Diddy, Jay Z, Dr. Dre top Forbes' list of richest hip hop stars

US rapper, Jay Z may be valued at $810 million, but the music mogul doesn't run the money league quite yet as the honor still belongs to Sean (Diddy) Combs.


According to the new report released by Forbes on Wednesday, the business magazine announced that Diddy has kept his place atop the annual list of wealthiest hip hop artists with a net worth of  $820 million.

The 47-year-old "Last Night" artist and frequent name changer, managed to rake in some serious cash in 2017 thanks to a lucrative deal with Ciroc vodka, and stakes in the TV network Revolt, alkaline water brand Aquahydrate and tequila DeLeon.

Shawn "Jay Z" Carter, meanwhile, comes in second with his fortune, which jumped 30% in the last year thanks to Tidal, the music streaming service he bought two years ago that is currently valued at $600 million. In addition to his fortune (and good fortune — he is married to Beyoncé and expecting twins, after all), Jay Z is a keen businessman, and owns the champagne Armand de Brignac and is the founder of entertainment company, Roc Nation.

Jay Z managed to top Dr. Dre, 52, for the first time since 2014, but don't feel too bad for him — he's still worth $740 million thanks to smart investments and that time he sold Beats to Apple for a cool $3 billion.

Though competition among the top three players is tight, it drops off after that to Bryan "Birdman" Williams, whose Cash Money Records houses Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne, among others. Birdman is worth $110 million.

Rapper Drake, 30, snags the fifth spot with $90 million thanks to successful records like 2016's "Views" and endorsement deals with Apple, Nike and Sprite.