Why Diddy is Wealthy and Most Rappers are Not: Forbes Ranks Him #1

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action 

The rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs has reached another milestone in his increasingly storied hip-hop career. This year,Forbes ranked Diddy as the wealthiest hip-hop artist in the world, with a net worth of $475 million. He was followed on the list by Jay-Z, who himself carries a net worth of $450 million.

Following Diddy and Jay-Z are Dr. Dre, 50 Cent and Bryan "Birdman" Williams of Cash Money Records.

I wasn't surprised to see Diddy at the top of the list. His visionary style of corporate leadership is nothing short of iconic and legendary. The same is true for Jay-Z and other artists who made the list. What's most interesting to me about Diddy, to be quite frank, is that Sean is probably the worst rapper on the list of wealthy hip-hop artists. While we can easily point to major jams produced and sold by Jay-Z, Birdman, Dr. Dre and even Fifty Cent, Diddy hasn't put out hardly anything noteworthy since the death of the Notorious B.I.G. nearly 14 years ago.

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