Kanye West and Jay Z Net Worth: Who is Richer?

No doubt, Jay-Z and Kanye West are one of the most influential hip-hop musicians of all time and both rappers have written their names in the sands of time. From early collaborations to brotherhood to family and friendship feuds, both musicians always find their way to the lips of fans worldwide.

The question of who is richer between Kanye West and Jay-Z always comes up as a result of the achievements both rappers have had so far, especially because they grace the same industry and have similar niches.

In this article, however, RNN discloses more details on the source of income of both billionaires and a brief history of their lives and career. Let’s begin with Jay-Z!

Jay-Z Profile and Net Worth

Jay-Z has a net worth of $1.3 billion, making him the richest rapper in the world. The musician’s source of wealth includes a clothing company, an entertainment company, and an alcohol brand. We’ll delve further into it soon, but for now, let’s see his bio.

Bio Data

Being over 35 years old in the game, Jay-Z is one of the most influential hip-hop artists in the world today. In 2013, he was listed on Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Jay-Z started out as a musician way back in 1986 and has since grown to be one of the world’s best rappers. He is known to play a key role in the commercial success of artists like Rihanna, J. Cole, and Kanye West. Yes, Kanye West.

Musical Career

Jay Z developed an interest in music when, according to his mother, he would bang out drum patterns on the kitchen table, waking his siblings up. Gloria Carter, his mother would later get him a boombox, playing an instrumental role in the development of his musical career.

Fast forward to 1994 when the rapper had his somewhat “big break” after featuring on Big Daddy Kane’s album, Daddy’s Home. During this time, people mistook Jay-Z for Big Daddy Kane’s hypeman since he was always playing minor roles on stage.

In that same year, he founded Roc-A-Fella records alongside record executive and entrepreneurs, Damon “Dame” Dash, and Kareem “Biggs” Burke. Before then, he sold CDs out of his car since there was no major label to invest in his career.

Jay-Z later made a distribution deal with Priority, releasing his 1996 debut album, “Reasonable Doubt“. The album made it to the Billboard 200 at #23 and was included in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time at No. 248, reaching Platinum status.

Later on, the rapper released a follow-up album, In My Lifetime, which reached Platinum status yet again. Since then, he has released 23 other albums including live and collaborative albums.

Album and Awards

Here’s a list of Jay-Z’s first 10 albums from 1996 to 2003.

There’s hardly a successful artist without awards of recognition for outstanding works. Jay-Z has many awards that sometimes seem difficult to count. From Bet to Grammys and the American Music Awards, here are 5 different awards won by Jay-Z over the years.

Jay -Z Business Career

If we must know who is richer between Kanye West and Jay-Z, we’ll have to examine all their sources of wealth. Although Jay-Z is popularly known as a musician, the American rapper is equally a businessman with private businesses and other investment ventures.

Let’s take a sneak peek into Jay-Z’s Businesses.

Roc-A-Wear

This is a clothing brand founded in 1999 by Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella Records’ co-founder, Damon Dash. The brand is licensed to sell affordable clothing items for children and juniors; leather, suede, handbags, belts, loungewear, and sunglasses among other items.

In 2007, Jay-Z sold his Rocawear rights to Iconix Brand Group for $204 million. He retained his stake and currently oversees marketing, licensing, and product development. The brand is reported to have annual sales of $700 million.

Roc Nation

Roc Nation is an entertainment agency founded by Jay-Z in 2008. The company has offices in New York, London, and Los Angeles. Its divisions include a record label, talent agency, sports agency, management, TV & Film, clothing line, media relations, publishing, school, philanthropy, and many more.

Roc Nation is valued at $140 million.

Top Shelf Alchohol

Jay-Z has made a mark in the world of alcohol with his two brands, Armand de Brignac and Dusse. While Armand de Brignac is his luxury champagne brand, he is a co-owner of Dusse, and both cognacs are on top shelves.

Armand de Brignac is reportedly worth $310 million while Dusse is worth $120 million.

Kanye West Profile and Net Worth

Kanye West’s net worth has dropped to $4oo million (from $2 billion) after Adidas severed ties with his Yeezy brand over his antisemitic comments.

