The Forbes Hip-Hop Cash Kings charts pretax earnings for all living artists whose work is primarily classified as hip-hop or rap. The 2011 edition, for the period from May 2010 to May 2011 has been released, timed perfectly with the launch of Watch The Throne: Jay-Z is hip-hop’s top earner with $37 million in the past 12 months, while Kanye West ranked third and Pharrell continues to earn industry-leading production fees even while touring and releasing albums with N*E*R*D. Not included in this year’s tally proceeds from the recent licensing deal struck between his Billionaire Boys Club clothing line and Jay-Z’s Rocawear he earns the #13 place with $10 million.
The full Top 20 list follows
#1 – Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter, $37 million
#2 – Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, $35 million
#3 – Kanye West, $16 million
#4 – Dwayne ‘Lil’ Wayne’ Carter, Bryan ‘Birdman’ Williams, $15 million (tie);
#6 – Marshall ‘Eminem’ Mathers, Andre ‘Dr. Dre’ Young, Calvin ‘Snoop Dogg’ Broadus, $14 million (tie)
#9 – Aliuane ‘Akon’ Thiam, $13 million
#10 – Christopher ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, $12 million
#11 – Cameron ‘Wiz Khalifa’ Thomaz, Aubrey ‘Drake’ Graham, $11 million (tie)
#13 – Pharrell Williams, $10 million
#14 – Timothy ‘Timbaland’ Mosley, $7 million
#15 – Kasseem ‘Swizz Beatz’ Dean, Onika ‘Nicki Minaj’ Maraj, $6.5 million (tie)
#17 – William ‘Rick Ross’ Roberts, Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson, Armando ‘Pitbull’ Perez, $6 million (tie)
#20 – Faheem ‘T-Pain’ Najm, Bobby ‘B.o.B’ Simmons, Jr., $5 million (tie)