
These
stars banked more than any of their peers over the past 12 months.
This week, Jay-Z and Kanye West dropped their long-awaited
collaboration, Watch the Throne. The
album's timing and title couldn't have been more appropriate-the Empire State of Mind rapper is hip-hop's
top earner with $37 million in the past 12 months, claiming his fourth Cash
Kings crown in five years; his partner-in-rhyme ranked third.
Fueled
by the tail end of his Blueprint 3 Tour and a vast portfolio of business
interests, Jay-Z barely edged second-ranked Diddy-who raked in $35 million,
roughly half of that total coming from a lucrative partnership with Diageo's
Ciroc vodka-but handily topped West, who earned $16 million. The duo is steaming
ahead with plans for co-headlining tour starting this fall.
"Jay-Z
and Kanye are hip-hop ambassadors," says Steve Stoute, chief of Translation
Marketing and author of The Tanning of
America. "They bring the art form around the world, and they've taken
production and



