NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

APRIL 9, 2021

Earl Simmons, 1971-2021

My first and only interview with Earl Simmons lasted no more than five minutes. And -- like his all-too-short life that ended today -- what it lacked in length, it made up for with intensity. Indeed, for about 18 months in the late 1990s, DMX burned as bright as any star in the history of hip-hop. Even by the time I got him on the phone a decade later, he still had the ability to set ears on fire, especially those belonging to folks who'd come of age listening to him.

Barely a year out of college, I found myself working on a profile of longtime DMX collaborator Kasseem "Swizz Beatz" Dean for the second annual Forbes Hip-Hop Cash Kings package. I was told the only way to reach the "X Gon' Give It To Ya" rapper was through a handler with a nickname I don't remember. I diligently dialed the number and got through to someone in a noisy car who asked me to hang on a second. Then I heard that voice, as unmistakeable as Bob Dylan, simultaneously rough and melodic, the gravel in a church driveway: "Hello?"

I nervously introduced myself, explained the story I was writing and fumbled through my first question about his friendship with Swizz. "We dogs for life, yo!" DMX exhorted. Skeptical my editor would accept the quote, I rephrased my question, but got the exact same response. I frowned, then dug a little more specifically into the musical aspect of their relationship. There was a long pause. "When it’s bouncing," DMX finally said, “You know it’s Swizzy."

That was DMX in a nutshell. A bundle of contradictions, he could sometimes turn into a parody of himself -- and often, he was in on the joke, like in this scene from Chris Rock's Top Five -- or just as easily do something like convey completely and viscerally, in only seven words, the sonic impact of an all-time great producer.

Most impressively, DMX had this uncanny knack for expressing raw emotion in a way that could be relatable to someone who grew up with his hardscrabble roots, or to an angsty Irish-Jewish teenager like I was when I first unavoidably discovered his work. If his oeuvre was the sun, its geographical molten core was the 30-mile stretch of New York from Tribeca to Tarrytown, centered on the city of Yonkers. I went to high school the next town up along the Hudson River, and DMX provided the soundtrack, courtesy of an endless stream of rolled-down Honda Civic windows.

Though DMX's music never had Jay-Z's intricate wordplay or Biggie's humor, it had an urgency rivaled only by the likes of Tupac or N.W.A. More than systemic societal ills, he told the story of the battle for his own soul with the fire-and-brimstone ethos of a Puritan preacher ("The devil's got a hold on me, but he won't let go -- I can feel the Lord pulling, but he's movin' dead slow!") You were right there with DMX, rooting for him to emerge victorious over those demons, internal even more than external.

Backed by Swizzy's bouncing beats, DMX managed to put out three No. 1 multiplatinum albums in a year-and-a-half; he became the first rapper to begin his career with five chart-topping albums. Though he made millions and spent them almost as quickly, it's clear he earned far more money for other people than he ever made for himself. Part of the impetus for his epic album run: driving up the value of Def Jam ahead of its sale.

As I reported in my book 3 Kings, Def Jam founder Russell Simmons agreed in 1998 to sell his label to PolyGram, with the final price contingent upon recent revenues. So he and lieutenant Lyor Cohen pushed DMX and Jay-Z, the label's other top act back then, to each release two albums before the end of the year, an unheard-of turnaround time. Final sale price: $135 million, about $100 million more than PolyGram had offered a year earlier. "We sold it definitely because of those guys," Simmons told me.

DMX and Jay-Z's careers diverged after that. Despite being born one year and about 40 miles apart from one another, the two couldn't have been more different in personality or career outcome. DMX never reached the top of the mountain again, while Jay-Z kept climbing all the way to billionaire status. But wealth never really seemed to matter that much to DMX. He always appeared more interested in being in the studio, or on the big screen -- or, most of all, on the stage.

“Performing in front of people is beyond a high," he once said. "It’s beyond a high that any drug could duplicate."

