15 Richest Rappers EVER
15.
Wiz Khalifa- He is a well known American rapper and singer.
He has a net worth of $55 million.
Wiz became a rising star over the course of the late 2000s due to his charismatic execution
of rhymes.
He was always building up his city’s hip-hop reputation and sought out to create a sound
that was uniquely Pittsburgh with the help of his East Coast hip-hop influences.
Wiz Khalifa is most recognized for his hit single, “Black and Yellow,” which was
a huge song at the time and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
He made a debut album for the label called Rolling Papers, which was released on March
29, 2011.
WIz Khalifa Had been touring nonstop, playing well over one hundred shows between 2010 and
2011.
To add another thing to his list of accomplishments he has a merchandise business centered around
his love for trees.
He also made a debut on the Forbes Cash Kings at the eleventh spot, earning eleven million
dollars.
He was born on September 8th, 1987, in North Dakota.
Wiz is currently engaged to Amber Rose, who is the former girlfriend of Kanye West.
14.
Rick Ross- For those of you who don’t know, his real name is William Leonard Roberts the
second, better known by his stage name Rick Ross.
He has an estimated net worth of $42 million.
Straight out of Miami, he is six-foot tall, and 300 pounds.
The rap figure had a goal of putting Miami back in rap’s national spotlight.
His debut album Port of Miami was released in August 2006 and was at the top spot on
the Billboard 200 album chart.
The album had sales of 187,000 after its first week.
Rick Ross founded the record label Maybach Music Group, which he released his studio
album Deeper than Rap.
In 2011 the rhymester made this third Forbes Cash Kings appearance on just album sales
and touring alone.
He’s been on the road in the past with Lil Wayne and performing gigs on his own.
Before he became a prominent rap star, he worked as a correctional officer in Florida.
13.
Nicki Minaj- Nicki has an estimated net worth of $75 million.
In 2011 she became the first female rapper to join the Forbes Magazine’s Hip-Hop Cash
Kings list at number 15.
She is currently the only female on the list.
Her debut album called Pink Friday didn’t take long to go platinum after it was launched
in 2011 She’s also not shy to talk about her earnings.
On Kanye West’s song Monster, she bragged about getting $50,000 for her guest verses
in other rappers songs.
She’s well known for her bright colored wigs and outfits.
Her voice can switch from a girlish voice to a deep growling voice.
She was first discovered online from her MySpace page.
Dirty Money Entertainment first heard her ability to freestyle rap and saw her steamy
promo shots online.
With curves and a background in music and arts, Minaj was the perfect fit for a female
rap star.
Shortly after Lil Wayne contacted Nicki and signed her onto his Young Money label.
From there they started building her career through mixtapes.
Her significant breakthrough came when Wayne added his rhymes to her “High as a Kite”
single in 2008.
In 2010 her singles “Your Love” and “Check It Out” took the release of her official
debut album, Pink Friday, which is kind of what set her career off!
Her birth name is Onika Tanya Maraj.
She was born in Saint James, Port of Spain, Trinidad.
She has sold twenty million singles as a lead singer and 60 million singles as a featured
artist worldwide.
12.
Drake- Drake is a recording artist and actor from Toronto Canada.
His net worth is 100 million dollars.
He was first known for his role as Jimmy Brooks on the show Degrassi.
Soon after that, he stepped out as a rapper and singer in 2006.
A year later even though he was unsigned to a label, gained major exposure when his track
“Replacement Girl,” featuring Trey Songz, was featured on the BET channel.
He really started gaining exposure months later by popping up in countless remixes with
other big artists.
It didn’t take long before he was one of the most talked about people in the industry.
It helped that he had support from huge stars like Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Jay-Z.
At the end of June 2009, “Best I Ever Had,” had climbed to number two on Billboard’s
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
He went through a fierce bidding war, Drake ended up signing with Universal Motown and
released a song from his popular So Far Gone mixtape.
It went to number six on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and won a 2010 Award for Rap Recording
of the year.
He was the highest-earning new artist on the Forbes 2010 list of Hip-Hop Cash Kings with
$10 million dollars.
And thanks to a new record deal, he landed deals with Kodak, Coca-Cola, and Virgin America
that advertises him on the sides of airplanes.
One of the best decisions he ever made was recruiting with Lil Wayne and Jay-Z to appear
on his album.
11.
Ice Cube- Ice Cube is a film producer, director, record producer, screenwriter and hip-hop
artist.
His Net worth is $140 million.
Snoop Dogg even named him as the greatest MC of all time.
He has been named as one of rap’s best storytellers and ranked in the list of fifty greatest MCs
of all time.
He decided to leave N.W.A. in 1998to pursue a solo career in acting, music, and writing
and directing.
He has produced the movie Barbershop, and Are We There Yet.
Ice Cube is originally from Los Angeles, California and has been married to Kimberly Woodruff
since 1992.
10.
Snoop Dogg- Snoop is a record producer and actor.
His real name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.
He has a net worth of $143 million dollars.
He followed in the footsteps of Ice Cube and Ice-T and ended up acting in the late 90s.
He was raised in Long Beach, California.
