Big pimpin' indeed: hip-hop mogul Jay-Z has often rapped about his success and stature in the music world and Forbes.com has placed him tops among a new tally of "Hip-Hop Cash Kings."
The list, the results of which Forbes.com announced on Thursday, had Shawn (Jay-Z) Carter reigning over other successful hip-hop peers like Curtis (50 Cent) Jackson and Sean (Diddy) Combs.
Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z, seen here in 2006, has found success as a performer, producer, music exec, advertising spokesman and businessman.
(Jim Cooper/Associated Press)
Carter returned to making music in 2006 with Kingdom Come, his 11th studio album, released three years after he announced his retirement from the genre.
The 37-year-old's new album came amid his work as president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, part owner of the New Jersey Nets NBA team, head of his Rocawear apparel label and numerous high-profile endorsement deals with the likes of Budweiser and General Motors. Carter has also been romantically linked for the past few years to blockbuster pop diva Beyoncé Knowles.
Forbes placed Carter's 2006 earnings at an estimated $34 million US.
Jackson followed with earnings estimated at $32 million US. A consummate example of the hip-hop star who has spun musical success into multiple businesses, the 31-year-old rapper and businessman also draws income from endorsement deals and his mammoth G-Unit enterprise, which includes a record label, clothing line and cellular ring-tone production.
"I'm creating a foundation that will be around for a long time, because fame can come and go or get lost in the lifestyle and the splurging," Jackson told Forbes in 2006.
"I never got into it for the music. I got into it for the business."
Ranked third with an estimated $28 million US in earnings was ubiquitous hip-hop entrepreneur Combs, who started out as a record label talent scout.
He has since has emerged as a rapper, record producer, film and stage actor, head of Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment (which produces music, TV programming and other initiatives), creator of his own clothing and fragrance lines and restaurateur.
Rounding out the top five were hitmaking producer Timothy (Timbaland) Mosley ($21 million US) and pioneering rapper and producer Andre (Dr. Dre) Young ($20 million US).
Other hip-hop artists on the list, which includes only men, are:
- Marshall (Eminem) Mathers
- Calvin (Snoop Dogg) Broadus
- Kanye West
- Pharrell Williams
- Scott Storch
- Christopher (Ludacris) Bridges
- Clifford (T.I.) Harris
- OutKast, a.k.a. Antwan (Big Boi) Patton and Andre (Andre 3000) Benjamin
- Jonathan (Lil Jon) Smith
- O'Shea (Ice Cube) Jackson
- Jermain Dupri
- Kasseem (Swizz Beatz) Dean
- Hakeem (Chamillionaire) Seriki
- Jayceon (The Game) Taylor
- Jasiel (Yung Joc) Robinson
A TV special about the first-ever Forbes.com list of Hip-Hop Cash Kings will air in the U.S. on Saturday.
With files from the Associated PressShare Tools
FILM REVIEW: Men in Black 3 by Eli Glasner May. 25, 2012 11:40 AM Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back in the action sequel Men in Black 3, a third instalment of a series now 15 years old. Though new addition Josh Brolin manages some amazing mimicry as a younger version of Jones, the story doesn't measure up to the weird and wonderful charms of the original, says film reviewer Eli Glasner.
Top News Headlines
- Everest victim's family asks for government help
- The family of a Toronto woman who died in pursuit of her lifelong dream to climb Mount Everest is asking the Canadian government to help pay the cost of bringing her body back to Canada. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Foreign investment review threshold rising to $1 billion
- The federal government is raising to $1 billion the amount of foreign money that can go into a Canadian company before the investment is reviewed. more »
- Double-lung recipient dances on Ellen show
- Organ donation advocate Hèlène Campbell of Ottawa made her second appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, but her first since undergoing a double-lung transplant. more »
Latest Arts & Entertainment News Headlines
- Sotheby's Canadian art auction sets records
- Sotheby's auction of Canadian art produced a sale total of $3.55 million Thursday night in Toronto, with record prices for several Canadian artists, including Paul-Émile Borduas, whose Froissement Multicolore sold for $663,750. more »
- Shakespeare's Winter's Tale gets African reboot
- A Nigerian theatre company is performing an African reboot of The Winter's Tale, one of the lesser known tragicomedies written by the Bard, in London as part of the London Cultural Olympiad. more »
- Elton John cancels Las Vegas concerts over illness
- Elton John is suffering from a serious respiratory infection and has cancelled three Las Vegas performances on doctors' orders. more »
- Double-lung recipient dances on Ellen show
- Organ donation advocate Hèlène Campbell of Ottawa made her second appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, but her first since undergoing a double-lung transplant. more »
Q Blog
Toni Morrison on her two selves May. 25, 2012 12:26 PM Jian speaks with the celebrated African American author and academic about her two conflicting selves, and her new novel, Home.
CBC Books
Talking about war May. 25, 2012 12:09 PM The public conversation around war has always been complex and thorny. How does Canada's military approach differ from that of other countries? Are we a society of peacekeepers or warriors? These are some of the questions that Noah Richler explores in his new book What We Talk About When We Talk About War.
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest
- New mom among dead in Aylmer triple stabbing
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- Workers' EI history to affect claim under new rules
- Conservatives move again to have robocalls suits tossed
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- SpaceX capsule captured by Canadarm2
- Coffee prices get jolt in jittery economy
- Gatineau police to question man in multiple homicides
