At this point, we're all well aware of Kanye West consistently being in the headlines over the past few years. More often than not, these headlines haven't been music-related. Whether it be his controversial comments or wild business decisions, it's difficult to pinpoint what move Ye may make next. However, there's no denying his ambition as a creative in a variety of lanes. From fashion to music, the majority of his net worth has come from his various clothing deals with Fortune-500 brands. However, that reputation has come to a grueling halt over the past year.
We've heard next to nothing on the musical front from Ye. Since releasing 'Donda 2' at the outset of 2022, he appears to have gone on a hiatus. However, a track titled "Someday We'll All Be Free," an unreleased snippet seeing Ye address his controversy, was circling around the Internet in December of last year. Speaking on his fallout with Kim Kardashian and his anti-Semitic comments, he's unapologetic about his actions. While we've heard snippets or unreleased cuts, it appears that his focus has shifted amidst swirling controversies and fallouts.
2022 Was a Rough Year for Ye
Ye's actions were questionable (at best) in 2022. The multi-creative hyphenate facing uncompromising scrutiny for what seemed like the entire year. From his public anti-Semitic remarks to sporting a "White Lives Matter" t-shirt at Paris Fashion Week, the results were damning for his reputation. With companies such as Balenciaga, Adidas, GAP, and Vogue reading the room of their audience, they would soon thereafter cut ties with Ye. According to Forbes, Ye's net worth has crumbled over the past 12 months. In addition, Ye is paying around $200k per month to Kim Kardashian since their divorce. Once worth approximately $2.5 billion, that amount is now reportedly $400 million.
The Chicago-born rapper and producer certainly hasn't been happy with reported estimations of his net worth. In the past, he's claimed to be worth almost 3x of his reported valuation. However, this has never been proven. Back in 2021, Forbes refuted numerous unfounded claims about his wealth. At the time, there were reports circling that Kanye was worth around $7 billion after his successful collaboration with Gap, and that he was the wealthiest black man in the America. However, there was never any concrete prove of this net worth. Many of the claimed assets that would've set his valuation closer to $7 billion were later proven not to fall under his name. Additionally, the richest black man in America title falls to Robert F Smith, the Founder/CEO of a private equity firm worth over $5 billion.
It's Been a Quiet 2023 for Ye (So Far)
It's been a far more quiet year thus far for Ye. As of March 5th, he ended his hiatus from Instagram with a post of Balenciaga's most recent collection. It's unclear whether this was meant to be a mocking or endorsing of their new drop, as they were one of multiple companies to end their partnership with Ye. Captioning the photo "Write a caption...", fans flooded the comment section with questions about where Ye has been over the past few months.
On the business end, there've recently been spiraling rumors about the relationship between Kanye West and Adidas. Various outlets were claiming that the two parties had come to a re-agreement to do business together in February. However, there's been no evidence to back this up since those reports. On the other hand, the New York Post reported that Adidas is considering eating their losses from the Yeezy brand and moving on from Ye completely.
Ye's Business Decisions are Often Hit or Miss
Kanye certainly isn't one to marinate on ideas for too long. If he has an idea, he's going to go for it. As a result, he hasn't made his shortage of questionable business decisions over the past few years. Opting to take the reigns of executing his ideas, he's proven not to be an easy person to work with. The openly bipolar artist has received criticism about his business being "cult-like." He often makes questionable demands of his business partners. For example, he wanted all of his workers to permanently relocate to his property in Cody, Wyoming back in 2021.
From his grandeur plans for the Yeezy Campus to Donda Sports Agency, Ye has had a variety of business ventures that haven't panned out over the past years. The Donda Sports Agency went up in flames back in October, with the likes of Jaylen Brown and Aaron Donald pulling out amidst his controversial actions. In addition, the company that Ye collaborated with to make the Stem Player come to life (Kano Computing) are continuing with operations of the Stem Player without Ye. Essentially, Ye's comments have alienated him from the ability to work with the right minds.