Jay-Z Tops Hip-Hop’s Wealthiest Artists; Kanye West’s Internet Value Drops

Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs are the wealthiest present hip-hop acts, in keeping with an inventory compiled by former longtime Forbes editor Zack O’Malley Greenberg.

These lists have been pretty predictable in recent times, however as Greenberg notes, Kanye West’s latest anti-Semitic remarks led many companies to drag out of their relationships with him, most notably Adidas, and triggered his internet price to drop dramatically from billionaire standing. Consequently, his “two-year run in ten-figure territory is over—and hip-hop’s wealth hierarchy has seen its largest shakeup thus far,” Greenberg wrote on his Zogblog substack.

Thus, Jay-Z has retaken the highest spot on the checklist with a private document $1.5 billion, because of his diversified empire, with investments in every part from data to actual property and spirits to startups. Diddy ascends to billionaire standing, and newcomer Gilbert “Berner” Milam debuts because of his hashish cookie empire.

Whereas Greenberg has continued his annual “Highest Paid Hip-Hop Artists” lists since leaving Forbes, he hasn’t achieved this specific one since 2019 — and he notes that “the 5 richest artists’ mixed internet price has jumped 20% from a pre-pandemic whole of $3.17 billion.”

1. Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter ($1.5 billion)

Hip-hop’s first billionaire is as soon as once more its richest, because of his Armand de Brignac champagne and Roc Nation leisure firm, stakes in startups like Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty lingerie line and extra. Greenberg notes: “Studies of an impending sale of his half of D’Ussé cognac, particularly within the wake of Jay-Z’s different latest cash-outs, make me marvel if he’s not gearing up for a significant acquisition. NFL workforce, anybody?”

2. Sean “Diddy” Combs ($1 billion)

Diddy turns into hip-hop’s third billionaire because of his Cîroc partnership with Diageo and takes in DeLeón tequila Revolt, alongside together with his music catalog, startup investments and different belongings.

3. Kanye “Ye” West ($500 million)

Whereas he would possibly boast of dropping $2 billion in a day (one other questionable declare), West stays very rich, because of his 5% stake in ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s $3.2 billion shapewear line, his profitable music catalog and Yeezy, his battered however nonetheless precious footwear line.

4. Gilbert “Berner” Milam ($410 million)

The Bay Space rapper’s booming Cookies hashish enterprise sells 2,000 totally different marijuana-related merchandise throughout its 48 shops in seven international locations and 20 U.S. states, as Greenberg notes — and with legalization coming to extra states, he’s more likely to get even larger.

5. Andre “Dr. Dre” Younger ($400 million)

Whereas Dre’s assertion that he was the “first billionaire in hip-hop” didn’t fairly play out numerically (his internet price peaked at $800 million after taxes took a piece of the $3 billion Beats by Dre sale). He’s appeared much less enthusiastic about pursuing the billionaire landmark, nonetheless, uniting with Beats cofounder Jimmy Iovine to place $70 million into founding a faculty on the College of Southern California, spending $40 million on Tom Brady and Giselle Bundchen’s Los Angeles mansion and having a expensive divorce settlement. Even with all that, he’s nonetheless D-R-E.