The last time I saw him, he was performing at the now-defunct House Of Blues in Times Square. It wasn't Madison Square Garden, but he didn't seem to care. The energy and joy that poured out of him onstage indicated something greater: he felt he was winning that long battle for his own soul, at least for the moment.

DECEMBER 31, 2020

Losing A Whole Year

It's only fitting that, as I sat down to write this final Zoglet of 2020, Apple marked the occasion by serving up Third Eye Blind's "Losing A Whole Year." Though I'm an optimist by nature, I'm not going to condescend to you by offering platitudes of how 2020 was a challenge that taught us more about ourselves, reminded us what we shouldn't take for granted, etc. I would have been fine learning that without the ghastly numbers we've seen, the unquantifiable anguish so many have experienced. I'm one of the lucky ones, with friends and family safe and mostly sound, but couldn't be more thrilled to get on to 2021.

Given what has transpired over the past 12 months, it doesn't quite feel right to send out my usual roundup of the year's winners and losers of the entertainment business. We all lost something. But I think it's still worth reflecting, both on the topics I usually write about and where we're at more generally.

There were some relative bright spots amid the gloom: Livestreaming sites like Stageit got a second chance to thrive, while newer startups like Cameo took off. But would you really attend a virtual concert once the genuine article returns? I suspect there's room for an additive outfit like Verzuz in a post-vaccine world, and innovators like Travis Scott and Marshmello's video game appearances have certainly paved the way for compelling future possibilities, but much of 2020 has been making do with what's available. Personally, I'm counting down the days to the last-ever Zoom birthday, and I think we're primed for a live entertainment boom once things clear up. But we've obviously got a long way to go--the industry folks I talk to are planning for fall 2021 at the earliest, with perhaps some more drive-through concerts this summer.

I can't quite believe that I opened this year blithely chronicling YouTube Poop, Grammy scandals and Super Bowl halftime performers' pay, or lack thereof (spoiler: it's the same deal every year). Then there was Kanye West becoming a billionaire, and his saltiness about the whole episode. I spend more time thinking about my pride in being part of a team that, mid-pandemic, tackled the crucial task of spotlighting New York's pluckiest eateries--the ones fighting to stay afloat and feed frontline workers, like Vinateria in Harlem and Tre Otto on Carnegie Hill, or perform the noble role of feeding the community, like Mountain Bird in El Barrio and La Morada in the Bronx.

In a year that saw our country's latest reckoning on race, it was my privilege to try my best to contribute to the dialogue about solutions, whether in Detroit or Hollywood. I hope to have added to the conversation on equity in the entertainment business through my latest book, A-List Angels: How A Band Of Actors, Artists And Athletes Hacked Silicon Valley (check out a free excerpt on Shaq's venture capital awakening in Vanity Fair).

I think it's safe to say that 2020 won't have been "worth it," no matter what sort of lessons we learn. Like I said before, couldn't we have gained that wisdom without all of ... this? But here's hoping this year represents a nadir, the beginning of an upward trend in so many areas of our own lives and in society as a whole. And, on New Year's Eve, cheers to 2021 being better than the last 12 months--how could it not be?

NOVEMBER 1, 2020

Where were you on November 3rd, 2020?

One of my father’s favorite sayings is, “Never do anything you don’t approve of.” It seems kind of obvious—at first glance, anyway—really, why would you do something if you didn’t approve of it? Isn’t simply making a choice … an indication that you approve of that choice?

Maybe not. Having used this particular yardstick to evaluate various choices over the years, I’ve found the inertia of life occasionally begins to lead me down a path that, upon closer inspection, is not a path of which I personally approve. And so I try to take another path.

Which leads me back to my first question: Where were you on November 3rd, 2020? Or, more accurately at this moment in time, where will you have been? And, crucially, do you approve of that?

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been bombarded with political solicitations via email, text and phone over the past several days, weeks and months, adding to Election Day anxiety that’s already multiplied by the demands of work and family—and squared by a resurgent pandemic.

