In early June, an influential financial publication Forbes published a list of the richest rap artists. The wealthiest rapper in the world is a hip-hop artist Jay-Z, the husband of the famous R’n’B singer Beyoncé. In early 2000s he sang: «I’m already the G.O.A.T. — next stop is the billie». So it happened: today the musician’s capital is one billion dollars. Jay-Z became the first owner of a billion dollars in the history of hip-hop culture.
The rapper invested in a private company Uber, music service Tidal, alcohol production company Armand de Brignac и D`Uss. The musician gains his profit from concerts and Roc Nation service, and also a partnership with the recording Studio Def Jam. The real estate of Jay-Z and his wife Beyoncé is estimated at $50 million, and the collection of art objects — $ 70 million.
The younger generation of hip-hop artists takes Jay-Z as an example of success. TV presenter and novice rapper Fab 5 Freddy believes that Jay-Z — an example of how to make the real American dream come true.
Second place — Dr. Dre, $800 million
Five years ago, Dr. Dre. declared himself the owner of a billion dollars. However, Forbes did not confirm this information about his financial condition. In 2014, the musician sold his line of headphones Beats by Dr. Dre to Apple for three billion dollars. He owned approximately 20-25% of the company’s shares. For the deal with Apple, hip-hop artist received an advance of about $500 million. Only last summer the company paid Dr. Dre remaining fee, however, even this did not help him top the Forbes’s list.
In recent years, the artist has put his music in the background. Dr. Dre invested his money in real estate and charity. He bought a huge Villa in California for $40 million. Together with partner Jimmy Iovine, he also invested $70 million in the development of the Academy of Arts at the University of Southern California.
Third place — Diddy, $740 million
Hip-hop artist Diddy earned his first money at the age of 12 by selling newspapers. He admitted this in an interview in the anniversary issue of Forbes. At that time the edition considered Diddy to be the wealthiest and most influential rap artist.
Now the musician takes the third place in the list of the richest rappers. Market fluctuations have a negative impact on his business projects. The most unprofitable were the cable business Revolt and the clothing brand Sean John.
However, the rapper Diddy owns a successful business as well. For example, the production of luxury vodka Ciroc. Products give the musician a lot of money, as the volume of sales has increased in recent years. According to Forbes, Diddy will soon replace Jay-Z and become a billionaire.
Fourth place — Kanye West, $240 million
The famous performer and husband of epotage Kim Kardashian Kanye West ranks fourth in the list of wealthy colleagues. Recently, the musician can be spotted at private Sunday services on the South coast. West also held an Easter service at the largest Coachella festival.
In 2016, the musician told about his debt of $53 million. Then he suggested the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to invest one billion dollars in his projects. In 2019, Kanye West still entered the top five wealthy artists in hip-hop culture, but thanks to another source of investment. Kanye West has a partnership with the sports brand Adidas for more than one year. Prior to this brand, the artist had a contract with Nike. This collaboration with Adidas brings huge income to the rapper, his line of sneakers Yeezy is gaining more and more popularity. According to Forbes, if Yeezy sales do not stop growing, Kanye West will become a billionaire thanks to the business.
Fifth place — Drake, $150 million
Concludes the list of the richest hip-hop artists 32-year-old canadian rapper Drake. But he is already catching up with his colleagues: over the past year, his musician’s capital has doubled. Drake has invested in real estate and in its own brand of whiskey Virginia Black. The rapper cooperates with the XS Nightclub in Las Vegas, which also brings the rapper a large fee.
In 2013, the musician admitted that earning more money is one of his main goals. And he sticks to the plan: since that time, the average price tag for one concert of the artist has grown from $500,000 to more than two million dollars.
