Richest Rappers of All Time

They are a force in pop culture and have the money to prove it.

Richest Rappers of All Time

It's impossible to overstate the influence of rap on popular culture. Even though other genres of music had a head start, rap is a powerful force.

From rap's "golden age" in the 1980s to today's generation of social media-created stars, they all have one thing in common — boatloads of money.

These are the richest rappers of all time.

25. DJ Khaled — $65 Million

Note: All numbers are from Celebrity New Worth in 2020.

Name: Khaled Mohamed Khaled

Born: Nov. 26, 1975 (New Orleans, Louisiana)

Career highlights: Grammy Award, MTV Video Music Award, 13-time BET Hip Hop Award winner, American Music Award

Best album: "We The Best" (2007)

Bottom line: DJ Khaled's rise to one of the richest rappers of all time is really something to behold considering he got his start as an actual radio DJ in Miami in the 1990s and made the transition to being an artist with a big assist from the internet.

Rising to fame as a producer, DJ Khaled has banked almost as much cash by being a marketable celebrity in the internet age — most notably on his Snapchat account.

Oh, and did we mention he's a best-selling author? His book "The Keys" landed on the New York Times bestseller list.

23. Nas — $70 Million (Tied)

Name: Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones

Born: Sept. 14, 1973 (Brooklyn, New York)

Career highlights: Two-time BET Hip Hop Award winner, 15-time Grammy Award nominee

Best album: "Illmatic" (1994)

Bottom line: Hands down one of the greatest lyricists of all time, Nas came out the bat with perhaps the greatest rap album of all time with the 1994 smash "Illmatic" when he was just 21 years old.

Nas somehow managed to navigate the next two-plus decades of hip hop (and epic beefs) by keeping himself just one step ahead of the competition on the mic.

What few people know is that Nas founded his own venture capital firm that hit big with investments in companies like Lyft and Dropbox.

23. Rev. Run — $70 Million (Tied)

Name: Joseph Ward Simmons

Born: Nov. 14, 1964 (New York City, New York)

Career highlights: Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, Grammy Award nominee, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Best album: "Raising Hell" (1986)

Bottom line: Rev. Run made his name as one-third of the rap group Run-DMC in the 1980s and got a big lift from his brother, Russell Simmons, the co-founder of Def Jam Records.

Run-DMC was one of the pioneers of rap music in the 1980s — the "golden age" of rap — and transitioned into elder statesmen of the game quite easily. Rev saw a big uptick in his earnings with his success on reality television as it boomed in the mid-2000s.

His MTV reality series "Run's House" was an enormous hit and led to several more reality series for him.

21. Will.i.AM — $75 Million (Tied)

Name: William James Adams Jr.

Born: March 15, 1975 (Los Angeles, California)

Career highlights: Seven-time Grammy Award winner

Best album: "The E.N.D." (2009)

Bottom line: Hey, we're as annoyed as you to see this guy on here. Because the music, by all accounts, is mostly trash.

Of all the artists on the list, Will.i.AM has probably experienced the most straightline success on Top 40 radio thanks to the group he formed, The Black Eyed Peas, becoming one of the most well-known groups in the world in the 2000s.

There's something to be said for being smart enough to be the one who grabs the CEO label from the start. They're usually the one who cashes the biggest checks.

21. Kendrick Lamar — $75 Million (Tied)

Name: Kendrick Lamar Duckworth

Born: June 17, 1987 (Compton, California)

Career highlights: 13-time Grammy Award winner, Pulitzer Prize Award, Academy Award nominee, Golden Globe Award nominee, 12-time MTV Video Music Award winner, 19-time BET Hip Hop Award winner

Best album: "DAMN." (2017)

Bottom line: DAMN is right. Few artists in rap history have hit the scene with the resounding impact of Kendrick Lamar, who already can count himself among the greatest lyricists of all time.

Born and raised in Compton, California, Lamar grew up idolizing none other than Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg — influences that we easily see playing out in his music.

Where will Kendrick Lamar be on this list in 10 years? All three of his studio albums have made their way to Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, he's already been nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe and won 13 Grammy Awards. At just 33 years old.

