Forbes Names Kanye West Highest Paid Hip Hop Act Of 2019

Source: Myles Oblitey /London Entertainment/MoPho / Splash News

Forbes Names Kanye West Highest Paid Hip Hop Act Of 2019

Kanye West has never been more disliked. Folks claim to have canceled him, but according to a new Forbes article — in which Kanye is named this year’s cash KING — that’s not facts at all.

“Yeezy is expected to top $1.5 billion in sales this year—or about half of what Nike’s Air Jordan pulls in—boosting West’s pretax income to $150 million over the past year and making him hip-hop’s cash king for the first time ever,” Forbes reports. “Another career first: West out-earned Jay-Z, who ranks second on this year’s list with $81 million, buoyed by the tail end of his On The Run II tour with wife Beyoncé. Drake, the most-streamed artist of any genre, rounds out the top three with $75 million.”

At this point, to even make it to this list, you have to have made at least $18 million — a celebration for Hip Hop, in and of itself…

“All in all, the top 20 acts in hip-hop banked a combined $860 million, up 33% from $648 million last year. The bar for entry is $18 million, the highest it’s ever been. Our numbers represent pretax income from June 2018 to June 2019 before deducting fees for agents, managers and lawyers; figures are based on data from Nielsen Music, Pollstar, Bandsintown and interviews with experts, handlers and some of the stars themselves.”

Check out the full list on the flip. Also interesting is the fact that Cardi B comes in just below Nicki Minaj… the competition is STIFF.