Rapper Kanye West has always been one of the most entertaining figures on Twitter, and Sunday night was no exception: the entertainer revealed he is millions of dollars in debt, and pleaded with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Larry Page to bail him out.
West originally tweeted on Feb. 13 that he “owed 53 million dollars in personal debt,” shortly after he released his latest album, The Life of Pablo, which is currently exclusive to Tidal, and rocketed that app to the No. 1 free app on the iOS App Store. Then things started to take a turn for the weird, as he then asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg “to invest 1 billion dollars into Kanye West ideas”.
Then, beginning on Sunday night, West launched his “tweet storm” of related tweets, which turned into a cross between a “Shark Tank” presentation and an out-and-out plea for cash. (Yes, it goes on for a while, but it’s worth it.)
Mark Zuckerberg I know it’s your bday but can you please call me by 2mrw…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
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 …
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
World, please tweet, FaceTime, Facebook, instagram, whatever you gotta do to get Mark to support me…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
I’m this generation’s Disney… I want to bring dope shit to the world…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
I don’t have enough resources to create what I really can…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
//
Mark, I am publicly asking you for help…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
//
one of the coolest things you could ever do is to help me in my time of need
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
//
and I will always respect you for that and the world will love you…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
hey Larry Page I’m down for your help too …
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
//
All you dudes in San Fran play rap music in your homes but never help the real artists…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
//
you’d rather open up one school in Africa like you really helped the country…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
//
All you guys had meetings with me and no one lifted a finger to help….
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
//
There’s more, of course, but we only have so much space.
One of the more interesting elements of Kanye’s tweetstorm was his business plan to “influence,” well, pretty much everything. West pointed out, correctly, that he has expanded from rap into fashion, with the new season of his fashion line, Yeezy. Unfortunately, the San Francisco VC community apparently failed to recognize West’s genius in radiant energy, healthy fast food, holograms, and “yatchs”. Sorry, Yeezy.
Kanye West’s Donda business plan. Looks feasible, no?
Why this matters: It’s worth noting that West’s plea for money comes just a short time after Martin Shkreli, co-founder of the hedge fund MSMB Capital Management and the man who gained infamy for hiking the price of a toxoplasmosis drug by 5000 percent. He was later arrested for alleged securities fraud. Shkreli, however, became even more notorious for buying an unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album, and offering to make a similar deal to buy West’s Pablo album as well. Shkreli then claimed he was swindled out of the $15 million he agreed to pay West, then making the unconfirmed claim that he had contacted Bitcoin’s creator to help him get it back. Apparently it’s just that easy to raise money these days.