Despite constant reports and media projections of young, black rap artists as thugs and miscreants prone to criminal activity and lacking a refined business acumen needed to take them to the next level, African-American heroes such as 50 Cent have continued to push the envelope with his business ventures that include everything from the way he became the first artist to perfect the art of monetizing his mixtapes, to his rewarding venture with Vitamin Water and how his stock purchase helped elevate the companies profile and profit, to his award-winning show Power on Starz, to his recent bitcoin come up.
Rapper 50 Cent Thinks Like a Harvard Businessman
Curtis Jackson broke into the music industry in 2002 and became the multiplatinum rapper 50 Cent. Today, he’s also an entrepreneur and philanthropist. He talks with WSJ’s Lee Hawkins about his latest ventures and whether he will become a billionaire.
50 on Wednesday confirmed a TMZ report that he made around $8 million in bitcoin by accepting the cryptocurrency as a payment for his 2014 album “Animal Ambition.”
He bragged about the windfall of cheddar on his Instagram before removing it.
TMZ calculated that the 700 bitcoin 50 Cent received for the album in 2014, which sat untouched in his account for four years, would be worth between $7.5 million and $8.5 million today.
As The Verge states, he later commented on the post: “Ima keep it real, I forgot I did that shit lol.”
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CRYPTO INSIDER: 50 Cent is a bitcoin millionaire https://t.co/DPX4eFmskO
Dude must be really caked up to forget that he had $8 million sitting in the stash. His bitcoin currency come-up is also indicative of how tastemaker moguls such as Curtis Jackson and Sean P. Diddy Combs are not just talented in the art of music production, but well-versed in the capitalistic art of American business and will continue to use their diverse life experiences to break ground, set trends and establish a new culture of thinking and level of ambition for young people of color.
