For the most part, hip hop stars who have managed to stay famous for decades – like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Jay-Z– still have the wealth that came with their early success. Some of these artists are richer than ever. In other cases, however, the opposite is true. Some of the biggest names from 80's and 90's hip hop failed to make their money last now that the glory days are done. And while certain performers have relatively modest wealth compared to what once was, others are making a living with 9-to-5 jobs like many people watching this video today. Here are former rappers who aren't as rich as you think.
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00:00Many rappers from the golden age of hip-hop have remained megastars. Snoop Dogg, Jay Z,
00:06Dr. Dre, and scores of others have all maintained their credentials,
00:10and have raked in tons of cash as a result.
00:12"- Opulence. I hesitate."
00:15But the rap game is notoriously unstable, and though a rapper might have all the trappings
00:20of success on display in their music videos, there is no guarantee they are going to keep them.
00:25In fact, some of the biggest rappers of the past have lost it all,
00:28while others are struggling in the 9-to-5 world alongside the rest of us now that their moment
00:33has passed. Take, for instance, Philadelphia rapper Beanie Sigel. At the turn of the millennium,
00:38he was as big as they come. His debut album, The Truth, was released in 2000 on Jay-Z's
00:44Rockefeller label. It became a Billboard Top 5 smash, as did his two follow-up albums,
00:492001's The Reason and 2005's The Becoming. By the mid-2000s, the young rapper was a
00:55multimillionaire. But then he faced a series of criminal proceedings, and his sales dropped.
01:00In 2010, he ultimately was found guilty of tax evasion, owing nearly $730,000 in back taxes.
01:08He was sentenced to two years in prison, and though he was released in 2014,
01:12his career never recovered. According to Celebrity Net Worth, his assets are currently
01:17valued at around $100,000, a fraction of what he had in his prime. Sigel isn't alone,
01:22though, in being taken down by tax issues. Exhibit A? Exhibit, who went platinum with
01:28his 2000 album Restless before becoming a reality TV mainstay with Pimp My Ride.
01:33According to Detroit News, in 2010, he faced a whopping $960,000 bill for unpaid federal taxes.
01:41The problem? Exhibit's yearly income reportedly dropped from almost a half a million during
01:46Pimp My Ride's final season to just over $67,000 the following year. Only, he didn't change his
01:52spending habits. In 2009, he was forced to declare bankruptcy, and it took him until
01:572018 to finish paying off the IRS for his back taxes. Of course, for many former rap stars,
02:03changing fortunes has more to do with changing tastes. Take Christopher Play Martin,
02:08one half of the hit rap duo Kid N' Play. Their three albums beginning with the debut Too Hype
02:13in 1988 were massive hits, and they turned that into a successful film gig with the House Party
02:19franchise. Heck, they even had their own Saturday morning cartoon. Since their heyday, though,
02:24Martin has had to find other work. After trying his hand at acting, he began a career in multimedia
02:29production and spent some time as a university lecturer, in addition to doing some Christian
02:33rap. According to Net Worth, today he is worth around $300,000, which is a very respectable
02:39living. Just not what you might expect from a famous rap pioneer.
02:43All right, Play, here's our opportunity. For what? I'm not hungry. For work, doofus."
02:49Chris Daddy Mac Smith can sympathize. He and his rapping partner, Chris Mac Daddy Kelly,
02:54were just 13 when they scored the number one hit single,
02:57Jump, as Chris Cross. Their 1992 album Totally Crossed Out went multi-platinum,
03:02and Chris Cross, now superstars, went on tour with Michael Jackson,
03:06performing to thousands of rap fans. The success was huge, but short-lived.
03:11After fading away, the duo reunited in 2013, but the reunion was tragically cut short when
03:16Kelly died of an accidental drug overdose. Smith has mostly stayed out of the spotlight since the
03:21heyday of Chris Cross, working in the art world rather than the rap game.
03:26His net worth is reportedly around $200,000. Still, that modest business success puts him
03:32one up on Prime Minister Pete Nice, who was once part of the groundbreaking hip-hop group Third
03:37Base. Not that Nice, whose real name is Peter Nash, hasn't been successful. Actually, in his
03:42case, he became way too successful in his second career as a sports memorabilia dealer. According
03:48to a 2009 Sports Illustrated exposé, Nash was constantly in debt, borrowing money against his
03:54supposed baseball artifacts, many of which turned out to be fake. Eventually, he got nearly a
03:59million dollars in debt and had to sign a court order admitting fraud. And that was just the start
04:04of legal troubles. As recently as 2019, a full decade later, he was still embroiled in hearings
04:10over money he owed from bogus merchandise deals. And that's... not very nice.