For quite sometime, the question of who would become the first hip-hop artist to enter the billionaire’s club was something only left to time. Well, it now seems the issue is settled as Forbes has just reported that Shawn Carter, popularly known as Jay-Z, has achieved that feat, ahead of P Diddy and Dr. Dre (Dre entered the race after selling his Beats By Dre Headphone brand for $3 billion to Apple).

Although Forbes states that the 10-figure-sum is conservative, they’ve gone ahead to break down this number. According to the magazine, the value of Jay-Z’s stakes in the companies and assets he (co)own amount to:

• • • Armand de Brignac ($310 million 

      This is a luxury champagne brand that produces the famous Ace of Spades, a bottle of which goes for $300.

    • D’Ussé ($100 million)

      This cognac brand is a partnership between Jay-Z and Bacardi, a large beverage company.

    • Roc Nation ($75 million)

      Jay-Z founded Roc Nation years ago as a joint venture with Live Nation. The company is currently involved in recordings, artist management, music publishing and sports management. Some of the stars on the Roc Nation label include: Rihanna, DJ Khaled, Meek Mill, J Cole and Kevin Durant.

    • Tidal ($100 million)

      Purchasing the streaming service back in 2015, Jay-Z relaunched Tidal, announcing other top artists (Madonna, Beyoncé, West, etc) as co-owners.

    • Cash & Investments ($220 million)

      Jay’s impressive investment portfolio includes a decent stake in Uber.

    • Music catalog ($75 million 

      Jay-Z’s ‘I own my own masters’ is an iconic and revolutionary statement that has inspired many new acts to rethink signing away rights to their master recordings. Although Jay-Z did sign to Def Jam, he later reached an agreement with them to buy back his rights (he also retained his publishing rights from EMI).

    • Art collection ($70 million)

      He owns an expensive collection of paintings and other valuable pieces of art.

    • Real estate ($50 million) 

      Jay Z owns a number of real estate properties.

     

    ---

    For sure, Jay-Z is a business, man; not a businessman.

    #AipateForMusic