Kanye West is the only billionaire rapper listed by Forbes

The magazine Forbes annually creates a list of billionaires, which includes the presence of businesspeople, political and media figures.

Despite the growth of the Hip-hop genre and its derivatives such as “trap” in the music industry, which is quite notorious over the last few years, becoming one of the most profitable styles in the world, it is difficult to find singers and actors on this list.

With the exception of rappers Jay-Z which joined the famous list in 2019 and Kanye West (YE) who entered 2020, as the only rappers in history to achieve this feat.

^{Forbes update on Jay-Z's fortune (Forbes Reproduction)}

This year (2023) YE is no longer part of the list, due to loss of contract with the company Adidas. After scandals involving anti-Semitism, the company decided to cut ties with Kanye, saying in a statement that it did not agree with the rapper's statements and considered his statements “unacceptable and dangerous.”

In addition to other scandals involving the singer/producer and his divorce with the influencer and businesswoman kim kardashianwhich may have also affected his net worth, leaving him out this time.

While Jay-Z it only increased its assets from US$1.5 billion (around R$7.4 billion) to US$2.5 billion (around R$9.8 billion). Becoming the only rapper to join this list at age 53, appearing on it for the first time at age 49, almost doubling his net worth from the first time (2020) to today (2023).

^{Graph showing the growth of the rapper's wealth provided by Forbes}

The husband of Beyonce, In addition to being a singer, producer, composer and businessman, he also has a huge portfolio of investments inside and outside the music industry, such as his businesses in the beverage industry, his art collection that includes works by the famous painter Jean-Michel Basquiatand shares in companies such as block It is Uber.

Jay-z also announced the sale of its music platform Tidal in 2021 for the value of US$ 297 million, increasingly increasing its fortune, occupying position 1,217, ahead of names such as Rihanna which occupies position 2,002 and kim kardashian in position 2,259 on the list of billionaires.

Featured Photo: Photo of the rapper with his Mauve suit taken by Kevin Mazur/Getty (Reproduction/Roc Nation)