The Forbes Five: Hip- Hop's Wealthiest Artists 2017

The only thing more predictable than a Diddy
name change? His place atop our annual list
of the wealthiest hip-hop artists. But the man
formally known as Sean Combs now has some
real competition.
Jay Z’s fortune has jumped 30% in the past
year after a $200 million investment from
Sprint reportedly put the valuation of his
music-streaming service, Tidal, at $600
million, more than 10 times what he paid for
the company two years ago.
Which rapper will hit billionaire status first?
Hard to say. Diddy has a lucrative Cîroc vodka
deal with Diageo, while Jay Z augments his
portfolio with a champagne brand, Armand
de Brignac, and a growing entertainment
company, Roc Nation.
Jay Z tops Andre “Dr. Dre” Young in the
rankings for the first time since 2014, the year
the superproducer sold Beats to Apple for $3
billion—and promptly boasted about his
improved perch on our list in a grainy
YouTube video . “They need to update the
Forbes list,” pal Tyrese Gibson opined,
prompting Dre to add: “In a big way.
Understand that!”
Dre hasn’t quite achieved the billionaire
status he initially claimed, but his cut gave
him the largest single-year payday ever
recorded by a living musician; his fortune has
since swelled to $740 million thanks to savvy
investments. Days after the Beats deal was
announced, Dre scooped up a 14,000 square
foot Los Angeles mansion for $40 million;
according to government records, it’s already
worth nearly 20% more than he paid.
In order to complete the Forbes Five list, we
follow the same procedures used to calculate
our list of the world’s billionaires: looking at
past earnings, valuing current holdings,
leafing through financial documents and
talking to analysts, attorneys, managers, other
industry players and even some of the moguls
themselves to find the details.
There’s a long drop between the top three and
the rest of the list. Bryan “Birdman” Williams
ranks fourth with $110 million. Along with his
brother, Ronald “Slim” Williams, Birdman co-
owns Cash Money Records, home to three of
the music world’s biggest stars: Drake, Nicki
Minaj and Lil Wayne. All three have been
rumored to be leaving the label in recent
years, but so far their record deals have kept
them in place—and Cash Money’s coffers full.
Watch On Forbes:
“As a child, I always felt if I could make $1
million, I could make $100 million,” Birdman
once told FORBES. “If I could get $100 million,
I’m just nine steps away from being a
billionaire. And that’s the goal.”
Rounding out the Forbes Five is Aubrey
“Drake” Graham at $90 million. Last year’s
Views became the first album to top 1 billion
spins on Apple Music and helped fuel a
grueling tour that took the Toronto native
from Atlanta to Amsterdam, grossing north of
$1 million per night along the way. His deals
with Apple, Nike and Sprite should keep the
cash coming.
And at just 30 years of age, he’s young enough
to be the son of any of his fellow listmembers.
The first three paragraphs of this story appear
in the latest issue of FORBES. Additional
reporting by Natalie Robehmed.
More On Forbes
Hip-Hop Cash Princes: Desiigner, Young M.A,
D.R.A.M. And The Class Of 2017
Why Jay Z's Venture Capital Fund Should
Come As No Surprise
For more on the business of hip-hop, check out
my biography of Jay Z .
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