From Brooklyn drug dealer to self-made mogul: Forbes has officially crowned JAY-Z Hip Hop’s first billionaire.
According to a new article written by Zack O’Malley Greenburg, the Roc Nation mogul “has accumulated a fortune that conservatively totals $1 billion, making him one of only a handful of entertainers to become a billionaire — and the first Hip Hop artist to do so.”
His vast fortune comes from various deals in liquor, cash investments, art collections, Rocawear, real estate, TIDAL, Roc Nation and his extensive music catalog — which culminates with 2018’s EVERYTHING IS LOVE featuring his multi-millionaire wife, Beyoncé.
Hov’s cash and investments come to a total of $220 million; his stake in liquor brands D’Ussé and Armand de Brignac totals $410 million; TIDAL tallies at $100 million; Roc Nation follows with $75 million; his music catalog sits at $75 million; his art collection, $70 million; finally, his real estate investments totals $50 million.
The superstar couple owns several properties. Following the 2017 birth of their twins, they bought two new homes — a $26 million East Hampton mansion and an $88 million Bel Air estate. Jay also owns a Tribeca penthouse, which he purchased for $6.85 million in 2004.
But believe it or not, Jay has a long way to go if he wants to rank among the richest people in the world. In another article from Forbes dated March 2019, the list of the the world’s wealthiest people on the planet ends at #215 with Ralph Lauren’s $6.9 billion fortune.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos sits at #1 with $131 billion, Microsoft’s Bill Gates comes in at #2 with $96.5 billion, while the “Oracle Of Omaha” Warren Buffet lands at #3 with $82.5 billion.
Hiphop has come a long way. white racists thought it was a passing fad and noise
Yeah that’s why they invested in it and signed the majority to slave contracts. Sorry you fail again, we own it. You work for us
You could never own hiphop. Hiphop is a culture that resides with the ppl. Always was, always will be. That’s all u got. Money this, money that. Without it your nothing. That’s all ur culture does, exploit. Times are changing. Artists are smarting up and owning their creative outputs. Leaving racists like u by the wayside. Jayz is a great example of how to do it without you bastards meddling in what we created.
Box, Hip hop is a subculture; learn the difference. Jay Z is a useful idiot and ex-drug dealer. He’s nobody to look up to. Just like these politicians that make millions working as a government employee. Gay Z is also a crook on the same payrolls as them.
No it isn’t dummy. Rap is a sub culture of hiphop. Hiphop itself is comprised of 5 pillars that form together to create a living breathing art form. These whyt ppl feel they can dictate what hiphop is and isn’t all because they can throw money at it. Jayz is a big part of this culture, a shining example. And he’s from the slums. That’s who we listened to when we was growing up from the bottom. You wouldn’t kno anything bout that tho.
Everyone needs to look at what they are saying. You, You, You. Look at the context everyone is answering in. Both sides are attacking race. Knock it the F off.
Vincent Bollore owns the music industry. Jay is a wealthy guy but the truth he still has to go on tour and release albums when the higher ups tell him to. Live Nation is shell company and it gave him capital to start his run into buying up most of his current investments. Live Nation was directed to give him that money because Jay Z plays his part well. But make no mistake there’s people above who are directing him, and funding him.
thank you…this guy gets it…
White people don’t own hip hop but they’ve been pimping it for years
Black Excellence- Nothing else needs to be said. Now, let’s observe the haters below that have 1 billion away from 1 billion dollars.
I can name 20 white billionaires to your one.
Do you hate blacks so much that you have come to a site that’s predominantly black and spew your hatefulness? I understand it tho…you really love us and there’s a thin line between love and hate and that thin line is called jealousy…cuz in actuality you wanna be black
Nice English. I can tell by your grammar you don’t make a lot of money
And you’re a billionaire right?
N-word please.
Can’t name 20 who didn’t inherit Daddy’s money.
Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Sheldon Adelson, Michael Bloomberg, Larry Ellison… off to a decent start. I think 20 wpuld be manageable.
thats white excellence, brother
I thought dr. Dre was?
Stop thinking and know. Dre had a 25% in Beats after taxes his cut sat at 500M
Stop thinking and know. Dre had a 25% in Beats after taxes his cut sat at 500M
Wasn’t Dr.Dre the first Billi after he made that apple deal?
Yes…you are correct, mofos stay riding Jay Z’s nuts…
No he actually wasn’t even close after the apple deal. You have to remember that that was a investment group deal that Dre had the lion share of but not the whole bag went to Dre, he’s worth like upwards 700 million but not a billion. Jay has been number 1for 3 years now.