19. Nicki Minaj — $80 Million (Tied)

Name: Onika Tanya Maraj

Born: Dec. 8, 1982 (Saint James, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago)

Career highlights: Five-time MTV Video Music Award winner, four-time People's Choice Award winner, eight-time American Music Award winner, 10-time Grammy Award nominee, eight-time BET Hip Hop Award winner

Best album: "Pink Friday" (2010)

Bottom line: Nicki Minaj ascended to superstar status throughout the 2010s, to the point where she became one of the biggest names in the music industry. To that end, she's been described by many as being the greatest female rapper of all time.

You can't throw a rock in the direction of any great hip-hop album in the 2010s without getting (hopefully) a listen to a collaboration with Minaj, but that isn't the only way she's been able to produce income.

Minaj's music is most definitely for an older (over 18) crowd, but that hasn't stopped her from being one of the most marketable artists in the world. She's cut deals as a pitchwoman with MAC makeup, H&M, Fendi and Mattel, among others.

19. Akon — $80 Million (Tied)

Name: Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam

Born: April 16, 1973 (St. Louis, Missouri)

Career highlights: American Music Award, BET Hip Hop Award, Billboard Music Award, five-time Grammy Award nominee, five-time MTV Video Music Award nominee

Best album: "Konvicted" (2006)

Bottom line: Anyone who loved music in the mid-2000s knows the sweet sound of Akon switching back and forth from both singing to rapping on classic tracks like "Locked Up" and "Smack That" with Eminem.

And while we're sure that Akon's musical talent is on par with the very best on this list, we're still a little confused as to how he's managed to bank $80 million in that time.

One possible source of income definitely gives us pause. He's reportedly invested heavily in African diamond mines and denied the existence of "blood diamonds" for years before finally acquiescing.

18. Timbaland — $85 Million

Name: Timothy Zachary Mosley

Born: March 10, 1972 (Norfolk, Virginia)

Career highlights: Four-time Grammy Award winner, BET Hip Hop Award, four-time MTV Video Music Award nominee

Best album: "Shock Value" (2007)

Bottom line: Do we appreciate Timbaland's contribution to music enough? Probably not, but he's got an estimated $85 million to soothe those wounds.

Timbaland was one of the premier producers in hip-hop beginning in the 1990s with Missy Elliott and then generated worldwide fame as the producer on back-to-back smash hit albums for Justin Timberlake with "FutureSexLoveSounds" and "The 20/20 Experience" in the early 2000s.

Timbaland's also had the benefit of having the power of the pen. He's written almost 200 songs that have made the Billboard charts both in the U.S. and overseas.

15. Pitbull — $90 Million (Tied)

Name: Armando Christian Perez

Born: Jan. 15, 1981 (Miami, Florida)

Career highlights: Grammy Award winner, three-time MTV Video Music Award winner, two-time Billboard Music Award winner, People's Choice Award winner

Best album: "Dale" (2016)

Bottom line: Pitbull's wealth could grow exponentially in the near future. He's essentially in the prime of his career as a performing artist.

The Miami native began putting out albums starting in 2001, but it wasn't until his fourth album, "Rebelution" in 2009, that he began to experience massive worldwide success.

Pitbull is another great example of a rapper coming into his prime in the social media era and making a massive amount of money off it. His YouTube videos alone have generated over 15 billion views, and he has one of the largest social media followings of any artist in the world.

15. Mike D — $90 Million (Tied)

Name: Michael Louis Diamond

Born: Nov. 20, 1965 (New York City, New York)

Career highlights: Three-time Grammy Award winner, four-time MTV Video Music Award winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Best album: "Ill Communication" (1994)

Bottom line: One-third of the legendary rap group the Beastie Boys, Mike D shared in the success that led to 40 million in album sales and three Grammy Awards.

It's not hard to see why Mike D was drawn to being an artist in the manner that he was. He grew up in an affluent family on Central Park West that made a fortune as premier art dealers in the world.

If you've ever listened to a Beastie Boys album and were blown away by the beats that featured drums so prominently, we have Mike D to thank because he was the one manning the sticks.

