An Evaluation of the Individual’s Contribution to Society in Terms of Net Worth — or, I’m in the Wrong Profession. Plz Help.

Why rap? Well, from a business standpoint, if you hit, you’re likely to make more money than you ever could in any other profession. Let that sink in. No college degree, no high school diploma, just raw linguistic effort.

Unpopular opinion: people who make minimum wage do not contribute much to society. That’s not even my opinion. That’s fact. Think about it. Whatever you’re doing to earn $7.25 per hour is only worth $7.25 per hour to the person paying you. No matter how hard you work at that task, the benefit you are giving to the person who is paying you will never be more than a meager $7.25 per hour. In 8 hours, you’ll earn $58 because the person that pays you thinks that’s how much your time was worth doing that task.

Now take someone with 12 years of primary education preK-12, 4 years of undergraduate study, and then an additional 3 years of graduate coursework, say for an MBA, J.D., or other advanced degree. 19 years of schooling. 3 years of advanced, typically expensive education. Let’s say the end salary is $140,000. Not bad. Depends where you live, what your tastes are, who you need to support, but overall a long way from $7.25 per hour.

Consider Lil Pump (est. net worth 8 million), Yung Joc ($10 million est. net worth), the Game ($25 million est. net worth), and a score of other rappers with similar 7 figure earnings. Upon information and belief, Lil Pump never graduated high school. But the J.D. or MBA earning $140,000, assuming a steady income stream from age 25 to 65, will never hit the 8 million mark. The likelihood that they burnout is higher than assuming they make the right career and investment moves to reach that point.

So what am I saying? If you see the average Joe quit their job and start rapping, take on MMA (a la Connor McGregor), or something similar, they did the math. Society values what Lil Pump is doing more than what that J.D. is doing based upon how much each earns. The benefit derived from whatever Lil Pump is producing is outweighing the utility provided by the J.D., believe it or not. Think I’m wrong? I’m not. You’re just upset that society doesn’t give a shit about what you’re doing. #sorrynotsorry