Stop hating, he isn’t correct and neither are you. Dre was never a billionaire.
get off Jay Zs nuts, he was too…they’re called Beats By Dre, not Jimmy or WIll I Am…and just because the news tells you something doesn’t mean it’s so…kill yourselves…
No, Dr.Dre was not the first. Beats was sold for a billion but he was not the only owner. you had multiple people who had a piece of that billion dollars plus tax.
Yeah, ok. Forbes is riding rapper’s nuts. Gotcha.
No he wasn’t. MFs never read past headlines. Dre owned 20-25% of Beats. Not the whole thing. Jimmy Iovine, Will.I.am and a bunch of other people had stake in Beats. That 3 billion was split between them and the 1 billion number attached to Dre was always cap. Dre’s actually worth a bit less now than he was when the Apple Deal went down.
Bullshit
Fuck outta here with these Jay-Z dickriders !! Dr. Dre is the first hip-hop billionaire !
No one’s riding anything. You’re incorrect! Dre invested in Beatz and didn’t own it. The brunt of the Apple deal didn’t go to him.
Education isn’t one of your strong suits
Why did they say his “multi-millionaire wife”?
That’s a low blow (Smirk)
No it’s not you weirdo, that’s just as much as compliment. When has being called a multi millionaire a low blow? Dummy.
Congrats to Jigga Jay-Z, no need to hate.
Can’t belive that some broke-ass people (including myself) are here to debate which one is the first billionaire. Are you fuccing kidding me? Y’all don’t have enough money to pass the street. Build your own riches.
It’s just a bunch of broke Nas stans siding with Dre to continue hating on King HOV. It’s the ROC!
Can a brother get a dollar? Or one million?
Yall got to troll better in 2019. Nas has been doing some major deals himself. Now clock back into work, before you get fired and can’t help with putting money on the internet bill anymore.
“Puttin money on the internet bill” Ebonics and EBT cards are strong with this one
Jay Z deserves every dollar he got!
Fuck jay z
C jay was the first billionnaire rapper- OG Big Smoke
I RETURN TO CRACK SOME MORE, CRACK ON SOME HOES, CRACK ON SOME FOES, CRACK ON THAT CORNY ASS RAPPER WITH THEM FUNNY LOOKING CLOTHES.- THEM KANYE SNEAKERS…
CRACK ON KANYE AND THEM CORNY CLOTHES
He should be thanking white people for this status…
Couldn’t do it without our help. So keep making fun of us All you want…..
Troll
Pretty sure Dr Dre beat him to the finish line back in 2014.
Nope. Those was misleading headlines Nxk then. Dre SOLD beats for over $1 billion. He has never once had a networth of $1 billion or higher.. Closer to $800 million.
Taxes homie…Dre didnt NET 1 billion, half went to that thief Uncle Sam.
You re a Nas Stan in disguise. Now I get it. I thought it was Jay’s d that you loved getting down on your knees for but now I see your really mad it’s not Nas
You know Forbes just makes this shit up right? They don’t really know how much any of these people are worth, they just make guesses based on fame level and what they think certain investments are worth. I remember them saying 50 Cent was worth 155 million, and bankruptcy court showed he wasn’t even worth a quarter of that, so these Forbes people aren’t reliable. I believe they inflate a lot of black celebrities worth’s to make it seem like black people are doing better than they actually are. I doubt Jay-Z even has half of that liquid.
Bankruptcy court lmao… People purposedly deflate their assets in when filing for different forms of bankruptcy.
Yes, Forbes does not have a link into these men’s bank accounts. But, they can add up the vlaue of their known assets. Pretty simple stuff lol.
Its like knowing Jeff Bezos networth. They take his assets, in this case, Amazon stock, and add it up. It’s basic math bro.
^^ You can’t hide your assets in backruptcy court stupid. They check everything. You groupies want to believe 50 has money so bad. lmao What would hiding his assets do???? HE STILL HAD TO PAY THE MONEY TO EVERYONE HE OWED SO NOTHING WOULD BE GAINED FROM HIDING. You people keep trying to make it seem like it was some kind of strategy, but the truth is he couldn’t afford to pay his creditors because his liabilities outweighed his assets. Backruptcy court didn’t remove any of the money he had to pay, it just put him on a monthly payment plan to give him more time. Luckily he managed to get the money from suing his lawyers, but he still had to pay off everything he owned. This dude wasn’t hiding anything, he just wasn’t worth the BS Forbes made up. As far as assets, it’s impossible to know what these people are tied to. To use 50 as an example again, this dude makes up shit all the time and the media reports it as fact. He said he made 400 million off vitimin water and the media ran with it, he said he made millions off bitcoin and the media ran with it. How do you know what’s true and what’s not???? And without bank account info it’s even more of a baseless guess. Forbes is just making up bullshit and you dummies are feeding into it.
