Kanye West Asks for Prayers After Announcing He's $53M in Debt
Rap artist Kanye West recently asked for prayers after claiming he is $53 million in "personal debt."
In a frantic series of tweets before his appearance on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" on February 13, West announced his alleged financial struggles.
"I write this to you my brothers while still 53 million dollars in personal debt [...] Please pray we overcome [...] This is my true heart [...]," West tweeted on Saturday evening.
On Sunday morning, the "Yeezus" creator then went on to ask Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for help, writing: "Mark Zuckerberg invest 1 billion dollars into Kanye West ideas […] after realizing he is the greatest living artist and greatest artist of all time."
The famed musical artist also targeted other tech billionaires, including Google co-founder Larry Page and all "you dudes in San Fran play rap music in your homes but never help the artists."
"You love hip hop, you love my art [...] I am your favorite artist but you watch me barely breathe and still play my album in your house [...]," West continued.
The "Gold Digger" artist went on to tell Zuckerberg that "one of the coolest things you could ever do is to help me in my time of need," adding, "and I will always respect you for that and the world will love you [...]"
"All you guys had meetings with me and no one lifted a finger to help […]," the rapper added.
West debuted two songs off of his new album The Life of Pablo in his appearance on "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, including "Highlights" and "Ultralight Beam." The album has received positive reviews ahead of its general release.
While West's fans have pleaded with him to drop his new album on music sharing websites like Spotify and iTunes, the 38-year-old musician confirmed in his long-winded social media rant that he will only be releasing the new compilation on Tidal, a music sharing platform started by fellow artist Jay Z.
"Please for all music lovers. Please subscribe to tidal!!! I decided not to sell my album for another week. Please subscribe to tidal," West tweeted on Sunday.
West also plugged Tidal during his "SNL" performance, when he told the audience to subscribe to the music streaming service.
Although West has had a momentously successful music career, several media outlets stipulated that the rapper may have hit financial trouble when he began his foray into fashion in 2005.
Earlier this month, West rented out Madison Square Garden in New York City to debut his third fashion collection and allow a select number of fans to listen to his new album before its general release.
Since his string of Saturday tweets, the artist has not elaborated on what he owes his debt to.
Despite his claims, West has not been desperate enough to take money from controversial pharmaceutical entrepreneur Martin Shkreli, who, last week, offered to buy the Kanye new album for $10 million if he could be the sole owner of the record.
Shkreli made headlines in 2015 for upping the price of a cancer medication by over 5,000 percent. He was subsequently arrested by the FBI for securities fraud.