As Dr Dre seals the deal on making $3bn from the sale of his Beats empire to Apple, he’ll be worth $700m, making him the richest rapper by far – worth one and a half Jay-Zs and five 50 Cents (that’s the rapper, duh, not the actual money) – it’s worth noting that rappers aren’t only known for their quick flows and bassy productions, but making money. Dr Dre won’t only be the richest rapper in the world, but he’ll be worth almost as much as Paul McCartney, who’s almost double his age and was intensely prolific as a songwriter and part of the biggest band in the world ever, The Beatles.
With cash – big cash – being just another pillar of hip-hop culture, we take a look at the strangest stuff that rappers have made money from.
The Kim Kardashian sex tape
Ray J – you know, Moesha/Brandy’s brother – made a sex tape with Kim Kardashian. And it leaked. He still gets money for it, apparently making £30,000 from the sex tape in the first months of this year alone.
Pimping
You can almost forgive a rapper’s previous career e.g. dealing crack on New York sidewalks, as Jay-Z once did, if they leave it behind after they make it big. However, Snoop Dogg worked as a pimp even while he was a successful rapper, back in 2006.
**Luxury white t-shirts **
Kanye West joined up with APC to bring us a white T-shirt for $120 (£70). Well, it was APC, after all.
Acting
They’re just like other mainstream musicians in that some of them will make the foray into acting. For some, like Ice T and Eminem, it works out OK. For 50 Cent, not so well. We mean, did anyone actually see that film he lost all that weight for?
Penis pills
Warren G made a few g when times got hard (sorry, we had to) flogging Affirm XL male enhancement pills. See the below if you don't believe us.
Condoms
Lil Wayne helped promote Strapped, a range of condoms, shortly before becoming a dad to three children. When it comes to practicing what you sell, we’re not exactly sure he was the best fit for this ad campaign. Our favourite bit was that the original advert looked like he was being bummed by a policeman.
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Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.