You may have made a plan for November 3rd: perhaps it involves, or has already involved, voting (excellent). Maybe you’ve been phone-banking or otherwise canvassing from a distance (brilliant). Possibly you’re even planning to volunteer at the polls, or even to work as an outside observer in a nearby swing state to report any foul play (fantastic).

I’m not writing to tell you I know what you should do on November 3rd. I’m writing to tell you that you already know what you should do on November 3rd. And, if it isn’t clear, all you need to do is ask yourself if you approve of whatever you're planning to do. If not, there’s still time to come up with something greater—there's already a trove of useful ideas and signup links buried in your inbox, after all (if you’re still lacking inspiration, write me directly!)

Just make sure you approve of your own plan. That way, years down the line, when someone—a friend, a grandchild, an inquisitive space alien—asks, “Where you were on November 3rd, 2020?” … you can say you participated fully in this most crucial of elections. That you chose hope over fear, science over bunk, love over hate. And that, whatever your level of activity was on that day, you approved of it. Something tells me they will, too.

JUNE 14, 2020

Some Thoughts on Equity

"Equity" is a word that gets tossed around frequently in business reporting--as a synonym for "ownership"--but it has taken on added significance of late, with the killing of George Floyd serving as yet another brutal reminder of the systemic racism that infects our country. In the current moment, the term calls to mind a nobler meaning, one tied to ideals of fairness and justice.

Though the spotlight is now rightly focused on policing, calls for change--and for equity--can't end there. We must confront the racism baked into everything from city planning (through midcentury "urban renewal") to housing (through historical policies like redlining) to the very process of wealth creation (via the enduring discrimination Black folks face in basic financial activities like applying for business loans).

"When you try to put yourself in a position to build wealth, it’s, ‘Whoa whoa whoa, what the f*ck are you doing? No, we can't approve that,'" explained Kevin Hart in a recent video. "That’s when you get to see the racist side within the economy.”

The entertainment industry where Hart made his name offers yet another lens through which to examine equity in America--both in terms of decades-long wealth disparities and potential solutions. Hart landed on the recently-released Celebrity 100, the ranking of the world's highest-paid entertainers I edit for Forbes every year, thanks to his lofty annual earnings. Despite examples like Hart, Hollywood's top earners remain predominantly white and overwhelmingly male, a dismal mirror of society at large.

That's why Hart is striving to build equity--not only for himself, but for those who aim to follow in his footsteps. In addition to his own investments, which range from food delivery startup Hungry to Muzik headphones, he's one of more than a dozen stars on the Celebrity 100 who've worked with Andreessen Horowitz's Cultural Leadership Fund.

The fund's investors include Diddy, Kevin Durant, Shonda Rhimes, Will Smith and Nas, who get to accumulate equity in some of the world's hottest startups. At the same time, all fees and carried interest--the cash that would normally fatten the pockets of wealthy VCs--go toward a different sort of equity: increasing African-American participation in the tech sector.

In the same spirit, Celebrity 100 members from Kevin Durant to Will Smith--A-List Angels, as I like to call them--have launched venture funds of their own. Jay-Z has been quietly building a vast portfolio through his Marcy Venture Partners, named after the housing projects in which he grew up, while Serena Williams launched Serena Ventures to focus on startups run by women and minorities.

The trend extends beyond big-name entertainers. Arlan Hamilton, the former tour manager and magazine publisher, created Backstage Capital to invest in startups founded by women, people of color and LGBTQ entrepreneurs. She has backed companies like online local sports platform Mars Reel, which also counts Celebrity 100 listmakers Drake and LeBron James among its investors. They're accelerating talent's long-deserved shift from labor to owner.
 
The result is hopefully a powerful feedback loop: as an increasingly diverse set of superstars becomes moguls, members of underrepresented communities see figures who look like them in positions of power. And that has the potential to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs, engineers and investors to join fields they might not have considered, changing the face of the business world—and, with it, accelerating true equity in America.

