“I’ve been workin’ this grave shift and I ain’t made sh–, I wish I could buy me a spaceship and fly…past the sky.” Kanye West may finally have the chance to fulfill the manifesto made in his 2004 song “Spaceship” of having his own version of SpaceX with the latest revelation that he just may be the richest Black man in the United States.
According to People.com, Mr. West’s net worth has allegedly increased to a whopping $6.6 billion and it’s all because of his Yeezy brand and his deal with Gap. That is a more than 50 percent increase in net worth in under a year — it wasn’t long ago (April 2020) when West revealed that he had a net worth of about $3 billion — and the man is only 43 years old!
His Yeezy brand is valued by UBS Group AG to be in the range of $3.2 billion and $4.7 billion, according to People.com. Then, there’s the $1.7 billion in assets, $122 million in accessible cash, and $110 million from music.
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If you believe that this is true, then, you’re thinking one of three things — “Wow, Kim Kardashian sure knows how to pick them,” or “Sheesh, Kim Kardashian sure picked a great time to divorce Kanye,” or “Is Kanye hiring?” Don’t worry about Kim, she has business dealings of her own and several children by the “Stronger” rapper.
The oddest observation, however, is that news about West’s net worth increasing always seems to occur around announcements of former big brother Sean “Jay-Z” Carter making big business moves. Are they competing, or is this part of a grand plan? Is it even connected? I guess we won’t know until they tell us in another one of their hit songs.
That’s neither here or there, though, because if the reports are true, then that would make Kanye West the richest Black man in America. The financial publication Forbes, who has a history of attempting to humble the rapping producer, denies that West is this wealthy. According to a scathing article published on Thursday, Forbes claimed that West is not the richest Black person in America.
“Reports that the celebrity is worth nearly $7 billion are based on the magical thinking around sales that don’t exist yet,” a quote from the article written by Madeline Berg states. “This is why he’s currently worth less than one-third of that.”
The publication goes on to say that West is attempting to “inflate his net worth” and that the purported $4.7 billion evaluation is a mere estimate of probable or projected sales from the Yeezy Gap release this summer.
Berg continues, “It’s not true, based on our calculations. Forbes estimates he’s worth less than a third of that, or $1.8 billion. That’s a big jump from last May when Forbes first pegged his net worth to be $1.3 billion, but nowhere near as much as the purported $6.6 billion.”
