G-funk might have made Dr. Dre famous, but Beats made him wealthy to the tune of $620 million in pre-tax earnings, according to Forbes‘ recently published “Hip-Hop Cash Kings” list, which officially named the former rapper/producer the richest person in rap this year.
Off the back of Apple’s $3 billion acquisition, Dre’s so rich, in fact, that his wealth outstrips the other 24 “Cash Kings” on the list put together — which includes names like Jay Z and P-Diddy, who each took home $60 million from a combination of music, live concerts and endorsements.
Canadian rapper and songwriter Drake came in fourth place with $33 million, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis came fifth with earnings of $32 million, while Kanye West, Cash Money co-chief Birdman and Lil’ Wayne followed behind.
Overall Dre is valued between $700-$800 million following the Beats sale, which means that while he’s not quite “the first billionaire in hip-hop” as was claimed, he’s certainly getting closer.
Although we don’t yet know what he is working on at Apple, it was previously reported that Dre and Jimmy Iovine would take senior positions at Apple, possibly as advisers working on special projects. It has recently been reported that Apple plans to keep Beats as a hardware only brand, and to rebrand the Beats Music streaming service.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
2 responses to “Can’t forget about Dre: Beats deal makes the Dr. hip-hop’s richest”
I’m a video editor, and work with audio a lot, and this weekend I went to purchase some high end headphones for personal use. I tried Beats for the first time, since everyone talks about them.
They are garbage. Well garbage at that price point. It’s a muddied sound compared to the much more affordable Bose which sit on the shelf right next to them. I can’t believe how popular these things are.
Agreed. Sadly, Beats are merely “adequate” cans with a high end price tag to reflect their high fashion status.
Much better headphones out there for less and much MUCH better at the same price point.