Of course, it shouldn't be the responsibility of those truly disadvantaged by the system to fix it. The burden ought to fall on those who've benefitted historically, and those who control the bulk of the capital currently. That means creating greater representation among leadership and ownership of sports franchises, music companies and movie studios. Investigating the longstanding exploitation of Black artists when it comes to record deals, as BMG and others are starting to do, is one good place to begin.

There are so many ways for all of us to be part of the broader societal solution, from voting to volunteering to self-examining to donating. For me, the last few weeks have served as a reminder of just how much I still don't know, and how much work our country needs to do in order to fulfill its founding principles of liberty and justice for all. But one thing I do know is that building true equity, in all senses of the word, will be key to that process.

MAY 11, 2020

Live From New York

As a native New Yorker, I've grown so accustomed to late night sirens mingling with honking cabs and rumbling subways that when I travel--or when I did, back in the Before Times--I sometimes have trouble falling asleep. In the middle of March, though, the intermittent wail became a constant cacophony as ambulances rushed coronavirus patients to hospitals, each set of flashing lights an anecdotal data point later reflected in the ghastly numbers emanating from the city.

I'm lucky. I can work remotely with minimal disruption. My friends and family are safe. And although my favorite parts of New York (the ones that justify the high prices and cramped spaces) have mostly been shut down, I get to see an even more impressive side of the city. Not just the frontline workers risking their lives to save others, but the folks supporting them: the cashiers, the doormen, the bus drivers--and the scores who gather to cheer them on every night at 7pm. My wife and I blast Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" from our window to provide a soundtrack, and then our neighbors across the way play it again (we add an encore on Friday nights: Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind").

Though I'm a media and entertainment reporter by trade, what's given me the most satisfaction over the past six weeks is telling the stories of one particular class of hero: the restaurant owners and staffers staying open to feed first responders alongside regular patrons. The Forbes Help Our Neighborhood Restaurants initiative has spotlighted countless examples. As part of that, it's been my honor to tell the tale of Lexington Pizza Parlour and Tre Otto in East Harlem and Carnegie Hill, respectively--two of the only spots still around to serve Mount Sinai's medical professionals. Same goes for Ess-A-Bagel's quest to preserve that most essential Big Apple delicacy in Midtown, Black Whale fighting to stay afloat on City Island or Bubby's providing comfort food in the shadow of the World Trade Center. The owners of Vinateria and Mountain Bird, two Harlem favorites, are doing their part by staying open largely to provide as many staff jobs as possible, even if it means burning cash.

Perhaps the most inspiring is La Morada, a Oaxacan eatery in the Bronx whose operators can't collect government grants or loans due to their undocumented status. They're working with local charities and dipping into their own pockets to serve hundreds of meals every day to those in need--even if it means they have less to sell via takeout. “We have not stressed that platform as much as our soup kitchen,” one of the owners told me. “Helping our neighbors survive this epidemic is our main priority.”

These are the stories I'm going to remember when this is all over. At the same time, I've been keeping an eye on the world of music, covering developments from the quarantine-fueled rise of platforms like Stageit and Cameo to a renewed emphasis on superfans to James Dolan's new albatross in the desert to some guy named Kanye who's apparently a billionaire. And my new book A-List Angels got some ink in Vanity Fair, Business Insider and Page Six.

Meanwhile, the wail of the ambulances in Manhattan has gotten rarer, and the numbers appear to be headed in the right direction, at least locally. But that only happened once we all saw--and heard--the seriousness of the situation. I'm not a doctor, but it's pretty clear that if we'd adopted certain measures sooner, we wouldn't have gotten to this point. Here's hoping the rest of the country can learn from New York's experience--and get through this crisis without so many sirens.

DECEMER 31, 2019

The Decade’s Top Five Music Business Storylines

A decade ago ago, Spotify hadn't yet launched in the U.S. and Apple Music didn’t exist. Lil Nas X was ten years old. The thing that was going to save the reeling music business was … ringtones? 

