Through the years, Kanye West has gone by countless names: The Louis Vuitton Don, Ye, Yeezy, Yeezus, Pablo and, uh, Martin Louis the King Jr. But his latest moniker might just take the cake.
“When people say it’s crass to call yourself a billionaire, I say I might legally change my name to Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West for a year until y’all understand exactly what it is,” the 21-time Grammy winner, 42, said during a surprise appearance at the Fast Company Innovation Festival in New York City on Thursday, November 7. “It will be on the license plate.”
West, who begged Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckerberg for $1 billion in a 2016 Twitter rant, has repeatedly referred to himself as a billionaire in recent weeks. However, Forbes estimated his net worth at $240 million in June, with the majority of his fortune coming from his Yeezy brand and not his music.
The “Gold Digger” rapper admitted on Apple Music’s Beats 1 in October that he was not happy about Forbes dubbing his sister-in-law Kylie Jenner a billionaire and not him. He called the news a “stab.”
“When I did Forbes, I showed them a $890 million receipt and they still didn’t say ‘billionaire,’” he elaborated while speaking on stage at Thursday’s festival. “They don’t want us to know that we can buy land; they don’t want us to have the 100 percent ownership [that] I have at Yeezy.”
West then shifted the conversation to his political ambitions, revealing that he pushed back his plans to run for the Oval Office in the 2020 election.
“When I run for president in 2024 —” he began as the audience chuckled. “What y’all laughing at?”
The Chicago native, who previously expressed support for President Donald Trump, went on to say he would “create so many jobs” if he were elected.
