cent are the richest Hip Hop artists in the world
currently...in that order. Didddy is now worth $700million.
Wow! See the full report below...
Back in 2007, Sean “Diddy” Combs teamed with Jay Z
and 50 Cent to create a song titled “I Get Money:
Forbes 1-2-3 Billion Dollar Remix.” Less than a
decade later, rappers are closing in on ten-figure
fortunes, and he’s the nearest of the bunch.
Diddy leads the pack with an estimated fortune of
$700 million, an increase of $120 million over his net
worth last year. The change comes largely from the
addition of Revolt TV—the new, music-focused, multi-
platform channel of which he’s the majority owner—to
his already-hefty portfolio.
Diddy has plenty of competition in the race to $1
billion. His top challengers are Dr. Dre, who ranks
second with $550 million, and Jay Z, in third place
with an estimated $520 million. The former
leapfrogged the latter on this year’s Forbes Five
thanks to a large stake in Beats By Dr. Dre, which he
cofounded with Interscope chief Jimmy Iovine in
2008.
The company controls an astounding two-thirds of
the premium headphone market, with annual sales
reportedly in excess of $1 billion and growing.
Private equity firm Carlyle invested $500 million for a
minority stake last year, pushing Beats’ value past
$1 billion and likely closer to $2 billion.
“Beats has a unique brand—it speaks to a nice young
demographic, which is really interesting to
marketers,” says Peter Csathy, former president of
Musicmatch, an early digital music purveyor acquired
by Yahoo YHOO +0.11% in 2004 for $160 million.
“When I think about Beats, I think about it as a
lifestyle, I think of it as a media company, not just a
hardware and music-focused company.”
Jay Z’s fortune continues to grow at a healthy clip,
too. He’s made multiple nine-figure deals in the past,
including his $204 million Rocawear sale in 2007 and
his $150 million pact with Live Nation in 2008. But
much of his recent growth comes from Roc Nation,
his record label and management firm that recently
added a sports agency. The outfit gets a single-digit
cut of pacts like Robinson Cano’s $240 million
monster agreement.
Bryan “Birdman” Williams, whose net worth would be
over $300 million if he didn’t share his fortune with
brother Ronald “Slim” Williams. The duo cofounded
Cash Money Records two decades ago; Cash Money
continues to grow with a roster that includes Drake,
Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne. Birdman has also
diversified with Cash Money Content, GT Vodka and
the YMCMB clothing line.
Rounding out the list is 50 Cent, who owes most of
his fortune to his $100 million haul from the sale of
Vitaminwater in 2007. Now he’s trying to repeat the
feat with companies like SMS Audio and
SK Energy beverages. In the meantime, he’ll reboot
his music career by taking his G-Unit Records
independent and releasing new album Animal
Ambition in June.
Culled from Forbes.
Note: This story is an expanded version of a piece that ran
in the May 5, 2014 issue of FORBES magazine.
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