Jay-Z Tops in Benjamins

Thu., Aug. 16, 2007 10:46 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

So much for that Hard Knock Life.

Jay-Z was the top-earning hip-hop personality of 2006, according to Forbes' first list of Hip-Hop Cash Kings, and that's before he sold his Rocawear fashion label for $204 million.

Nope, the Def Jam Recordings CEO, whose real name is Shawn Carter, didn't secure that nine-figure amount until March, and Forbes based its results solely on what these Industry studs banked last year.

Jay-Z, for one, earned $34 million coming out of retirement with his 11th studio album, Kingdom Come, which has pushed more than 2 million copies, and padded those proceeds with his 40/40 Club sports-bar franchise, endorsement deals with General Motors, Hewlett-Packard and Budweiser and his small stake in the New Jersey Nets NBA team.

No word on how much of that $34 mil was spent on pretty presents for his Independent girlfriend, Beyoncé, who would probably rank pretty high if Forbes compiled a list of top R&B singer-actress-entrepreneurs.

Also on the list, 50 Cent, aka Curtis Jackson, didn't release an album last year, but he's sitting pretty in second place with an estimate $32 million in earnings last year, thanks to his G-Unit label, clothing line, videogames, ringtones, publishing and other ventures.

Fiddy, who has vowed to quit his solo career if Kanye West's upcoming Graduation outsells his Curtis when both discs drop Sept. 11, already holds some bragging rights. West is all the way in seventh place, where his paltry $17 million puts him on par with Snoop Dogg, Pharrell Williams and producer Scott Storch.

Fellow multimedia mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, lord of Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group, comes in third with $28 million, although, according to Forbes, his reps have assured the magazine, Donald Trump style, that that number is in reality much higher.

And there might be something to that. In addition to releasing his first album in four years, Press Play, Combs presides over the Bad Boy Records label, his Sean John clothing line, a fragrance line and MTV's Making the Band franchise.

Rounding out the top six are überproducer and sometime rapper Timbaland with $21 million, Dr. Dre with $20 million and onetime Dr. Dre protégé Eminem with $18 million.

Check out the complete list of Hip-Hop's Cash Kings on forbes.com.