S. Samuel
Forbes writer Zack O'Malley Greenburg has offered his take on why Jay-Z continues to dominate his competition on the annual Cash Kings list amongst entrepreneurs including rap mogul Diddy and the Birdman.
From Greenburg’s perspective, Hov’s ability to propel with business moves and music land him atop the rest.
Zack O’Malley Greenburg, Forbes staff writer and author of the Jay-Z biography “Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner to Corner Office,” said Jay has become the “gold standard” to which hip-hop artists aspire when it comes to mixing business and music. “I’d put Diddy and Birdman up there too, but Jay is always at the top of the Cash Kings list because he makes brilliant business moves but keeps putting out relevant music,” he told MTV News. “Others [on the list] are more one or the other, but he keeps doing both.” (MTV)
Behind Jay, rap stars Diddy, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Birdman earned Cash Kings top spots.
Jay-Z (aka Shawn Carter) leads all comers once again with $37 million in earnings since last August. A majority of the dough is proceeds from his Blueprint 3 tour. Nipping at his heels, however, is fellow mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who raked in a neat $35 million from his Bad Boy record label, his Sean John clothing line and his lucrative Ciroc vodka deal. West may have landed at No. 3, but he’s a ways down there at “only” $16 million. The rest of the top 10 had similar years, revenue-wise, with Cash Money honcho Bryan “Birdman” Williams tying Lil Wayne for the next two spots with $15 million, showing that tha Carter isn’t doing too bad, either. (E! Online)
Rounding out the rest of the Top 10 is Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Akon and Ludacris.
Eminem, Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre are holding fast with $14 million; Akon scraped together $13 million and Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges earned most of his $12 million from his Tag body spray and Trojan endorsements, as well as scene-stealing roles in Fast Five, No Strings Attached and the upcoming New Year’s Eve. (E! Online)
Last summer, Jay also topped his competition on the Cash Kings list.
Forbes released their annual hip-hop cash king list today and at the top of the pile is Jay-Z. They estimate Hov grossed $63 million last year. Rounding out the top five are Dr.Dre ($17 million), Lil Wayne ($20 million), Akon ($21 million) and Diddy ($30 million) (Rap Radar)
Check out a recent Jay-Z interview below:
