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Thanks to the sale of his little headphone company, Dr. Dre’s annual salary has stomped on and vaporized the competition on Forbes’ new list of highest paid hip hop artists…aka The Cash Kings List.

The 49-year-old veteran producer/rapper earned an obscene $620 million in pre-tax earnings for the 12 months between June 2013 and 2014. Forbes said the estimated amount is the highest of any musician in any genre it has ever evaluated, and totals more than the other 24 salaries on the list – combined.

The majority of Dre’s coin came courtesy of the $3 billion sale to Apple of the Beats high-end headphone company he founded with music executive Jimmy Iovine. Dre also made profits from his cognac and vodka brands.

Diddy and Jay-Z tied for second place with a distant $60 million earned from drinks, clothing and television deals.

Jay-Z, who teamed with wife Beyonce this summer to earn $100 million jointly for their  “On the Run,” tour pulled in money from performances, his latest album and his Roc Nation entertainment empire.

 Drake, 27, came in fourth with $33 million generated from his album Nothing Was the Same, an endorsement deal with Nike and a concert tour with Lil Wayne.

 

Sourceblackamericaweb.com