He was introduced to the world by Dr. Dre, and it didn’t take long before he became
the biggest name in rap.
People loved him for his raw lyrics and real rhymes that everyday people could relate to.
Snoop Dogg is one the most wealthiest and successful rappers to come out of the 90s
rap scene and also one of the few still recording today.
He started acting in 1998 with an appearance in the movie Half Baked, and since then he
has been involved with tv
and film.
9.
Kanye West- These days Kanye is very popular because he is now part of the Kardashian family.
He is married to Kim Kardashian, and they have three children together.
Kanye has an estimated net worth of $160 million dollars.
He has done production work for Jay-Z which led to a major recording contract and a very
successful solo career.
After a year in exile after his dramatic interruption of Taylor Swift at the MTV music awards.
Within a year he earned sixteen million dollars according to Forbes magazine.
Kanye is known to speak his mind, and he’s not afraid to voice his opinion.
West also has his own record label called GOOD music.
8.
Lil Wayne- Known for his witty rap lyrics and metaphors he has been a game-changing
artist.
His net worth is $150 million.
He first started out delivering hard core hip-hop, but after maturing and reinventing
the mixtape game, he grew into a million-selling rapper and appearing in almost every rappers
song.
Some people might argue that he is the “best rapper alive.”
He wrote his first song at eight years old and a year later signed a record deal with
Cash Money.
He served eight months in jail but still ended up having a number one album while incarcerated.
That’s pretty impressive.
7.
Usher- Usher is one of the most talented out there, he sings, dances, writes songs, and
acts.
He has a net worth of $180 million.
He was discovered by a record executive at a talent show in Georgia, and his music career
took off from there!
He officially released his first album in 1994 and was introduced to the world was Usher.
It didn’t take long before he was approached to do other projects.
He also is a part-owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers.
He also has earned major credit for discovering Justin Bieber And being his mentor.
To this day, he has sold over 65 million records worldwide, which makes him one of the best-selling
artists of all time.
6.
Eminem- He has a net worth of $190 million and the first white rapper since the Beastie
Boys to gain sales and respect.
Between participating in freestyle rap battles and making his own performances in his teen
years, Eminem gained huge recognition and respect from the local rap scene.
He dropped out of high school at seventeen then joined Bassmint Productions.
He recorded music all while working a minimum wage job as a dishwasher and cook.
He released his debut album in 1996 called Infinite and caught the attention of Dr. Dre.
It was an instant success, and he ended up winning a Grammy for best rap album.
The Marshall Mathers record was the fastest selling hip-hop album in history.
He has received 12 #1 singles, an academy award for best original song, 8 number one
albums on the Billboard top 200 and was named the artist of the decade in 2009.
5.
Master P- With a net worth of $250 million he is a rapper, investor, and entrepreneur.
He is the CEO of No Limit Records.
Like Jay-Z, he has great business skills, an empire, a clothing line, travel agency,
film production company, and video game company.
Talk about a resume full of skills!
Lawsuits forced the rapper to shut down his label and file for bankruptcy in 2003, but
it is looking to bounce back after a relaunch in 2011.
4.
Russell Simmons- Born Russell Wendell Simmons, he is a business magnate with a net worth
of $340 million.
He is well known for being a huge influential businessman in the history of rap music.
Russell was around before Jay-Z, Dre, and Diddy, making him the original hip-hop mogul.
Simmons is one of hip-hop's wealthiest entrepreneurs.
His main focus now is political commentary.
He now contributes to the Huffington Post and is currently editor in chief of GlobalGrind.com,
which is a website that creates reviews in the hip-hop world.
3.
Jay-Z- With a net worth of $810 million, he is a businessman, rapper and has done some
acting.
He sold his Rocawear clothing brand for $204 million back in 2007 and holds stakes in New
Jersey Nets.
He has sold one hundred million albums worldwide and has received 21 Grammy Awards.
He has been married to Beyonce since 2008 and have three children together.
2.
Diddy- Sean Combs has a net worth of $820 million.
He studied business at Howard University, but before his rap career he started out as
an intern for Uptown Records.
After getting fired from that job, he started his own record company in 1993 called, Bad
Boys Records.
He is known in the industry as Puff Daddy; he released his first single “Can’t Nobody
Hold Me Down” in 1997 and ended up earning five Grammy nominations for it which he won
Best Rap Album in 1998.
Diddy also earned Best Documentary for Undefeated at the Oscars in 2012; he worked as the executive
producer on it.
1.
Dr. Dre- He is a Super Producer and rapper.
His birth name is Andre Young, but the world knows him as Dr. Dre.
His net worth is a whopping $830 million.
His wealth is not only from music, but he really expanded his money with Beats headphones
and HP laptop line.
In August of 2011, he sold 50% stake in Beats Electronics.
His deal with Beats added $135 million to his fortune.
He may not have put out a new album in over ten years, but he has been on top of the business
game.
He has helped launch careers for Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and Eminem.
He pretty much discovered and created what a lot of rappers are made of today.
Beats Audio was bought by Apple in May 2014 for 3 billion dollars!
Making Dre the richest man in hip-hop.
He's not yet the first hip-hop billionaire, but he is by far the closest!