15. Ad-Rock — $90 Million (Tied)

Name: Adam Keefe Horowitz

Born: Oct. 31, 1966 (New York City, New York)

Career highlights: Three-time Grammy Award winner, four-time MTV Video Music Award winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Best album: "Ill Communication" (1994)

Bottom line: Ad-Rock was the final piece to the Beastie Boys when he joined the group in 1982. Together with Mike D and MCA, they created one of the greatest rap groups of all time, and four years later, the trio were international superstars following the release of the "Licensed to Ill" album.

Perhaps the biggest reason that the Beastie Boys were able to sustain their success over decades was their ability to adapt. They weren't simply trying to replicate what they did on their last album.

Partners all the way, it's no surprise that both Ad-Rock and Mike D have the same net worth.

13. Swizz Beatz — $100 Million (Tied)

Name: Kaseem Dean

Born: Sept. 13, 1978 (New York City, New York)

Career highlights: Grammy Award, BET Hip Hop Award, BET Award

Best album: "One Man Band Man" (2007)

Bottom line: If you look at a list of the greatest rap songs of the last 20 years, you'll find the imprint of Swizz Beatz all over them. There's a reason Kanye West once called him "the best rap producer of all time."

Swizz sold his first beat to DMX — the classic "Ruff Ryders Anthem" — and was producing songs for Jay-Z when he was just a teenager.

More importantly, we have Swizz Beatz to thank (and he has checks to cash) for the wildly successful "Verzuz" web series pitting rappers and musicians against each other playing their own catalogues.

13. Birdman — $100 Million (Tied)

Name: Bryan Christopher Brooks

Born: Feb. 15, 1969 (New Orleans, Louisiana)

Career highlights: Grammy Award nominee, BET Viewer's Choice Award

Best album: "Hood Rich" (2002)

Bottom line: Birdman's fortune comes more from his acuity as a producer than a rapper. He had his most success on the mic as part of Big Tymers alongside Mannie Fresh.

Where Birdman really cashed in was as the co-founder and CEO of Cash Money Records in the 1990s, when he guided the careers of superstars like Lil Wayne, Juvenile, Nicki Minaj and Drake at one time or another.

Birdman's earning power isn't what it used to be, however, as a long-running legal dispute between Lil Wayne and Cash Money Records included accusations that Birdman tried to have Lil Wayne killed at one point.

12. LL Cool J — $120 Million

Name: James Todd Smith

Born: Jan. 14, 1968 (Long Island, New York)

Career highlights: Two-time Grammy Award winner, two-time MTV Video Music Award winner, four-time NAACP Image Award winner, three-time Soul Train Music Award winner

Best album: "Mama Said Knock You Out" (1990)

Bottom line: Like many rappers on this list, LL Cool J started off as a music phenom and made the leap to a lucrative career acting and producing.

LL Cool J released his first solo album, "Radio," when he was just 17 years old after dropping out of high school and became one of the stars of rap's "golden age" in the 1980s.

As an actor, LL Cool J has had middling success in films but struck paydirt when he landed a role on "NCIS: Los Angeles" in 2009. Twelve years later, he's been featured in 271 episodes at a reported salary of $350,000 per episode.

9. Snoop Dogg — $150 Million (Tied)

Name: Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.

Born: Long Beach, California (Oct. 20, 1971)

Career highlights: 17-time Grammy Award nominee, American Music Award, BET Award, Emmy Award nominee

Best album: "Doggystyle" (1993)

Bottom line: Where did the time go? Snoop Dogg has been in the lives of rap fans for 30 years, first coming to our attention on several guest spots on Dr. Dre songs and "The Chronic" before shooting into the stratosphere with his debut solo album "Doggystyle" in 1993.

If you want to trace the roots of Snoop's fortune, you can point directly to an artist with perhaps the most dogged (pun intended) work ethic in the business. In 30 years, Snoop has put out 17 solo albums and an additional seven collaboration albums, along with a myriad of lucrative guest spots.

As an actor, he's been even more prolific. His IMDb boasts a staggering 234 acting credits spread across films and television roles in that same time.

