Kanye West’s Twitter rants are on their way to becoming the greatest meme of 2016. His 140-character diatribes have covered a wide array of topics, ranging from declarations that he pioneered the field of male skinny jeans and claiming paternity of Wiz Khalifa’s offspring, to passionately lobbying for lowering the cost of college textbooks and calling himself “our generation’s Disney.” He has truly proven himself a mutli-issue candidate, and should have no issues navigating the battlefield of presidential debates, come 2020.
However, the rapper, fashion designer, and self-proclaimed deity made one announcement via Twitter that left people scratching their heads. On February 13, Kanye not only claimed that he is a whopping $53 million in debt, but he also asked Mark Zuckerberg (who doesn’t have a Twitter) for a personal donation of $1 billion. He also mentioned Google co-founder Larry Page, saying, “Hey, Larry Page, I’m down for your help too…” and ended the suggestive request with an ellipsis that leaves the reader wondering, "Is he really down for Page’s help?” It’s all so unclear. Granted, begging someone for money on Twitter isn’t exactly the most formal of business deals, but the fact remains that Kanye has truly proven himself as a trailblazer. This is the first time in recorded history God himself has asked for a loan.
While some sources are questioning the gravity of Kanye’s claims of financial crisis, I thought it might be fun to examine exactly how much $53 million is.
Let’s play a numbers game.
Here are some fun things you can do with the amount of money Kanye apparently owes!
1. Attend Harvard University about 203 times.
The estimated total cost of attendance for one year of Harvard undergraduate for 2015-2016 is about $65,000 (give or take a few thousand). Multiply that by 4, and a complete undergrad experience costs you about $260,000. That goes into $53 million about 203.8 times. Maybe with 203 bachelor’s degrees you could finally land an internship.
2. Buy 10,600 Chick-fil-A franchises.
I don’t know much about economics, so I’m not even sure if this is allowed (or possible). Additionally, you could also buy 8,907,563 8-piece nugget combos.3. Buy 632,835 of the most expensive Starbucks drink ever ordered.
In 2014, a man ordered a grande latte with 99 extra shots of espresso. It cost him $83.75. That’s 101 espresso shots. If you used all of Kanye’s debt to buy this drink, you would consume 63,916,335 shots of espresso.4. Pay off approximately .000279 percent of the American national debt.
I think this speaks for itself.5. Support a little under four hours of the war in Iraq.
According to 2014 non-partisan Congressional reports, the war in Iraq has cost approximately $14 million an hour. Kanye’s debt could financially support a little less than four hours of a war that has lasted 13 years.6. Book 53 private Beyoncé concerts.
If you couldn’t get tickets to the Formation World Tour, fear not! With Kanye’s debt you can experience the Queen all by yourself, 53 times!7. Buy 335,443 of that hat Pharrell wore to the Grammys that one time.
8. Buy 24 complete Gutenberg Bibles.
How appropriate, seeing as Kanye believes he wrote it himself.9. Buy Ted Cruz, 15 times.
The presidential hopeful has a reported net worth of $3.5 million. Considering his high polling numbers and decent success in early primaries, maybe Kanye could buy him to get some campaign tips for #Kanye2020. First tip: Don’t start a mediocre fashion line and then sell your ripped sweatshirts for $2,600.
(You could buy 20,384 of those ripped sweatshirts and never have to do laundry again.)
10. Download "The Life of Pablo" zero times if you don’t have Tidal
Because obviously the best way to make money is to exclusively release your music onto streaming website that gets a general reaction of “Nah,” “What is that?” or “Why would I pay even more for a slightly better version of Spotify?”
If you feel for Kanye and you’d like to help ensure he can truly achieve his creative visions, you can donate to this GoFundMe right here.
