When news broke yesterday that Apple had almost sealed a deal to buy Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion, I wondered whether the sale was going to make Dr. Dre hip-hop’s first billionaire. Now we have an answer! Maybe! Last night, actor, singer, and former model Tyrese Gibson posted this pretty amusing (and profanity-filled) video to Facebook celebrating the Apple deal with Dre in the studio. Toward the end, he says: “They’re gonna have to update the Forbes list.” At which point, Dre himself pipes in: “The first billionaire in hip-hop right here, from the motherf—in’ West Coast.”
Oh, and the video seems to have accidentally confirmed the Apple deal before it was official. But, you know, details.
In any event, The Wire notes that Dre only has somewhere around a 25 percent stake in Beats, which on its own wouldn’t quite be worth a full billion at the reported sale price. Thankfully, rappers never exaggerate their wealth. So I think we can all rely on Dre’s word.
