Forbes has once again rolled out its list of hip-hop's future moguls for 2018, but this year, there's a new twist. The publication has done away with its former title, which was formerly called "Hip-Hop Cash Princes," and have diversified their pool of nominees to account for a wider scope of gender and background. It should surprise no one, then, that Cardi B is one name on the list, thanks to her breakout 2017.
Forbes is reporting that Cardi, on the strength of her hit single "Bodak Yellow" and a host of catchy follow-up records, is now commanding $150,000 or so per city whenever she does a live show. Rap's new empress is joined by Post Malone, Playboi Carti, Dave East, Vic Mena, Lil Pump, 21 Savage, Tyler, The Creator, WondaGurl and Lizzo, a body-positive rapper/singer who has also raked in tens of millions of streams online.
In today's music landscape, quirkiness is almost as valued as rapping ability. “Talent mixed with weirdness is a recipe for success in today’s society,” says Wendy Day, founder of Rap Coalition. “I realized [Malone] would get to the money quickly when a 60-year-old woman at the LAX airport pulled up in her convertible bumping ‘Rockstar.’” Day is one of the judges who picked this year's class of talent, alongside radio personality Charlamagne Tha God, Universal Hip-Hop Museum president Rocky Bucano and two Forbes personalities, Zack O'Malley Greenburg and Natalie Robehmed.
Based on the rappers who made this year's Forbes list, who's your pick for the personality who will end up as the richest, most successful artist when all is said and done with their careers? Let us know in the comments section.
