Dr. Dre Officially Becomes Hip-Hop's Second Billionaire

It’s official! Music mogul Dr. Dre is officially a Forbes-listed, confirmed, money-counted billionaire. 

The Compton-born and raised producer/rapper, who helped popularize funk-driven gangsta rap, is listed in the latest issue of Forbes’ billionaires list under the new billionaire heading. 

Dr. Dre, 61, (or Andre Young as he was born) appears in the Forbes’ April/May cover story is between technologist Vladimir Ivanov and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, who surely didn’t acquire his wealth through his relationship to the president, Jared Kushner. 

Dr. Dre now joins other elite musicians, including Beyoncé, Rihanna, Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, and Jaÿ-Z, as confirmed, minted billionaires.

Dre told Forbes that despite his wise investments, he continues to work on music and has some 400 unreleased tracks, most of which were created during the pandemic. 

“Who knows if something is gonna happen to make me come up with the best thing I’ve ever done in my life?” he said. “The exciting part is there’s the potential of that. It’s exciting and depressing at the same time because I know it’s there, and what if I don’t find it?”

It wasn’t just the music that pushed Dre from a millionaire to a billionaire. The musical innovation between Dre and record label chairman Jimmy Iovine pushed to give the music listening community an entirely new and updated way to consume music on the go. The two founded Beats Electronics in 2008 and made luxury $300 high-end headphones that they promptly gave to influencers and athletes alike. Six years later, they sold Beats to Apple for $3 billion.  

“Financially, I’m in a place I never dreamed of,” Dre told USA Today at the time. “Now, I’m just ready to get started with the work.”

USA Today notes that since the sale Dre hasn’t stopped working on other projects. He teamed up with friend and fellow rapper Snoop Dogg to create “Gin & Juice By Dre and Snoop ready-to-drink cocktails and Still G.I.N. By Dre and Snoop, an ultra-premium gin, both of which came to market in 2024.”

“I don’t chase money – I try to make the money chase me,” Dre told Forbes. “I’ve always been able to bet on myself, and whatever I do and wherever I go, I know I have my talent with me.”

Dre, who is a member of the gangsta rap crew N.W.A, might be best known for his classic album The Chronic released in 1992, and sold more than 3 million units in 1993, earning Dre his first of seven Grammy awards. 

“I feel like I still have a lot of gas in the tank,” Dre told Forbes. “I just want to wake up and be motivated to do something.”

See social media’s mixed reactions to the new below.