9. Pharell — $150 Million (Tied)

Name: Pharell Lanscilo Williams

Born: April 5, 1973 (Virginia Beach, Virginia)

Career highlights: 13-time Grammy Award winner, four-time BET Award winner, MTV Video Music Award, two-time Academy Award nominee, five-time Soul Train Music Award winner

Best album: "In Search Of…" (2001)

Bottom line: Pharell Williams has never been just a rapper. It's a small part of what he does in the music industry, where he's had success as a singer, producer and musician on some of the biggest hits in history.

Pharell's initial success came with the rock group N.E.R.D. and The Neptunes — try to get "Frontin" out of your head after you listen to it once — and then as a solo artist.

He's strengthened his bottom line by his clothing line, with the ultra-stylish Billionaire Boys Club.

9. Lil Wayne — $150 Million (Tied)

Name: Dwayne Michael Carter Jr.

Born: Sept. 27, 1982 (New Orleans, Louisiana)

Career highlights: Five-time Grammy Award winner, 16-time BET Hip Hop Award winner, two-time MTV Video Music Award winner, four-time Billboard Music Award winner

Best album: "Tha Carter III" (2008)

Bottom line: Lil Wayne is one of the greatest rappers of all time and one of the most influential pop culture icons as well. His style has influenced a whole generation and seen his fame expand to well outside the music industry.

Lil Wayne was rapping for Cash Money Records and mentor Birdman by the time he was 9 years old and a member of the Hot Boys alongside Juvenile, B.G. and Turk by the time he was 14.

As a solo artist, Lil Wayne has sold albums at a historical rate, passing over 100 million records sold on 13 albums, and in 2012, he passed Elvis Presley as the artist with the most appearances on the Billboard 100 chart.

8. Ice Cube — $160 Million

Name: O'Shea Jackson

Born: June 15, 1969 (Los Angeles, California)

Career highlights: BET Hip Hop Award, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Blockbuster Entertainment Award winner

Best album: "The Predator" (1992)

Bottom line: Few rappers have influenced pop culture like Ice Cube, who shot to fame as a teenager in Compton, California, as a member of NWA, the most famous rap group of all time.

Ice Cube struck out on his own with several critically acclaimed and hugely successful solo albums in the 1990s, but his talents went beyond music.

Beginning with the Academy Award-nominated film "Boyz N The Hood" in 1992, he's carved out a staggeringly successful acting career. Ice Cube wrote, produced and starred in the comedy classic "Friday" in 1995 and has starred in and produced films totaling more than $1.1 billion in worldwide box office in his career.

7. Drake — $180 Million

Name: Aubrey Drake Graham

Born: Oct. 24, 1986 (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

Career highlights: Four-time Grammy Award winner, five-time American Music Award winner, 19-time BET Hip Hop Award winner, three-time MTV Video Music Award winner

Best album: "Take Care" (2011)

Bottom line: The only Canadian to make the list, Drake rose from fame as a child actor on "Degrassi Junior High" to become one of the most popular rappers of all time.

Drake's success — and the majority of his money — has come in the digital age. He's made a vast amount of his fortune from streaming sales. He's one of the best-selling artists of all time with approximately 170 million records sold, and he's sold more digital singles in the U.S. than any other artist.

He's also one of the most marketable rappers of all time and has endorsement deals with Sprite and Whataburger, among others.

6. Master P — $200 Million

Name: Percy Robert Miller

Born: April 29, 1970 (New Orleans, Louisiana)

Career highlights: American Music Award, Louisiana Music Hall of Fame

Best album: "Ghetto D" (1997)

Bottom line: Master P is a pretty amazing American success story, skyrocketing to fame as a solo rap artist, member of the rap group TRU and founder of No Limit Records in the mid-1990s.

The New Orleans native's business acumen made him the richest rapper of all time for a brief period in the late 2000s, when his fortune skyrocketed to a reported $700 million.

Master P didn't just stick to rap when he first became famous. He also had a string of hit movies he was in, most of which he financed and produced himself.

His son, Lil' Romeo, also proved to be a moneymaker early on, charting two top 10 Billboard albums in the early 2000s.

5. Eminem — $230 Million

Name: Marshall Bruce Mathers III

Born: Oct. 17, 1972 (St. Joseph, Missouri)

Career highlights: 15-time Grammy Award winner, Academy Award, 12-time MTV Video Music Award winner, 17-time Billboard Music Award winner, eight-time American Music Award winner

Best album: "The Eminem Show" (2002)

Bottom line: Eminem rose to fame with several albums produced by Dr. Dre in the late 1990s and early 2000s that made him the biggest star in the music industry.

