Jay-Z Made History As Hip-Hop's First Billionaire — But How did he do it

“Now you know your ass is Willie when they got you in the mag/For like half a billy and your ass ain’t lily-White”

— Jay-Z What More Can I Say” from The Black Album

Jay-Z — aka Sean Carter, Jigga, and (Young) Hov — is worth well more than half a billy these days. The former Marcy Projects resident, is now, according to Forbes, worth over a billion dollars. Actually, it’s $1.3 billion to be precise, but who’s arguing over $300m?

So how did he do it? Like hip-hop billionaires, Kanye West and P. Diddy, Jay-Z recognised that if he was to attain true wealth he’d have to leverage his hip-hop credibility into other businesses. But more of that later. Initially, Jay-Z made a pretty packet from the entertainment industry. His music catalog alone is estimated to be worth around $100 million. This is due, in part, to the fact that Jay-Z owns his master recordings. That means he makes money whenever he licenses his music to TV, film, advertising or allows it to be used in the form of samples by other artists. This revenue alone is estimated to bring Jigga $5m annually. 

Touring has always been a highly lucrative source of income for Jay-Z. His revenue has been among some of the highest in hip-hop: 

• 2011: Watch the Throne Tour with Kanye West - $40,079,577 across 57 shows

• 2013: Tour with Justin Timberlake - $75.3 million from 14 shows

• 2013/2014: Magna Carta Tour - $48.9 million from 52 shows

• 2017: 4:44 Tour - $48,698,354 from 32 shows

• 2014 & 2018: On The Run I & II Tours with Beyonce: - $364 million

Total: $576,977, 931

Clothing

In the 1990s and early 2000s, you couldn’t go anywhere without seeing someone in Rocawear clothing. Jay-Z’s reputation as a good businessman is well-known and with Rocawear, every step was a masterstroke in turning it into a brand that, at one point was worth $700m. First came the licensing deals, then came a move to Macy’s flagship store, widening and diversifying an already considerable audience and with all the extra capital they had earned they focused on marketing and advertisements featuring everyone from the likes of supermodel Naomi Campbell to The Spice Girls’ Victoria Beckham. Rocawear blew up across the United States, then the world. The brand appeal started to fizzle out and Jay-Z sold it in 2007 for $204m.

Real Estate

Jay-Z's real estate portfolio, owned with wife Beyoncé, has the kind of holdings you’d expect from a billionaire couple. According to Architectural Digest, in 2017 they purchased a $26m East Hampton mansion as well as a Bel Air home for $88 million. Their other holdings reportedly include a $2.6m New Orleans mansion and a $6.5m New York City penthouse. All these have appreciated considerably since AD made their evaluations three years ago to bring their total value closer to $75m. 

Art

Jay has made no secret of his love of art. Together with his wife, Beyoncé, Jay-Z owns an extensive art collection that is said to be worth millions. In 2018, ArtSpace did a round-up of Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s art collection that included the likes of Sadie Barnett, Richard Prince, and of course, Jean-Michel Basquiat, which he rapped about it including Basquiat’s “Mecca”, purchased in 2013 for a reported $4.5m. The Basquiat collection hit the mainstream when they posed in their Tiffany & Co. campaign with a rare and heretofore-unseen artwork done by Basquiat. Forbes estimated Hov’s art collection to be in the $70 million range three years ago.

Alcohol

The Booze Baron of Bed-Stuy’s alcohol-affiliated companies is sold all the way from Brooklyn to Beverly Hills. In 2021 Jay-Z sold half of his stake in his upscale champagne line, Armand de Brignac (known as “Ace of Spades) to conglomerate LVMH for reportedly over $300 million.

In addition, Jay-Z has a joint venture cognac deal for his D’Ussé line with alcohol titan Bacardi. As of 2019, this was estimated to be worth $100 million, with the company moving 200,000 cases per year, growing 80% annually.

Cash & Investments

On a purely ROI basis, one of Jay-Z’s best investments was one for which he didn’t have to leverage his name. In fact, many people probably don’t know he is a stakeholder in Uber. In 2013 he reportedly invested $2 million in the car-sharing start-up, which is now estimated to be worth over $70 million. One look at the CrunchBase profiles of Marcy Venture Partners, Arrive, and Roc Nation will prove that Jay-Z has made investments in nearly 100 different companies, including Savage X Fenty, Epic Games, Sweetgreen, Oatly, and Fanatics.

Marcy Venture Partners

In 2018, Jay-Z along with former Roc Nation President, Jay Brown and Silicon Valley veteran, Larry Marcus, formed Marcy Venture Capital Partners, a venture capital fund with a focus on digital media and consumer services. In forming the company, Jay-Z might have taken a leaf out of former rival Nas’ playbook whose Queensbridge Venture Capital Partners has earned millions investing in start-ups such as Ring, Dropbox, Lyft, and Casper.

Marcy Venture Partners recently closed its second fund worth $325 million. Crunchbase reports that Marcy Venture Partners, founded in 2019, is a venture capital firm that has invested in 24 companies — 11 of which are considered “diversity investments.” Recent MVP investments include 24-year-old metaverse tech incubator innovator, Iddris Sandu and a $33 million investment in beauty brand Madison Reed, MERIT Beauty, Wyze, and Misha’s Kind Beauty.

Tidal

In 2015 Jay-Z purchased Scandinavian streaming company Tidal for just under $60 million, relaunching the company with a host of celebrities. In 2021 he reportedly sold the company for $302 million to former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Square, although Jay-Z is staying on the board. 

Roc Nation

Probably the best-known company of Jay-Z’s is Roc Nation. It's the broad-scoped entertainment company joint venture deal with Live Nation, that he started when he stepped down as an executive at Def Jam. Musical artists affiliated with its management arm include Alicia Keys, Rihanna, and J-Cole amongst others. It also has a sports agency where clients include Kevin Durant, Todd Gurley, Kevin De Bruyne, and Romelu Lukaku. It’s conservatively estimated to be worth about $100 million.

Summary

Jay-z has diversified in a way that few other artists have. He has successfully created businesses that are not reliant on his star power to succeed. European soccer stars get no extra kudos because they belong to an agency owned by Jay-Z, many champagne and cognac connoisseurs don’t buy a beverage because of Jay-Z’s ownership and most people who ride in Uber have no idea that a tiny part of their fare goes to Jigga. As the man once famously said, “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.”