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Kanye West should really check the price tag more often.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Sep 18, 2022
Kanye West is nothing if not over the top and his spending is no different.
According to the Forbes' net worth tracker, the “The Life of Pablo” rapper is worth a whopping $2 billion.
While most people are aware of West’s successful foray into the fashion industry with his GAP clothing line and his contract with Adidas in 2013 that brought us the Yeezy sneakers, many might forget that West was actually deep in debt some seven years ago.
After going on Twitter and revealing that he was down 53 million in personal debt and asking Mark Zuckerberg to invest 1 billion into “Kanye West ideas,” many wondered how he lost so much money in the first place.
Here are 11 expensive purchases that helped throw Kanye West into debt.
1. Kim Kardashian’s diamond rings.
When West got engaged to his former wife, Kim Kardashian, he bought her a 15-carat diamond ring that was designed by celebrity jeweler Lorraine Schwartz, according to Diamond Hedge.
The price of the ring was reportedly worth around $1.3 million, and while that pales in comparison to the $8 million ring he gifted her before they divorced, that money would have meant a lot more to him back in October 2013, just a couple of years before his debt revelation.
2. A pair of heavily-armored SUVs.
According to the automobile blog, Jalopnik, West made a Prombron purchase with Latvian car maker, Dartz.
Although the Prombron SUVs go for around $400,000 at retail, West’s heavily armored modifications ran him upwards of $1 million — for each.
The $2 million purchase was a means of protecting his family, but little did he know that the consequences of his purchase would leave him alone in protecting his bank account.
3. Expensive international jet flights.
Among the long list of stars who take an absurd amount of flights in their private jets, West reportedly made a series of expensive international flights around the time Kardashian was still pregnant with their daughter, North West.
“We're told Kanye has made at least three trips via private jet from Paris to L.A. (costing about $100k total) so that he can be in attendance for Kim on her checkups,” TMZ reported in 2013.
That’s around over $33,000 for one flight, and those are only the recorded flights — who knows how many times Kanye made these international trips.
4. Flowers for his wife on special occasions.
In 2014 alone, Kanye spent over $140,000 on flowers for his wife on two separate occasions, according to Elle.
On Valentine’s day, Kanye gifted Kardashian a thousand red roses, which cost him $3,750.
Not bad, but for Mother’s Day, Kanye went above and beyond when he ordered an entire wall of white roses, hydrangeas and peonies worth around $136,000.
Only his bank account knows what else he spent for her on her birthday.
5. Kim’s birthday Birkin and Hawai’i getaway.
Elle reported that for Kardashian’s birthday in 2014, Kanye spent $100,000 for a specially-customized Birkin bag with North’s finger paint on it.
Not only that, but he forked over an extra $3,759 dollars on her trip to Hawai’i.
6. Wedding ceremony and reception at the Belvedere Fort.
In Florence, Italy, in 2014, West and Kardashian tied the knot at the historic 16th-century Belvedere Fort, according to a spokeswoman at the Florence mayor's office, via US News.
The venue, however, didn’t come cheap.
In order to rent out the entire tourist destination and historical landmark, West spent $410,000 (300 thousand Euros at the time) — a fairly pretty penny.
7. A SoHo apartment in New York City.
Located in the expensive SoHo neighborhood in New York City, West purchased a luxurious 2000+ square foot apartment for approximately $3.14 million, according to Observer.
For several years, the NYC apartment acted as the couple’s base of operations whenever they were in the area, but they eventually sold it since they often stayed in California anyway.
8. Italian Villa in Bel-Air, California.
In 2013, West and Kardashian purchased an $11 million mansion in a private, gated community in Bel-Air, California.
TMZ reported that the 10,000-square-foot mansion would be gutted and replaced with a 14,000-square-foot Italian Villa after they finalized the purchase.
The home would reportedly feature “a gym, movie theater, full hair and makeup salon, bowling alley, basketball court, indoor and outdoor pool.”
9. Hidden Hills home for the baby.
E! News reported that, in 2014, West and Kardashian had purchased another home that was closer to Kris Jenner’s Calabasas estate — this time, in the Hidden Hills neighborhood.
They revealed that the $20 million purchase was for the baby that they had together, explaining that they wanted more land and space.
“When we bought our Bel Air house, we didn’t have a baby, we weren’t even pregnant,” Kardashian explains to People.
“After you have a baby, you realize that you need so many other things and a different kind of space. So being in the city is a different life. We wanted to be away and have more privacy.”
10. Kanye West music videos.
According to HipHopWired, two of West's music videos were among the most expensive music videos in the rap category as of 2012.
His “Touch the Sky” music video reportedly cost about $1 million, while the music video for his hit song, “Stronger” came in at approximately $1.2 million.
Widely regarded as a creative genius, West's creativity definitely costs a little more than his public reputation.
11. Yeezy Season 3 Fashion Show.
For the third season of his Yeezy fashion show, West didn’t want any ordinary venue to undertake the endeavor — he wanted Madison Square Garden.
Insiders told RadarOnline that although Adidas attempted to bargain with the rapper, he turned down any offer that wasn’t MSG.
"Adidas had offered other venues that would have cost substantially less. Those venues were turned down," the source claimed.
"Kanye wanted it to be over-the-top, and he got what he wanted. The rental fee was astronomical and Kanye had to have elaborate catwalks made too."
West reportedly spent $2 million out of pocket in order to make the fashion show happen.
It’s safe to say that West tends not to check the price tag (or his bank account) when it comes to spending money, and it landed him in some pretty muddy waters before he was able to get bailed out.
Living a life of luxury can get too expensive, even for the rich and famous, if you’re not too careful.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.