Many rappers from the golden age of hip-hop have remained megastars.
Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, and scores of others have all maintained their
credentials - and have raked in tons of cash as a result.
"Opulence. I has it."
But the rap game is notoriously unstable, and though a rapper might have all the trappings of
success on display in their music videos, there is no guarantee they are going to keep them. In fact,
some of the biggest rappers of the past have lost it all, while others are struggling in
the 9-to-5 world alongside the rest of us now that their moment has passed.
Take, for instance, Philadelphia rapper Beanie Sigel. At the turn of the millennium, he was
as big as they come. His debut album, The Truth, was released in 2000 on Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella label.
It became a Billboard top 5 smash, as did his two follow-up albums, 2001's The Reason and
2005's The B. Coming. By the mid-2000s, the young rapper was a multimillionaire.
But then he faced a series of criminal proceedings, and his sales dropped.
In 2010, he ultimately was found guilty of tax evasion,
owing nearly $730,000 in back taxes. He was sentenced to two years in prison,
and though he was released in 2014, his career never recovered. According to Celebrity Net Worth,
his assets are currently valued at around $100,000 — a fraction of what he had in his prime.
Sigel isn't alone, though, in being taken down by tax issues. Exhibit A: Xzibit, who
went platinum with his 2000 album Restless before becoming a reality TV mainstay with Pimp My Ride.
According to Detroit News, in 2010 he faced a whopping $960,000 bill for unpaid federal taxes.
The problem? Xzibit's yearly income reportedly dropped from almost a half
million during Pimp My Ride's final season to just over $67,000 the following year - only
he didn't change his spending habits. In 2009, he was forced to declare bankruptcy,
and it took him until 2018 to finish paying off the IRS for his back taxes.
Of course, for many former rap stars, changing fortunes has more to do with changing tastes.
Take Christopher "Play" Martin, one half of the hit rap duo Kid 'n' Play.
Their three albums, beginning with the debut 2 Hype in 1988, were massive hits,
and they turned that into a successful film gig with the House Party franchise.
Heck, they even had their own Saturday morning cartoon.
Since their heyday, though, Martin has had to find other work. After trying his hand at acting,
he began a career in multimedia production and spent some time as a university lecturer in
addition to doing some Christian rap. According to Net Worth, today he is worth around $300,000,
which is a very respectable living - just not what you might expect from a famous rap pioneer.
"Alright Play, here's our opportunity!"
"For what? I'm not hungry!"
"For work, doofus!"
Chris "Daddy Mac" Smith can sympathize. He and his rapping partner, Chris "Mack Daddy" Kelly,
were just 13 when they scored the No. 1 hit single "Jump" as Kris Kross.
Their 1992 album, Totally Krossed Out, went multi-platinum, and Kriss Kross,
now superstars, went on tour with Michael Jackson, performing to thousands of rapt fans.
The success was huge, but short lived. After fading away, the duo reunited in 2013,
but the reunion was tragically cut short when Kelly died of an accidental drug
overdose. Smith has mostly stayed out of the spotlight since the heyday of Kriss Kross,
working in the art world rather than the rap game; his net worth is reportedly around $200,000.
Still, that modest business success puts him one up on Prime Minister Pete Nice,
who was once part of the groundbreaking hip hop group 3rd Bass. Not that Nice,
whose real name is Peter Nash, hasn't been successful. Actually, in his case,
he became way too successful in his second career as a sports memorabilia dealer.
According to a 2009 Sports Illustrated expose, Nash was constantly in debt,
borrowing money against his supposed baseball artifacts, many of which turned out to be fake.
Eventually he got nearly a million dollars in debt and had to sign a court order admitting fraud.
And that was just the start of legal troubles: as recently as 2019, a full decade later,
he was still embroiled in hearings over money he owed from bogus merchandise deals.
And that's… not very nice.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Grunge videos about your favorite stuff are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.