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Kanye West is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, and fashion designer. Most of West’s fortune is due to his brand Yeezy, which is associated with Adidas in the production of limited-edition sneaker and with Gap to manufacture clothes for men, women, and kids. The partnerships are valued at $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion. Yeezy grew 31% to nearly $1.7 billion in annual revenue in 2020, netting royalties of $191 million. The Gap agreement could be worth $970 million of that total. He also has $122 million in cash and stock, and more than $1.7 billion in other assets, including an investment in his ex-wife's business, Skims, Kim Kardashian’s underwear label. Besides, West’s music catalog is worth $110.5 million.
He earned $150 million in 2019 and $170 million in 2020 and ranked second in the 2020 World’s Highest-Paid Celebrities list made by Forbes. West is one of the best-selling music artists of all time and has won 22 Grammy Awards, making him the most Grammy-awarded artist of his generation. On July 19, 2020, he held his first campaign for President and dropped his candidacy on October 12. West has an estimated net worth of $1.8 billion as of March 2021, while other media outlets estimated Kanye West to be the richest black man in history, with a net worth of $6.6 billion, although this valuation is based on future earnings from Yeezy Shoes and Yeezy Gap deals which have not yet launched.
West began his relationship with the by then reality-TV star Kim Kardashian in April 2012. They got engaged in October 2013, and married in May 2014 in Italy. The couple has four children: daughter North (2013), son Saint (2015), daughter Chicago (2018), and son Psalm (2019). West and Kardashian divorced in February 2021. Although it is unknown what will happen to their real estate portfolio, they own several properties. The former home of the couple, a 15,000-square-foot house in Los Angeles, is valued at $60 million. This property may be the hardest asset that West and Kardashian will have to deliberate about in their settlement agreement because he owns the house and she owns the land around it. Prior to purchasing their main home, the couple lived in a house in Bel Air, California, that they bought in 2013 for $9 million. West and Kardashian also own a 3,900-square-foot house on a 4.5 acres lot next to their main house for which they paid almost $3 million, and another adjacent lot of 1.5 acres purchased for $2.7 million. Another property the couple own is the headquarter of Kanye’s Yeezy brand in Calabasas, California. In 2019, West and Kardashian bought a 320-acre parcel of land near their main home, a plot of land in La Quinta, California, and two acres in the same town, the last one for $6.3 million. By the end of that year, he bought a $15 million, a 12,000-acre ranch in Cody, Wyoming.
Kanye Omari West was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 8, 1977. His mother was Donda Williams, a professor of English at Clark Atlanta University and Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University, then West's manager until she died in 2007. His father is Ray West, who used to be a photojournalist for the Atlanta Journal newspaper. After his parents divorced when West was three years old, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where was raised in a middle-class neighborhood by his mother and spent summers with his father. West started rapping in the third grade and began making music in the seventh grade. Eventually, he became friends with the DJ and producer No I.D, who taught him how to program beats after West received his first sampler at the age of 15. He graduated from Polaris High School and won a scholarship to study at Chicago's American Academy of Art in 1997, where West began taking painting classes, but quickly enrolled at Chicago State University to study English. When he was 20, he dropped out of college to pursue a musical career.
West started his musical career creating beats on demand in Chicago and spent much of the late 1990s working as a record producer for a number of well-known musicians. He became known in 2000 when he began to produce for artists on Roc-A-Fella Records. West achieved recognition in 2001 with his contributions to Jay-Z’s rap album The Blueprint, listed 50th on the 2020 edition of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Times ranking published by Rolling Stone magazine each year.
In order to pursue a career as a rapper, West released his debut album, The College Dropout, in February 2004. The record has sold 4 million copies in the United States until November 2020, reached number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, and is listed on the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Times ranking published by Rolling Stone. The lyrics talk about consumerism, higher education, racism, and his religious beliefs. For The College Dropout West won two Grammy Awards, Best Rap Song for “Jesus Walks” and Best Rap Album.
West released a total of nine albums, all of them being successful and widely recognized. For his third album, Graduation, released in September 2007 he won three Grammy Awards, Best Rap Solo Performance for “Stronger”, Best Rap Song for “Good Life”, and Best Rap Album. In November 2008, West published his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak. The record has sold 3 million copies in the United States until November 2020 and is listed on the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Times. His ninth and last album, Jesus is King, was released in October 2019. The record has sold 500,000 copies in the United States until June 2020. Jesus is King won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album in March 2021.
This article was updated on March 23rd, 2021 by Andres Taurian
Earnings & Financial Data
|
Date |
Category |
Description |
Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2020 |
Earnings |
$170,000,000 |
|
|
2019 |
Asset |
12,000-acre ranch in Cody, Wyoming |
$15,000,000 |
|
2019 |
Earnings |
$150,000,000 |
|
|
2019 |
Asset |
Two acres of land in La Quinta, California |
$6,300,000 |
|
2018 |
Earnings |
$27,500,000 |
|
|
2018 |
Earnings |
$62,500,000 |
|
|
2017 |
Contract |
$22,000,000 |
|
|
2016 |
Earnings |
$17,500,000 |
|
|
2015 |
Earnings |
$22,000,000 |
|
|
2014 |
Earnings |
$30,000,000 |
|
|
2013 |
Earnings |
$20,000,000 |
|
|
2012 |
Earnings |
$35,000,000 |
|
|
2011 |
Earnings |
$16,000,000 |
|
|
2010 |
Earnings |
$12,000,000 |
|
|
2008 |
Earnings |
$30,000,000 |
|
|
2007 |
Earnings |
$17,000,000 |
