Published On: Fri, Sep 7th, 2012

Dr. Dre Unseats Jay-Z as Hip-Hop’s Richest Star

Raking in a whopping $110 million in pretax earnings, Dr. Dre unseated Jay-Z as the richest star in hip-hop, Forbes reports in their annual Cash Kings list.

Though his long-awaited record Detox is still, well, awaited, Dre’s cash flow has skyrocketed thanks to his best selling Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, which now account for more than half of the country’s premium headphones sales (priced $100 and up). Dre received a huge windfall last year, collecting $100 million of the $300 million HTC paid to acquire a 51 percent stake in the company.

Following Dre is another hip-hop mogul who’s making most of his money outside the studio: Diddy, whose $45 million comes mostly from his share of profits from Diageo’s Ciroc vodka.

Even third-place finisher Jay-Z – a more frequent visitor to the vocal booth these days – pulled in more than half his $38 million from outside ventures including his ownership stakes in the Brooklyn Nets, the cosmetics company Carol’s Daughter and a joint venture with battery maker Duracell.

FULL ARTICLE

Pictured: Rapper Dr. Dre performs onstage during day 3 of the 2012 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Field on April 15, 2012 in Indio, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Coachella)

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