Beats by Dre has put the rapper at the top of the list.
Dr. Dre might've received the best business advice of his life when Interscope Records chief Jimmy Iovine told him to sell speakers instead of sneakers. That was six years ago, and now Dre is sitting at the top of Forbes' Hip Hop Cash Kings list, above fellow millionaires Diddy, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne.
In 2008, the West Coast rapper-producer teamed up with Iovine and a few other partners to launch Beats by Dr. Dre, which now sells more than half the country's premium headphones ($100 and up). Last year, handset maker HTC paid $300 million for a 51 percent stake in the company, giving Dre $100 million in pretax earnings. This year the rapper pulled in $110 million pretax, despite the fact that his Detox album still hasn't been released.
Diddy came in at second on the Forbes list at $45 million due to his share in Ciroc vodka, and Jay-Z came in third with $38 million due to his various business ventures, including The Brooklyn Nets and his stake in Carol's Daughter. Just as impressively, Lil Wayne, Drake, Birdman, Tyga and Nicki Minaj came in together at almost $100 million. Nicki was also the only woman to make the Cash Kings list.
BET.com is your #1 source for Black celebrity news, photos, exclusive videos and allt he latest int he world of hip hop and R&B. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.
(Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Coachella)
On Facebook
On Twitter
