Dr. Dre Tops Forbes Hip Hop “Cash Kings” 2012

Dr. Dre came out of nowhere, push Diddy and Puff aside to rise to the top of this years Hip Hop Cash Kings.

Dre’s earnings come mostly from his beats by Dre. headphones.

1. Dr. Dre $110M
2. Diddy $45M
3. Jay-Z $38M
4. Kanye $35M
5. Lil Wayne $27M

6. Drake $20.5M
7. Birdman $20M
8. Nicki Minaj $15.5M
9. Eminem $15M
10. Ludacris $12M
11. Pitbull $9.5M
12. Rick Ross $9M (tie)
13. Wiz Khalifa $9M (tie)
14. Snoop Dogg $8.5M
15. 50 Cent $7.5M
16. Swizz Beatz $7M (tie)
17. Pharrel Williams $7M (tie)
18. Young Jeezy $7M (tie)
19. Mac Miller $6.5
20. Akon $6M (tie)
21. Timbaland $6M (tie)
22. Tech N9ne $6M (tie)

Those beats were surely a good move by Dre, getting more than Diddy and Jay-Z combined. I’m still asking myself how Kanye can make close to the amount Jay makes while Jay seems to be doing a lot more.

And looking at spots 5 through 8 it seems like YMCMB is winning anyways, Eminem doesn’t seem to do much but still does his thing. That man Pitbull, I still don’t know if I should consider him a rapper, but he’s gotta be thrown somewhere.

And then I go down through the list, same ol’ suspects. One person that surprised the hell out of me was Tech N9ne. Most people don’t even know who he is or what it is he does, but he still managed t get in the top 20 earners thanks to his Strange Music label and touring. Mac Miller deserves some respect, doing his thing independent and stil landing on the Cash Kings list full of big names (the guy is tied with Swizz, damnn).