Jay-Z, Diddy, Nas, and Kendrick Lamar are hip-hop’s biggest earners according to ‘Forbes’

Drake, DJ Khaled, and Lil Uzi Vert made the cut this year.

Forbes has released its annual list of hip-hop’s biggest earners and we were surprised by a few of the rappers on the list. As expected, Jay-Z topped the list by raking in a whopping $76.5 million thanks to the success of 4:44 as well as the Everything Is Love album he dropped with his wifey, Beyonce. The couple’s On The Run 2 tour helped give him the boost he needed to nab the top spot.

Following close behind Hov is Diddy, who earned a cool $64 million with the help of his lucrative beverage deals with Ciroc vodka, DeLeón tequila and Aquahydrate alkaline water.

Kendrick Lamar came in at No. 3, securing $58 million from deals with Nike and American Express as well as his super successful solo tour and headlining the TDE: The Championship Tour.

Drake  came in at No.4 with $47 million and J. Cole rounds out the Top 5 with $35.5 million.

Nas made the list for the first time in his career, coming in at No. 6 with $35 million earned this year. Although he has released new music, most of the coins are coming from big moves he made in Silicon Valley, giving him stakes in companies like Lyft, Coinbase, and Mass Appeal.

We already knew these four were paid, but a few others on the list came as a bit of a surprise. Who knew Eminem was collecting coins to the tune of $23 million this year? And Lil Uzi Vert is doing his thing, quietly amassing $19.5 million in 2018.

For all his foolery, Kanye West only brought in $27.5 million which seems like quite a low-ball amount for the cost of his soul. DJ Khaled came in right behind him with $27 million and for some reason, we thought the man who seems to be on every track we hear would have brought in more bucks.

Check out the full list here. 

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