Fake news! Black males are oppressed in this nation, so the real story is that Jayz is a white man in black face, who go rich. So, he’s just another rich white guy.
To me,net worth is cash money free to fuck off with. Without hurting the company or investors pockets. And no longer have to do a fuckin thing to earn a penny. Retirement.
2pac is rolling over in his grave. He talked all that shit about Puff Daddy and Jay Z but now they worth hundreds of millions and hes been dead for 25 years.
2pac is a legend but talked too much shit for his own good!
If Pac was alive Pac would had been the first.
You need Nas’s D in your mouth just like you have Jay Z in your mouth for a very long time. Why in the world do you hate Nas so much brother? Give it a rest! Jay Z may have more money than Nas but he is not a better rapper than Nas is doing extremely well for himself. Need to check his financial track record. More Money does not make you a better rapper!!!
He still ugly as fuck though.
This is a good look for the Hip Hop Culture but are poeple still wearing Roc ‘A’ Wear it’s been a minute sents I seen a Fashion Campaign now hopefully hip Hop can get a Roc Fellas Reunion Tour with State Property & Dip Set ! Song of the Day Jay Z , Beans , Scarface ( This Can Be Love )
“You went from hardcore to pop
Just to be on top
I give Cool J his props and that’s where it stops”
Mack 10
Cool rhyme you made there bro(im not even sure if im trying to be a prick to you or complemnting)
I was actually quoting Jay -Z “We give Dre his props, but that’s where it stops. It’s The Roc!” The Watcher 2
I may not be the biggest Jay-Z fan… but I can’t knock the hustle. Congrats big homie.
Who cares..
Plus Dre was first hip hop billionaire when he sold Beats to Apple..
Nobody feeling Jay and we remember that Dr Dre was the first. Also technically Kylie Jenner is hip hop and she was after Dr Dre. So we welcome Jay to the billionaire club but he damn near the last not the first. Dr Dre Bob Johnson Kylie Jenner Puff Daddy all beat him to this headline.
People are saying Dre was only worth 800mill after the Beats sold for billions. Haha. Dre owns Eminem’s multi diamond catalogue. As well as 50 Cents biggest album. Also his film did $200mill in a weekend and he owns that. Straight Outta Compton would have taken him pass the billion dollar mark then. Also he gifted $30m to a college. Haven’t seen Jay make that type of endowment. Dre has over a billion and no celeb wife to help carry him over.
maybe with all that money he got he can afford a haircut
Too bad he can’t buy talent.
This is hiphop now a days. All the older dudes are showing love. All these millennials say the type of stuff you just said. instead of being inspired by a black dude who most likely grew up in an area like yours and made something of himself, its cooler to say some hating shit. This dude has like 5 classics, if your too young to have heard Reasonable doubt and the blueprint do yourself a service and check them out and he is considered to be the best or of the best by most rappers..AND he is the only rapper who is damn near 50 who is still relevant….BUT he needs to buy talent…
I grew up in the 90s on Ice-T, Kool Keith, Blahzay, Artifacts, Flatlinerz, Blood of Abraham, Das EFX, McGruff, The GOATS, BUMS, Souls of Mischief and I try to listen to most of the underground shit I missed in my teens from Asop of Living Legends to Innersoul. I just never liked boring commercial rappers who has no flow and made a name with shady business moves instead of good music.
I’m reading these comments and see the thought process of certified grade A haters. Dude could walk on water and ppl would complain about him not being able to swim. Nevertheless it’s entertaining to read
Lol Jay-Z is not a billionaire his net worth meaning his assets is worth a billion. He don’t have a billion in no bank ? ❗️
Give drake time and he will be up there. Jay z litterally had 15 years on drake. Drake still runs the rap game and we all know musically jay z can never touch drake.
Dre did not and Puffy didn’t, but they up there. Jay sold his soul and he got all the wealth to prove it. No blackman can be that far up without out taking the oath. Congrats to him but at what cost.
Oh really? Tell me More about that!!!?????
DRE?
U ain’t on the level of Pac…EVER
Man you missed out on a lot of good hiphop if pac is your comment about this. I’ve been a hip hop fan since early 90’s Jay the realest to ever do it. Dude out smarted the industry. Is a icon Always climbing never settling. I bet hova has lots more to come
Yeah??? I been a fan since 1984. J Z iz commercial B.S. Gone are the dayz of DP. Just because Pac dead don’t mean the beef is…
BILLIONAIRE?-
ARE YOU SURE THAT’S HOW THE WORD IS SAID?-
EITHER YOU GOT ALLAH OR YOU DON’T….
YOU EITHER GOT IT OR YOU DON’T HAVE IT