “Ye,” was born on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia. His father, Ray West, was the first-ever black photojournalist at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a former “Black Panther.” His mother, Donda West, was an English professor at Clark Atlanta University and an English department chairperson.

West was only three years old when his parents divorced. He moved with his mother to Chicago, Illinois and grew up in a middle-class lifestyle. Kanye studied at Polaris High School and then moved to Nanjing, China, with his mother at age 10. He was a foreigner in his class, but quickly adapted to the environment 

Kanye had a creative mindset from a very young age. He began writing poems when he was only five years old and started rapping in the third grade. By the time Kanye reached seventh grade, he was already composing songs and selling them to artists. 

As he turned thirteen, Kanye wrote a rap song, “Green Eggs and Ham.” His mother began supporting Kanye in his love of rapping and accompanied him to a small studio where Kanye met with producer No I.D. and became his mentee.

He attended the American Academy of Art under scholarship but later transferred to Chicago State University to study English Literature. At the age of 20, he dropped out of college to pursue his dream of becoming a rapper.

The Journey to Success

Kanye’s billion-dollar career kicked off as a beat producer for local artists. He was only nineteen when he produced eight tracks on “Down to Earth” for the album of Chicago-rapper Grave. He was also a ghost producer for Deric “D-Dot” Angelettie.

During the late 1990s, Kanye produced many songs for famous artists. He worked for Foxy Brown’s “Chyna Doll” single that climbed to the top of US Billboard 200 chart within one week of its release, making her the only female rap artist to have done so.

Kanye coined his name as a successful producer when he worked for Roc-A-Fella Records. This allowed Kanye to collaborate with many popular artists like Ludacris, Alicia Keys, and Janet Jackson. In 2000, his exceptional rapping skills became more vivid when he worked on multiple singles for Jay-Z’s hit album “The Blueprint.”

Even though Kanye had a long and successful run as a producer, he desired to become a professional rapper. This proved to be daunting as he failed to secure a record deal. In 2002, he crossed another unfortunate path when his jaw shattered from a car accident. However, his aspirations still didn’t break. He wrote the song “Through the Wire” while his jaw was still wired-shut from the accident. It was recorded by Roc-A-Fella Records.

In 2004, his album, “The College Dropout,” became a ground-breaking success; within just one week, the album sold a whopping 441,000 copies worldwide! The album followed the themes of racism, higher education, and religious beliefs, standing out from the typical gangsta-rap mold. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart and won him 3 Grammy Awards out of ten-times nominations. It also received triple-platinum certification by the RIAA.

Kanye teamed up with film composer Jon Brion the following year to release the album “Late Registration.” He spent an estimated $2 Million to hire a string orchestra for the album. The results were remarkable; it yielded him another 3 Grammy Awards and was classified as ‘Best Rap Album’ again. The record ascended to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — a feat Kanye would reiterate with every subsequent album.

In 2007, he dropped the album “Graduation” the same day when 50 cent dropped his album “Curtis.” Graduation out-sold 50 Cent’s album by a significant margin and broke into the US Billboard 200 again, settling at No. 1. The album sold 957,000 copies within its first week of release.

The Best Moments

• He Won the Grammy Award 22 times.
• His album “Ye” leveled with the record set by Eminem and the Beatles.
• “Stronger” is among the most downloaded songs of all time on iTunes.
• He’s the only solo artist to have won the “Album of the Year” award.

The Private Side

Kanye had an intimate relationship with her mother. She supported him throughout his life in his pursuit to become a professional rapper. However, in 2007, Donda West passed away due to heart disease, leaving him in distress.

Kanye West has a long dating history. His relationship with designer Alexis Phifer was constantly broken and reformed for four years. Then from 2008 to 2010, he dated model Amber Rose. Finally, in 2014, he married reality star Kim Kardashian in Italy. They had four children. In 2021, Kim filed for divorce. Kanye then started dating Julia Fox, but it was short-lived, ending in less than two months.

Besides being an all-time highly streamed rapper, Kanye has a flair for fashion. He launched many shoes and designed multiple clothing lines, earning millions through the lucrative world of celebrity endorsements. 

He worked with Nike to release “Air Yeezys.” During the Paris Fashion Week, he released his shoe line for Louis Vuitton. Kanye has also designed shoes for Bape and Giuseppe Zanotti. He also collaborated with Adidas to release the Adidas Yeezys Boost. The Yeezys became a global success, with 9,000 pairs selling out in under 10 minutes!

Kanye established the Kanye West Foundation for providing education to African-American and Latino children. He also did community work for Hurricane Katrina and donated money to World Water Day and Live Earth.

Kanye West’s Related YouTube Video

Joe Rogan Experience #1554 – Kanye West

Famous Quotes of Kanye West

Kanye’s words of wisdom continue to embellish our lives. Let’s look at some powerful quotes.

• “If you have the opportunity to play this game of life you need to appreciate every moment. a lot of people don’t appreciate the moment until it’s passed.”

• “Creative output, you know, is just pain. I’m going to be cliche for a minute and say that great art comes from pain.”

• “People always say that you can’t please everybody. I think that’s a cop-out. Why not attempt it? ‘Cause think of all the people you will please if you try.”

The Social World

Here are the social media stats of Kanye:

• Facebook: 8.2 million followers
• Instagram: 16.2 million followers
• Twitter:30.8 million followers
• YouTube: 8.5 million subscribers

Lessons for Entrepreneurs

Kanye is an exemplary figure for all. Here are some leading life lessons we can all adopt into our lives:

1. Follow your Spiritual Life. Kanye is one of the few rap artists with a solid connection to his spiritual life. He explicitly mentions his relationship with God in several of his songs. Follow your religion. Having a strong spiritual outlook can eradicate your worries and smoothen difficult paths.

2. Believe in Yourself. We all know that his album “The College Dropout” was flawless. But here’s a catch; it was widely criticized by experts who did not believe in his talent. Kanye stood against the odds and demonstrated his worth to the world, as noted by his saying, “I still think I am the greatest.”

3. Make Wise Decisions. When Roc-a-Feller split, Kanye chose to work with Jay-Z instead of Damon Dash. But do you know why he made that decision? It was because Jay-Z was different from him. This decision paid off when they launched the album “Watch the Throne.” 

The Unusual Stuff

Here are some of the exciting facts about Kanye that we bet you didn’t of:

• He once opened two burger restaurants called “Fatburger.”

• Kanye changed his legal name to “Ye” in 2021.

• He is one of the lucky few entertainers to appear on the cover of Time Magazine.

• Michael Jackson, admiring his fashion sense, asked him about the jacket in the music video of “Strange.”

Answering Frequent Questions

Do Kanye West and Taylor Swift have a feud?

At the MTV VMAs in 2009, Kanye disturbed Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech by stating that Beyoncé deserved the “Best Female Video” award instead. This became a public feud and remains unsolved today.

Is Kanye richer than Drake?

Yes, Kanye is richer. Even though Drake has had a highly successful run in recent years, Kanye’s business ventures have proven lucrative and make him wealthier than the latter.

Does Kanye have a song with billion streams?

His song “Stranger,” which he released back in 2007, has been streamed a whopping one billion streams on Spotify.

The Closing Remarks

Kanye West is arguably hip-hop’s most controversial artist. Today, if you turn on the favorite radio in your car or jump into Spotify for music, there’s a good chance you will hear his innovative rap-induced beats. 

Having almost a dozen Grammy Awards, a total of 21 million album sales, the famous Yeezy brand valued at billions of dollars, and dating the most popular women on the planet, there’s truly nothing that Kanye falls short of.