50 Cent

In Forbes magazine’s latest hip-hop business special (titled “Hip-Hop’s Cash Kings”), 50 Cent was named the highest-earning mogul for the past year.

How did 50 earn more than his closest competitor and the seemingly more powerful hip-hop heavyweight, Jay-Z?

One major business move clinched Fif’s number one spot. According to the article: “The new king of hip-hop wealth banked $100 million after taxes on one deal alone when his stake in VitaminWater’s parent, Glacéau, was bought by Coca-Cola as part of a $4.1 billion deal.”

Here’s the complete list of Forbes‘ top 20 highest earning hip hop artists:

1. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson: $150 million

2. Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter: $82 million

3. Sean “Diddy” Combs: $35 million

4. Kanye West: $30 million

5. Timothy “Timbaland” Mosley: $22 million

6. Pharrell Williams: $20 million

7. Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean: $17 million

8. Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus: $16 million

9. André “Dr. Dre” Young: $15 million

10. Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges: $14 million

11. Clifford “T.I.” Harris: $13 million (tie)

11. Dwayne “Lil Wayne” Carter: $13 million (tie)

12. Marshall “Eminem” Mathers: $12 million (tie)

12. Lonnie “Common” Lynn Jr.: $12 million (tie)

12. Aliaune “Akon” Thiam: $12 million (tie)

13. Jermaine Dupri: $11 million (tie)

13. Jonathan “Lil Jon” Smith: $11 million (tie)

14. OutKast: $10 million (tie)

14. Hakeem “Chamillionaire” Seriki: $10 million (tie)

14. Jayceon “The Game” Taylor: $10 million (tie)

Source: ProHipHop

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WoooHa.com

WoooHa.com is a fully integrated website that’s a great source for the latest movie/TV, fashion, lifestyle and business news in hip-hop and urban music.

With the tagline “Where Hip-Hop Means Business”, WoooHa.com has shown love to DrJays.com by making us a special partner of their newly launched site. Other partners are hip-hop blog Nah Right and streetwear blog High Snobiety.

Check ‘em out and tell ‘em who sent ya!

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An image from Diddy’s I Am King ad campaign

Thanks to the huge success of Unforgivable for Men, Diddy is launching a new fragrance – I Am King.

“I Am King is a statement about all men,” Diddy tells WWD. “We are all descendants of royalty – and if we carry ourselves and respect ourselves in that manner and believe in ourselves, then we are all kings.”

The accompanying ad campaign, which will launch in September, features a dapper Diddy with gorgeous models in such exotic locations as Saint-Tropez, the French Riviera and Monte Carlo.

The name builds on Diddy’s current Sean John men’s line, which has a classic, royal theme.

I Am King t-shirt by Sean John

“You have to look at all of the images they have out about African-Americans,” he explains. “So when you see this image, you need to understand it’s bigger than the fragrance, it’s bigger than me.

“When a young African-American male or a young Latino male sees this image, they see this elegant sophistication and they see I Am King next to it – it hits their senses and they believe; that’s what motivates me when I’m taking pictures.”

He finishes: “Yeah we definitely do wear jeans that sag off our ass, we definitely like our music loud, but we’re also very intelligent, very smart – you know, as they say about Barack Obama, we’re also very articulate. Yes, we speak well and we can also wear tuxedos. And we also smell good.”

I Am King will be available at Macys in December before rolling out to wider distribution in February. I Am Queen, the women’s fragrance, launches in fall 2009.

Main image: Maven Report

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T.I.

Boss Lady is interviewing T.I. on Friday and because he’s such an important artist, we want to know if YOU (both fans and detractors) have any burning questions for him.

You never know – your question just might be chosen!

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Members of the DrJays.com buying team hit up two Nike parties last night here in New York.

The first event was celebrated artist/designer Eric Elms’s Nike art work installation:

The second event was in Harlem, a private event hosted by Coltrane Curtis with guests including The Retro Kids:

We have some VERY big news regarding Nike and DrJays.com coming up, so stay posted!

All photos provided by our intrepid buyer Ericka “E-Mitts” Mitton.

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T.I.

T.I. has joined forces with activist organization Hip Hop Caucus to encourage young people to get out and vote in the upcoming US Presidential elections.

He kicked off the new campaign today in Washington, DC with Caucus president Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr.

Yearwood helped Diddy create his “Vote Or Die!” campaign back in 2004.

This time around, the new slogan is “Respect My Vote” and T.I. is launching his new clothing line, AKOO, with the corresponding t-shirts.

Reverend Yearwood and T.I.

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Nas outside Fox News

Every day it becomes clearer that Nas is separating himself from other major-selling rappers by putting words into action.

Yesterday Rolling Stone reported on the hip-hop legend’s latest effort:

About four hours after the announcement that his controversial, politically charged ninth album was number one in the country, Nas was on a small podium in front of Fox News headquarters in New York City protesting what he sees as racist attacks against Black Americans and presidential candidate Barack Obama.

In a brief prepared statement, the multi-platinum rapper pointed out examples of what he and ColorOfChange see as a long racist smear campaign against the Obama family: The onscreen graphic that referred to Michelle Obama as the Senator’s “baby mama”; Bill O’Reilly casually using the phrase “lynching party” to refer to attacks on the Senator’s wife; referencing to the couple’s infamous fist thump as a “terrorist fist jab.”

Said Nas, “Fox poisons this country every time they air racist propaganda and try to call it news. This should outrage every American that Fox uses hateful language to talk about the person that may be the first black president.”

Nas’s tirade against Fox News is receiving major media attention, and countless people are hitting numerous websites with their opinions. All of this builds on the sensitive material of his new album, Untitled.

If you had the chance to speak to Nas right now, what would you say? Would you tell him his actions are making people stand up and take notice, or that his efforts are in vain?

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Vote For It! 08 is a joint initiative between Russell Simmons‘ Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) and online ad network and marketing company, CPX Interactive.

The purpose of the joint initiative is to serve as a call-to-action to America’s youth vote. A diverse group of celebrities is featured in the movement’s first PSA, including Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J, T.I., Ciara, Jim Jones, Doug E. Fresh and Chrisette Michele.

For more information head to www.voteforit08.org.

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Boss Lady with Valeisha Butterfield, Founder of WEEN/Executive Director of HSAN

Over the weekend the DrJays.com Live team covered the exciting launch of WEEN - Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network in New York City.

Founded by Executive Director of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network Valeisha Butterfield (pictured with our Boss Lady above, who is involved in the organization), WEEN is a non-profit organization dedicated toward motivating and inspiring young women of all races, especially within the often toxic entertainment industry.

The event brought out females at the top of their game in numerous fields, including law, finance, health, education and of course music, with MC Lyte hosting and Lil Mama, LeToya, Teyana Taylor, Melyssa Ford and more spending the day on various panels in front a very large, attentive audience.

Boss Lady interviewing Melyssa Ford

Be sure to check back for video footage on DrJays.com Live very soon; in the meantime, check out WEEN Online and get involved in a very worthy cause.

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Russell Simmons, Kimora Lee Simmons and daughters Ming Lee and Aoki Lee

Documents filed yesterday in Los Angeles Supreme Court show that Baby Phat CEO Kimora Lee Simmons is requesting that ex-husband (Phat Farm creator and Baby Phat co-creator) Russell Simmons pay $20,000 per month for each of their two daughters in child support.

This means $240,000 per year for Ming Lee, 8 (up until 2019) and Aoki Lee, 6 (up until 2022) which is a whopping $480,000 in total.

Considering her own personal fortune, do you think Kimora is being reasonable or crazy?

Source: TMZ

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