Kanye West Net Worth

EARLY LIFE

Born on the 8th of June, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia, Kanye West is a threat on four fronts as a producer, songwriter, record executive, and rapper.

His album has sold millions and his lyrics are sung by renowned recording acts like Brandy, Usher, and Alicia Keys. He was raised on the South Side of Chicago by his mother, who is an English professor,but spent his summers with his father who is an award-winning photographer who later became a church counselor.

West graduated from Polaris High School and completed a year of art school at Chicago State University. In a 2004 interview with Ebony magazine, he explained his decision to drop out of school to Kimberly Davis. “I learned from real life better. I dropped out of school because I wasn’t learning fast enough”.

Real life to West at the time included working and rapping with local artists. He moved to New York in 2001, when he felt it was time to pursue his music career full time.

He was getting a reputation as a man who knew his jams from his mixes and beats. He was hired by respected rapper Jay-Z to produce songs for his 2001 album: The Blueprint. The album sales exceeded 420,000 in the first week alone. West went on to produce more stars including singer Beyonce and rapper Ludacris. He wanted more, even though he was doing well.

How much is Kanye West worth?

NET WORTH

Kanye West Net Worth and Salary: Kanye West placed fourth on this year’s ranking of the wealthiest hip-hop artists in the world, according to the latest issue of Forbes. He has been making the news recently for his “Sunday Service”, an invitation-only get-together, mostly in the southern part of California that is reportedly frequented by the likes of Tyler, the Creator and Courtney Love. He took the show on the road for a Coachella service on Easter Sunday, where he featured appearances by Chance the Rapper, a gospel choir, and DMX, while hawking ‘holy spirit’ sweatshirts and socks.

However, Kanye didn’t get into ten-figure territory by selling church clothes alone. Though he declared himself $53million in debt and lobbying Mark Zuckerberg for $1 billion to fund his creations in 2016, West makes his debut on this list thanks to another Firm: Adidas, that lured West and his shoe line ‘Yeezy’ from Nike several years ago.

His wealth is almost entirely predicated on a conservative estimate of the Brand’s value. He could one day join his sister-in-law Kylie Jenner as a billionaire, as it continues to scale up.

Kanye West Net Worth is currently estimated at $240 million dollars this year, 2019.

CAREER

West cut his own demo, which is essentially a recording that gives listeners an idea of the ability and style of the musician, while acting as producer to the stars, and began shopping it around. However, his calls were not returned by anyone, despite his solid reputation. In 2002, Roc-A-Fella Records, the label that signed Jay-Z, eventually gave West a chance as a rapper as they already knew he was a talented record producer. West began recording in the studio that year after signing a record deal.

He fell asleep at the wheel, on the way home from a recording session in Los Angeles, and was involved in a head-on car collision where he got a broken face and fractured jaw. West nearly died in the crash. He endured months of recovery, and his jaw was wired shut in a reconstructive surgery.

However, That didn’t stop West from moving forward with releasing the album.  While talking to Ebony Magazine, he explained the ordeal: “I felt like the album was my medicine for my condition, because it would take my mind away from the pain— dental appointments, from my mouth being wired shut, from my teeth killing me, from the fact that I looked like I just fought Tyson…. I almost died. That’s the very best thing that can happen to any rapper.”

West returned to the studio to sing on a regular basis, with his jaw wired shut, until he was satisfied with his debut release. In fact, “Through the Wire” was the first track amongst several singles on “The College Dropout” to become a raging hit.

The song speaks about West’s ordeal. Released in 2004, the album itself, went multi platinum, selling 2.6 million copies. West told Ebony, “The best thing is being able to get my creative ideas out, that’s why I rap in the first place, so my voice can be heard.”

“The College Dropout” was touted as one of the best albums of the year. Kanye West was praised for taking hip-hop in a new direction by Critics. Songs on the album talked about walking with God while trying to “be real”, and he said it all with a gospel choir singing his backups. Miri Ben-Ari, a hip-hop violinist worked with him on the Album 

UniversalUrban.com called Kanye “one of a precious few rappers that actually have something to say in his songs.” West admitted he writes lyrics on topics that are not usually covered in rap music.

He told Universal Urban, “it’s like if you wanna rap like Jay-Z, it’s hard not to rap about what Jay is rapping about. Once I discovered how to rap about drugs, and exactly how to rap about say no to drugs, I knew at once that I could fill the void between that. I have a song about whatever you’ve been through in the past week on my album.

MARRIAGE

West is married to Television personality, Kim Kardashian, when they started dating, Kim was still married to Kris Humphries and people believed it was a publicity stunt, just like marriage.

West and Kardashian, however, shocked the world in 2014 when they got married. They both seemingly came from different worlds but looked so happy together. They have been married for five years and have four kids together.