Kanye West made $115M in 2018 but still racked up $35M in debt
Rapper appeared on late night television to discuss his debt and how he miraculously bounced back
World-famous rapper Kanye West opened up to late-night talk show host James Corden about how he was recently in $35 million of debt, but was off the hook after he received a $68 million tax refund.
“God is using me as a human being, as humbly as I can put it, he’s using me to show off,” the musician told Corden approximately 13 minutes into a recent segment of "Airpool Karaoke" – usually called “Carpool Karaoke” on “The Late Late Show with James Corden.”
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“Last year, I made $115 million and still ended up $35 million in debt,” he said. “This year, I looked up and I just got $68 million returned to me on my tax returns. And people say, ‘Don’t talk about these numbers.’ ”
West, who has four kids with wife Kim Kardashian, was on the CBS talk show promoting his new Sunday Service experience and was joined by his Sunday Service choir. He topped Forbes’ list of “The World’s 20 Top-Earning Hip-Hop Stars with $150 million, beating out rapper Jay-Z by $69 million, according to the magazine.
“God’s always had a plan for me, and he always wanted to use me, but I think he wanted me to suffer more and wanted people to see my suffering and see my pain and put stigmas on me and have me go through all the experiences —the human experiences,” he said earlier in the roughly 20-minute segment.
So now, when I talk about how Jesus saved me, more people can relate to that experience … this guy had a mental breakdown, this guy was in debt…
West is prominent in the music and fashion industries and launched the shoe line Yeezy in 2015. The Yeezy line is expected to rake in upwards of $1.5 billion in sales, according to the magazine.
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His 'Late Late Show' announcement was not the first time the rapper has spoken publicly about his personal finances.
West reportedly incurred $16 million of debt growing the fashion brand, he proudly told BET in 2015.
"I was trying to play a sport that's a billionaire sport. It's not a millionaire sport and I'm proud of the debt,” he told BET. “I don't care about somebody's Ghost (Phantom) or somebody's house. I care about my vision."
In February 2016, he announced via Twitter he was in $53 million debt. The tweets have since been removed from the page, but in the posts, he allegedly said he incurred the debt while pursuing the fashion industry, Vanity Fair reported at the time.
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He made a failed attempt at his fashion label, Pastelle, in 2009, but the venture lasted only approximately seven months, according to the report. He also tried his hand at a self-titled women’s clothing line in 2011 for which West reportedly lost $30 million, according to Vanity Fair, which cited French fashion designer Jean Touitou, who has worked with West in the past. The brand never hit stores.
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He filed a trademark for “Sunday Service” in July under his holding company, Mascotte Holdings Inc., WWD reported. The trademark was established for “bottoms, dresses, footwear, headwear, jackets, loungewear, scarves, shirts, socks and tops.”
West released new music on Oct. 27 as part of the “Jesus is King” album, which is part of the "Sunday Service experience," according to his tweet. Album-related merchandise is sold on his website, and the items vary in price from $10 for a digital album to $260 for a sweatshirt emblazoned with the words “Jesus is King,” inside a cross, and “Kanye" and "West" above and below the cross.