Dr. Dre Unseats Jay-Z As Hip-Hop’s Top Earner
Six years ago Dr.
Dre was walking along the beach with Interscope Records chief Jimmy
Iovine, pondering whether or not he should launch his own shoe line.
"[Forget] sneakers," said Iovine. "Let's sell speakers!"
It might have been the best piece of advice the rapper-producer ever received. In 2008 he teamed with Iovine and a handful of other partners to launch Beats By Dr. Dre, which now sells more than half of the country's premium headphones ($100 and up). That's music to the ears of Dr. Dre, who collected $100 million pretax when handset maker HTC paid $300 million for a 51% stake in the company last year.
[Related: FX makes deal with Dr. Dre for drama pilot]
With $110 million in pretax earnings, Dr. Dre is this year's Hip-Hop
Cash King—despite the fact that his long-awaited album, Detox, remains
on the shelf. He's not the only one on the list who banks the bulk of
his bucks outside the recording studio. Diddy ranks No. 2 with $45
million, thanks mostly to a share of profits from Diageo's Ciroc vodka;
Jay-Z ranks third with $38 million, pulling in more than half his annual
earnings from ventures including ownership stakes in cosmetics company
Carol's Daughter, the Brookyln Nets and a joint venture with battery
maker Duracell. Last year, Jay-Z topped the list with $37 million.
It might have been the best piece of advice the rapper-producer ever received. In 2008 he teamed with Iovine and a handful of other partners to launch Beats By Dr. Dre, which now sells more than half of the country's premium headphones ($100 and up). That's music to the ears of Dr. Dre, who collected $100 million pretax when handset maker HTC paid $300 million for a 51% stake in the company last year.
[Related: FX makes deal with Dr. Dre for drama pilot]
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