Rapper and music producer Andre “Dr. Dre” Young said on a video posted Friday by singer/actor Tyrese Gibson that he is the first billionaire in hip-hop due to a potential sale of Beats Electronics to Apple. Gibson adds that the 2014 Forbes list of Hip Hop’s Wealthiest Artists needs to be updated.
The current list has Sean “Diddy” Combs in first place, with $700 million, due mostly to non-musical businesses.
Dre is next at $550 million, with most of his wealth coming from his Beats holdings.
Shawn “Jay Z” Carter is listed third with $520 million.
Bryan “Birdman” Williams, co-founder of Cash Money records, comes in fourth with $160 million.
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is estimated to be worth $140 million.
TMZ reported that an editor at Forbes said that even if the Apple deal closes at $3.2 billion, Dre’s net worth would be about $800 million or so. Says the Forbes editor: “Not quite enough to debut on the Forbes 400 but plenty for bragging rights.”
The Forbes 400 profiles and ranks the country’s billionaires by their estimated worth.
In any case, the Forbes hip-hop list will need updating if the Apple deal closes. Dre would be No. 1.
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