Eminem learned quickly from Dre and discovered his own superstar in 50 Cent, cashing in on a share of the profits from his millions of album sales alongside his own. He even won an Academy Award for the song "Lose Yourself" in the hit film "8 Mile" based on his own life story.

Eminem's fortune can be traced back to his own music, however. He's sold 150 million albums in the U.S. alone and has charted 10 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200.

4. Dr. Dre — $820 Million

Name: Andre Romelle Young

Born: Feb. 18, 1965 (Compton, California)

Career highlights: Six-time Grammy Award winner, two-time MTV Video Music Award winner, BET Hip Hop Award

Best album (tie): "The Chronic" (1992) and "2001" (1999)

Bottom line: The conversation about the greatest music producer of all time comes down to just a few names — Dr. Dre is one of them.

Dre shot to fame as a member of the seminary rap group NWA in the 1980s, with Dre creating most of the beats, and struck out on his own in the early 1990s. As a solo artist, his "Chronic" album in 1992 and "2001" album in 1999 both shot rap into new stratospheres.

Vast parts of his fortune are also due to his discovery of another rapper on this list, Eminem, in the late 1990s as well as the sale of his Beats By Dre line to Apple for a reported $3 billion he split with longtime collaborator and friend Jimmy Iovine.

3. P. Diddy — $885 Million

Name: Sean John Combs

Born: Nov. 4, 1969 (New York City, New York)

Career highlights: Three-time Grammy Award winner, two-time MTV Video Music Award winner, two-time BET Hip-Hop Award winner

Best album: "No Way Out" (1997)

Bottom line: Sean Combs made his name as a producer on some of the greatest rap albums of all time early in his career. He produced Notorious B.I.G. albums "Ready to Die" and "Life After Death" to critical acclaim and millions of dollars in sales.

After Biggie's murder in 1997, Combs continued to rake in cash as a solo artist, owner and CEO of Bady Boy Records and various investments, including Ciroc vodka.

Combs was a moneymaker from the time he was young. He accumulated the rights to newspaper delivery routes and outsourced them to friends for a percentage of the profits when he was in junior high school.

2. Jay Z — $1 Billion

Name: Shawn Corey Carter

Born: Dec. 4, 1969 (New York City, New York)

Career highlights: 22-time Grammy Award winner, 17-time BET Hip Hop Award winner, seven-time MTV Video Music Award winner, six-time Billboard Music Award winner

Best album: "The Black Album" (2003)

Bottom line: Jay-Z rose from being a drug dealer on the streets of Brooklyn to one of the greatest — and richest — musicians in history.

Jay-Z put out some of the greatest rap albums of all time, including a late-career smash titled "4:44" in 2017 that seemed to define time itself. But it's not just music that has made him money.

Jay-Z's myriad investments, including lucrative deals with the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center, along with ownership of a record label have been gigantic sources of income as well.

1. Kanye West — $3.2 Billion

Name: Kanye Omari West

Born: June 8, 1977 (Atlanta, Georgia)

Career highlights: 21-time Grammy Award winner, 19-time BET Hip Hop Award winner, nine-time Billboard Music Award winner, five-time MTV Video Music Award winner

Best album: "The Life of Pablo" (2016)

Name: Kanye Omari West

Born: June 8, 1977 (Atlanta, Georgia)

Career highlights: 21-time Grammy Award winner, 19-time BET Hip Hop Award winner, nine-time Billboard Music Award winner, five-time MTV Video Music Award winner

Best album: "The Life of Pablo" (2016)

Bottom line: While the perception of Kanye West may have changed in the last few years, the mountain of money he continues to pile up has not.

West broke through first as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, then as a solo artist with the smash debut album "The College Dropout" in 2004. He became one of the highest-selling artists of all time with over 20 million albums and 140 million singles sold, and his 21 Grammy Awards are close to the most in history.

Perhaps his most lucrative partnership has been with Adidas. He's reportedly paid around $100 million in royalties yearly for his Yeezy line.