Less than four years after becoming the first billionaire rapper, Jay-Z is showing no signs of slowing down.
The Brooklyn-born artist’s net worth is now $2.5 billion, according to the latest estimate from Forbes.
Jay-Z became rap’s first billionaire back in 2019, with stakes in Armand de Brignac champagne and D’Usse cognac valued at over $400 million at the time, as well as various investment properties in New York and LA.
His wealth has ballooned in recent years thanks in part to the growth of his entertainment company Roc Nation, his sale of the streaming service Tidal as well as numerous investments in companies including Uber. Forbes pegged his net worth at $1.4 billion just last year.
“Even in a year without a tour or album release, Jay-Z mints millions from his Armand de Brignac champagne and D’Usse cognac,” Forbes’ report reads.
His fortune is enough to make him the 1,210th wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes.
In a 2010 sit-down with legendary investor Warren Buffett, nearly a decade before becoming a billionaire, Jay-Z compared his approach to his music career with the Oracle of Omaha’s strategy of investing only in businesses he understands rather than what is most popular.
“Music is like stocks, there’s the hot thing of the moment” Jay-Z told Forbes at the time. “People tend to make emotional decisions based on that. They don’t stick with what they know.”
The now 53-year-old approached his career with the goal of making money and bucked against the common sentiment in the 90s that musicians shouldn’t aspire to be rich.
“That was the greatest trick in music that people ever pulled off, to convince artists that you can’t be an artist and make money,” he said. “Hip-hop from the beginning has always been aspirational. It always broke that notion that an artist can’t think about money as well.”
At the end of their conversation, Buffett said that soon enough, young people would be looking to Jay-Z for their money-making advice.
“Jay is teaching in a lot bigger classroom than I’ll ever teach in,” Buffett said. “For a young person growing up he’s the guy to learn from.”
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