Forbes unveiled its annual ranking of Hip-Hop's Wealthiest Acts on Thursday, and Jay-Z tops the list with an estimated net worth of $900 million.
Via Forbes:
Jay-Z upped his net worth from $810 million to $900 million over the past year, seizing hip-hop's cash crown for the first time since Forbes started counting back in 2011. The Brooklyn-born mogul's jump is due mostly to the rising value of his interests in Armand de Brignac champagne and D'Ussé cognac, on top of nine-figure ownership stakes in his Roc Nation empire and Tidal streaming service.
"We always complain about, 'We don't own this, we don't own that.' … Here he is, this man who owns that," superproducer Swizz Beatz told me in an interview for my book 3 Kings: Diddy, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z and Hip-Hop's Multibillion-Dollar Rise, due out March 6. "The sky is not the limit: it's just a view."
Jay-Z, Diddy and Dre are not only the wealthiest hip-hop acts on the planet, but the richest American musicians of any genre. Longtime Forbes Five champ Diddy ranks No. 2 this year despite increasing his fortune slightly in the past 12 months; tepid trends in the vodka and cable TV sectors have affected his interests in Ciroc and Revolt, but heady growth at DeLeón tequila, his joint venture with beverage giant Diageo--and massive annual earnings totals in recent years--have kept his net worth trending in the right direction.
Dre ranks third with $770 million, creeping upward thanks to the market trends boosting his nine-figure windfall from Apple's $3 billion buyout of Beats in 2014. The superproducer is also in line to receive a slug of Apple stock this summer worth well over $100 million; depending on the tech giant's share price at the time, he could leapfrog Diddy and Jay-Z when that happens.
After the top three, there's a long drop before the fourth and fifth names on the list: Drake and Eminem, tied at an even $100 million apiece. The youngest impresario of the bunch, 31-year-old Drake has earned more than $250 million since 2010, before taxes and spending; an equity stake in Virginia Black whiskey and pricey estates in Toronto, Canada, and Hidden Hills, California, pad his holdings. His inclusion on the Forbes Five represents yet another career goal achieved.