Kanye West has done a lot of things in his life. Produced music, rapped across the world, started a brand that managed to compete with Nike within a couple of years, and much more. This has led many people to question just how privileged Kanye is, and whether his upbringing and his family had something to do with his success.
Kanye West was raised in a textbook middle-class environment. His father was a photographer, and his mother was a schoolteacher. His family did not have any significant amount of money or connections. As such, his wealth seems to be a product of his struggle alone.
Let’s take a look at how Kanye’s life as a child, and how he accumulated his billion dollars.
Kanye’s Early Life
Kanye was born to Ray West and Donda West on June 8, 1977. Ray was a photographer by profession, and a member of the Black Panther political movement. Donda was a schoolteacher. None of his parents lived extravagantly, but unlike a lot of other rappers, Kanye does not come from poverty.
At the age of 3, Kanye’s parents divorced. This led to him living with his mother during most of the year and then living with his father in the summer months. Kanye is an only child, but he does have step-siblings from his father’s second marriage. That said, Kanye does not seem to be close with his extended family.
Kanye also spent a year in China where his mother worked as a lecturer. Once he came back, he went through high school and got into college. However, he quit college after a year to focus on his music career. The rest, as they say, is history.
How Kanye Made His Money
Kanye is a self-made man. He initially began producing music. Kanye has produced for a lot of well-known artists ranging from Jay-Z and Mariah Carey to Ludacris and Alicia Keys. Eventually, Kanye transitioned into making music of his own.
Kanye has debuted numerous albums at the number one spot of the Billboard charts. He has a total of 69 Grammy nominations with 21 victories. This makes him one of the most successful hip-hop artists in history. In fact, the only artist that can claim to be equal to Kanye is Jay-Z, who has been similarly decorated throughout his career.
Despite making millions from his music career, Kanye did not have a lot of cash on hand. This was mainly due to his extravagant lifestyle, something which we are fully aware of to this day.
If you watch the video above, you will notice that Kanye is a billionaire. The vast majority of his wealth was accumulated quite recently, and it had nothing to do with music. Kanye, being as famous as he is, decided to enter the footwear business.
Yeezy is a brand that needs no introduction, and it is the sole reason for Kanye being as rich as he is. While Kanye is the only owner of the brand, it is currently operated by Adidas. Kanye is paid a 10% royalty from the revenues generated by the sneakers. Still, considering the fact that he was deeply in debt just a few years ago but is a billionaire now, it is obvious that Yeezy is a raging success.
Kanye has never stopped progressing through his life. Despite coming from a humble background, Kanye has now become an acquaintance of the current US President Donald Trump.