Like Jay-Z, Kanye is equally a businessman aside from being a rapper.  Before we go thoroughly into the businesses and musical career of “Ye” (Kanye’s new name), here’s a brief bio-data on him.

Bio Data

Musical Career

Kanye West is one of the most influential artists of all time. At the age of 19, he started out as a producer for a rapper named “Grav” and later on for Deric “D-Dot” Angelettie.

In the late 1990s, Kanye formed a Chicago rap group named the “Go-Getters”, comprising himself, GLC, Timmy G, Really Doe, and Arrowstar. The group was managed by John Monopoly, Happy Lewis, and Don Crowley under the management firm “Hustle Period”.

They released only one album which was co-produced by West, Arrowstar, and Brian ‘All Day’ Miller, among others.

Later in 1998, West was signed by Gee Roberson and Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua to the management-production company, Hip Hop Since 1978 (HHS78). He spent most of his 90s producing records for both renowned and not-so-renowned artists and music groups including Foxy Brown and Harlem World.

West is also popularly known for his early production works on Jay-Z’s 6th album, “The Blueprint”. His big break came in the year 2000 when he began to produce for Roc-A-Fella artists as an in-house producer. His work on Jay-Z’s album earned him recognition and interest from other acts.

Although his success as a producer was overwhelming, Kanye West’s passion was geared toward rapping. He was however denied record deals as a rapper, mostly for his “non-gangsta persona” prominent in hip-hop at the time.

The rapper was reluctantly signed to Roc-A-Fella in 2001 where he found acceptance a year later through a song he sang with a wired jaw after a ghastly accident.

Since then, Kanye has released many hit songs and albums, making him one of the greatest and richest artists of all time.

Albums and Awards

Here’s a list of Kanye West’s albums from 2004 to date.

1. The College Dropout- 2004
2. Late Registration- 2005
3. Late Orchestration- 2006
4. Graduation- 2007
5. 808s & Heartbreak- 2008
6. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy-2010
7. Watch the Throne- 2011
8. Yeezus- 2013
9. The Life of Pablo- 2016
10. Ye- 2018
11. Kids See Ghosts- 2018
12. Jesus Is King- 2019
13. Donda- 2021 Donda
14. Donda 2- 2022

Kanye West Business Career

Before we delve into who is richer between Kanye West and Jay-Z, here’s a list of businesses owned by Kanye West.

Yeezy

Yeezy is Kanye’s fashion brand for clothing and luxury sneakers and since the first Nike Air Yeezy was released in 2009, the brand has had several collaborations with top brands like Adidas and Gap. Through this brand, Kanye became the first non-athlete to be given a deal with Nike.

Recently, Adidas and Gap both severed ties with the rapper over his antisemitic comment, causing his net worth to bleed.

DW Kanye West

DW Kanye West is the rapper’s women’s fashion label which premiered on October 11, 2011, at Paris Fashion Week. The launch was however met with negative criticisms from notable publications like The New York Times and Elle. Taking a hint from the criticisms, Kanye showed up a year later in September 2012, and impressed the same critics that talked the brand down.

Donda

Donda is a creative content company named after Kanye’s mother, Donda West. The company’s philosophy according to West is to “put creatives in a room together with like minds” as a means to “simplify and aesthetically improve everything we see, taste, touch, and feel”. 

So far, Donda has undertaken collaborations across various disciplines in the creative industry, featuring prominent contributors. Some major figures include photographer, Luis Tarin; painter George Condo; video artist/film director, Steve McQueen; stage designer, Es Devlin; performance artist, Vanessa Beecroft, and audio/visual designer, Jadis Mercado.

These are some of the businesses owned by the American rapper. They contribute massively to Kanye West’s net worth and billionaire status. Having discussed the source of income of both billionaires, here’s a conclusion on who is richer between Kanye West and Jay-Z.

Who is Richer Between Kanye West and Jay-Z?

As of October 2022, Jay Z has a net worth of $1.3 billion while Kanye West has a net worth of $400 million, per Forbes. Hence, it is safe to conclude that Jay Z is richer than Kanye West (Ye).

Jay Z is officially the richest rapper in the world and the second richest musician in the world, right after Rihanna who has a net worth of $1.4 billion.