Hip hop superstar Kanye West is officially a billionaire after his sneaker line was described as “one of the great retail stories of the century”, according to Forbes magazine.

The rapper and fashion designer, who has long coveted the status, is said to have a net worth valued at $1.3bn (£1.05bn).

Despite now being officially classed as a billionaire, West was unhappy with Forbes and claimed they had undervalued him.

The rapper reportedly sent a text to one of their employees reading: “It’s not a billion.

“It’s 3.3 billion since no one at Forbes knows how to count.”

Forbes has valued his Yeezy sneaker line alone at $1.26bn (£1.02bn).

The magazine reports that the brand is “challenging Nike’s Air Jordan for sneaker world supremacy” and is “one of the great retail stories of the century”.

The 42-year-old is also one of the most acclaimed and biggest-selling music artists of the last 20 years.

His GOOD Music record label and the rights to his back catalogue are worth at least $90m (£73m) in total, according to Forbes.

The magazine said the statement of assets supplied to them by West’s team lists $17m in cash (£13.7m) and $35m in stocks (£28m).

West’s other notable assets are $81m (£66m) in property and $21m (£17m) in land, according to his team.

The rapper and his wife, the reality TV star Kim Kardashian, are known to own several properties in Los Angeles and Wyoming.

Forbes, which stressed there was a lack of independent verification for its figures, has listed West as having debt of about $100m (£81m).

That adds up to a net worth of $1.3bn (£808m) in total, the magazine said.

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