Forbes: Hip-Hop Cash Kings of 2009, Nick Cannon Discusses Mariah Carey's Touching Moment

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Within the past several years, the top finance and business magazine in the world dubbed simply Forbes, have always put together their list comprising the Top 20 biggest earners in Hip-Hop, under the respectful term Cash Kings. We have all been aware of the conglomerate the world of Hip-Hop has become and for the some odd years, the three artists that have reined heavy on Forbes list of heavyweight moguls have always been the same, they just rotate amongst each other annually. Last year, 50 Cent took the crown as he chimed into the number one hotspot leading Jay-Z and Diddy with an immaculate amount of $150 million gross earnings for 2007. This year, like that of 2007, Jay-Z has taken the crown once again for a second year, while 50 drops to number 4. It seems as though last year, the Hip-Hip kings made a combine total of $500 million with 50 in the lead, this year the recession must be hitting hard as the combined total was a steep loss from last year when they chimed in at a $300 million total. This list was based on earnings between June 2008 and June 2009.

The iconic Jay-Z has always had business in a host of different venues from clubs to hotels, basketball teams, and of course his Live Nation contract, making him still a major musical phenom in Hip-Hop. This year he collected total gross earnings of $35 million, impressive for a man who took a 57% pay cut and left Def Jam under a reported amount buying out his previous contract.

The Bad Boy mogul, Diddy, came in second right under Jay-Z with total gross earnings of $30 million. Between his premium brand of Vodka and Sean John fashion enterprise, his earnings chimed in less than Hov, but a higher amount over both 50 and Kanye, who have always been in competition with each other.

This year, Chi-Town native Kanye West reigns in at number 3 battling it out with 50, Jay, and Diddy when they come under the top 3 radar chiming in at number 4 last year. This year, his total gross earnings collected from his multi-platinum ‘808s & Heartbreak’ and his incredible ‘Glow in the Dark Tour’ estimated in at $25 million, just under what he made from last year.

This year’s list is much more extensive as we have some newcomers, including Miami’s own Rick Ross and Flo Rida.

Here is the list of Forbes – Hip-Hop Cash Kings of 2009:

01 Jay-Z - 35 Million
02 Diddy - 30 Million
03 Kanye West - 25 Million
04 50 Cent - 20 Million
05 Akon - 20 Million
06 Lil Wayne - 18 Million
07 Timbaland - 17 Million
08 Pharrell - 16 Million
09 T-Pain - 15 Million
10 Eminem - 14 Million
11 Dr.Dre - 13 Million
12 Snoop Dogg - 11 Million
13 Ludacris - 10 Million

14 Common - 8 Million (Tied)
14 Will.I.Am - 8 Million (Tied)
14 T.I. - 8 Million (Tied)
14 Swizz Beatz - 8 Million (Tied)

18 Andre 3000 - 7 Million (Tied)
18 Big Boi- 7 Million (Tied)

20 Flo Rida - 6 Million (Tied)
20 Rick Ross - 6 Million (Tied)
20 The Game - 6 Million (Tied)
20 Young Jeezy- 6 Million (Tied)

Nick Cannon Discusses Mariah Carey’s Touching Moment

New York, NY – The Michael Jackson Memorial that passed this Tuesday (July 7) was touching and hard for everyone. Even with the artists in attendance, the grief and sorrow was there, they were all bidding farewell to the King of Pop, they, we all grew up to. Mariah Carey and Usher had real grief-stricken moments where it was hard for them to even pay tribute because of the emotion that was in the air.

This past Wednesday, Mariah Carey stated to ‘Today’ and to her Twitter followers that she thought she let everyone down when her voice cracked during her performance of ‘I’ll Be There’ at the MJ memorial. Her husband Nick Cannon thinks differently, he feels that she has no need to apologize, stating that it was a sincere heartfelt moment.

These were his comments to MTV News when questioned about his wife’s statement:

“To be able to see [the memorial for] not only someone who influenced music and the world, but someone who was a close friend, to have to sit there and perform, it's just a little tough. It's tough on anybody, we seen all the performances, and everybody was emotional, so I think she was just trying to say she had a human moment and that was one of those things. It wasn't about the entertainment. It was about just having that moment.”

“It was one of those things where it was raw emotion in the entire place. Nobody was up there faking, nobody was up there trying to showboat or make it about them. Everybody had a magical moment. [The arena] was packed, but it was still silent. It was one of those things where everybody was there to pay respects to the greatest entertainer that ever lived.”

Nick Cannon stands by his wife and a long list of artists, family, and friends as they bid a sorrowful farewell to the King Pop. The gloom of despair of the sudden loss is still in the air, it will be a while before we can really get back to our normal lives after losing a legend and an icon.