Auditing hip-hop’s ‘billionaire’ boys club: Just how many rappers have no savings account?

Oh no he didn't: P Diddy isn't quite as well-off as he claims (Getty Images)

Rappers aren’t exactly known for their modesty, preferring to fill their lyrics with endless references to Cristal and ice (diamonds). And, boy, do they love to brag about how rich they are. But how many of them are all mouth and no savings account? On the track “Versus” from the recent, Magna Carta Holy Grail, Jay-Z’s taunts fellow rappers about just how much they have in the bank: “The truth in my verses, versus your metaphors about what your net worth is.”

Evidently, Bloomberg Businessweek shared Hova’s suspicions and crunched the numbers themselves, comparing lyrical affirmations of wealth with the star’s presumed earnings.

They found the biggest fibber in rap to be Pitbull, who despite claiming in this year’s track “Feel This Moment” to “make dollars, I mean billions”, actually made a paltry $9.5m (£6.4m) last year. And despite being the wealthiest man in hip-hop, even P Diddy has been telling porkies. His “Shot Caller (Remix)” announced he was “worth about a billion and still run the city”, yet Forbes has given him a net worth of $580m (£390m). Busted!