Ye, formerly known as Kanye Omari West, is widely regarded as one of the most influential hip hop musicians and producers of his generation. In the early 2000s, Ye produced a number of singles for several artists, but was intent on pursuing a solo career. He released his debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004), to critical and commercial success. He then founded the record label G.O.O.D Music later that year.One of the world's best-selling music artists, with over 160 million records sold, West has won 22 Grammy Awards and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. Six of Ye's albums were included on Rolling Stone's 2020 "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.As a fashion designer, he has collaborated with Nike, Louis Vuitton and The Gap. He designed sneakers as part of the Yeezy collaboration with Adidas. He is also the founder and head of the creative content company Donda. In 2020, West launched an unsuccessful independent presidential campaign.This year, Ye faced backlash and lost a number of sponsors and partnerships, including his collaboration with Adidas, The Gap, and Balenciaga. It came after he publicly made antisemitic statements. Before this, Forbes estimated net worth was $400 million. But this wasn't enough for Ye, who constantly emailed Forbes infuriated that his net worth wasn't listed as more than a billion dollars.
The Yeezy/Adidas Deal Accounted For $1.5 billion Of Ye's Net Worth
“Adidas cannot drop me,” said the rapper, who legally now goes by the name “Ye,” on the Drink Champs podcast earlier this month. But Ye, who has worked with Adidas since 2013 on his Yeezy sneakers, got a rude awakening. His words put the German athletic wear company, with its own Nazi ties, in a very uncomfortable position. For weeks, Adidas stayed silent, except to say on October 6 that their partnership with Ye was “under review.”
The pressure increased on Adidas after an image was released over the weekend of a banner draped over a Los Angeles highway overpass reading “Kanye was right about the Jews.”
Adidas gets an estimated 4% to 8% of its sales from Yeezy products, according to investment bank Cowen. For Ye, it was an even bigger deal, accounting for $1.5 billion of his net worth. But after weeks of silence, Adidas finally got tough.
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness,” the company declared in a press release. “After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”
That move will cost them big, but Ye even more, immediately knocking him out of the billionaire ranks.
Ye Blasted 'Forbes' In Various Emails For Not Listing Him As A Billionaire
Without Adidas, Ye is worth $400 million. The remainder of Ye’s fortune comes from real estate, his music catalog and a 5% stake in ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s shapewear firm, SKIMS. But while most of us would kill to be valued at half of that - Ye was not. Ye first made the Forbes list in 2020, with an estimated $1 billion fortune. “It’s not a billion,” he texted them at the time. “It’s $3.3 billion since no one at Forbes knows how to count.”
Every year the "GoldDigger" artist complained about what he perceived as "low numbers." For this year’s valuation, Ye even sent documents to the outlet claiming his Adidas partnership alone was worth $4.3 billion. West constantly complained about Forbes never officially acknowledging him as a billionaire. “I showed them an $890 million receipt, and they still didn’t say ‘billionaire,'” West allegedly told an industry panel.
Earlier this year, Forbes posted its annual billionaires list. Once again, Ye didn’t make the cut. “You know what you’re doing,” he allegedly texted staff members. “You’re toying with me and I’m not finna [lie] down and take it anymore in Jesus’ name.”
Ye Doesn't Like Being Referred To As A Rapper
Kim Kardashian revealed that Ye stormed out halfway through her monologue when she hosted Saturday Night Live. The reason? He didn't like that she referred to the 22-time winning rapper as a rapper. Last October, Kim hosted SNL, which she documented on her journey from reality star to stand-up comedian on her new Hulu show, The Kardashians.
In her opening monologue, Kim also mentioned her mother Kris Jenner, her infamous sex tape and her divorce from Ye. "I’ve been very blessed in this life, and I’m grateful for everything. All the ups, all the downs. I married the best rapper of all time. Not only that, he’s also the richest Black man in America. A talented legit genius who gave me four incredible kids. So when I divorced him, you have to know it came down to just one thing… his personality," Kim said to a chorus of laughter.
In episode 4 of The Kardashians, Kim told her sister Khloe that Ye, who flew in for Kim's SNL show in New York to support her, that he stormed out before she even finished her monologue. "He walked out on SNL like mid-monologue, so I haven’t talked to him since. He’s upset at the fact that I said, 'The reason I divorced him…,' and used the word 'divorced'. So he wished I said the word 'filed' for divorce," Kim explained.
"He was upset that I also said he was a rapper. He said, 'I’m so much more than a rapper, I can’t believe you said 'rapper.' I’ve sat there through so many speeches and things that have not been the most comfortable for me. But that was my partner and I stood by him. I would never embarrass him and walk out."