The industry has come quite a long way in the past ten years. But do you really need to see another list to tell you what happened? I’ve concluded the answer is yes, mostly due to the fact that many of the key storylines will continue evolving throughout the roaring '20s and beyond, making them worth the attention of music business nerds and pop culture observers alike.

So, on the occasion of our waning decade’s final days, I’m going to tick through five of them—because with all these other lists floating around, you don’t have time for ten, dammit—these are the storylines that have stuck out to me from my perch at Forbes. Here we go:

Ascendance Of The A-List Angels
Following the lead of Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary and a handful of others who blazed a trail from Hollywood to Silicon Valley, a few savvy musicians did get in early on the startup boom. Some decided not to wait for a pro-rata share of Spotify and took the plunge as investors--including Diddy, Steve Aoki, Eminem and even Justin Bieber. Others from Beyoncé to newly-minted DJ Shaquille O'Neal piled into Uber and other startups. The result is a new blueprint for building generational wealth for a group of people traditionally known for getting scammed out of their cash, and a much-needed infusion of diversity to the clubby venture capital world (shameless plug: get the full story in my new book, which you can order here).

Revenge of the Record Labels
During the first few years of the 2010s, while everyone was freaking about how streaming would decimate the value of music, the remaining major labels quietly negotiated stakes in Spotify and a handful of other services before allowing the use of their catalogs--racking up billions of dollars in value by the time I wrote about the phenomenon with my pal Nick Messitte in 2015. It took awhile before the labels agreed to share proceeds of the eventual IPOs (or direct listings) of Spotify and others with the musicians on whose backs the platforms were built. But the episode foretold an epic rebound in the value of content, one that we're still seeing everywhere from the stabilization from the record labels themselves to the rise of music catalogs as an asset class.

The Enduring Value Of Physical Music (Sort Of)
Streaming music and its purveyors have become increasingly valuable assets over the course of the decade. What about the physical stuff? Sure, we've all heard the stories of vinyl's resurgence (and even that of cassette tapes). There's renewed demand all the way down the supply chain, from record players to pressing plants. But perhaps the most fascinating tests of the economics of physical music have come from hip-hop, courtesy of the Wu-Tang Clan and its multimillion-dollar secret album and Nipsey Hussle's mixtape model--just one of many brilliant business ideas to come from one of our latest stars gone too soon.

Star-Crossed Stars: Taylor Swift and Kanye West
With apologies to Katy Perry--perhaps my favorite profile subject of the decade--Taylor Swift's most compelling music industry relationship is a more recent Forbes cover star: Kanye West. The Interruption helped hasten her arrival as a household name and contributed to the angsty brew that birthed Kanye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, the decade's best album in the view of yours truly and many others. Five years ago I wrote about the pair's strange symbiosis; then things got much weirder. Ten years ago, I might have found someone to bet me Swift and West would end 2019 as the two highest-paid musicians on the planet. But I don't think anyone would have wagered we'd finish the decade with Swift stumping for Democrats in Tennessee and West championing President Donald Trump.

Hip-Hop's Race To $1 Billion
Dr. Dre is the decade's top-earning living musician, pulling in $950 million pretax (though Michael Jackson easily trounced him from beyond the grave, tallying a little under or a little over $2 billion, depending how you count it). But it was Jay-Z, not Dre or Diddy or Kanye, who became the first to earn the billionaire designation. Jay-Z is as intertwined with music's past, present and future as anyone mentioned here, as signaled by his relation to the other items on this list. He bought his own streaming service, invested in startups from Uber to Robinhood, backed Nipsey Hussle's mixtapes and recorded one of the decade's top albums with Kanye. It will be fascinating to see where he goes from here, and how his influence continues to change the landscape of music and beyond.

So there you have it, five key storylines. Yes, there are plenty of others that deserve some ink, including EDM's rise (and subsequent hangover), music's representation reckoning, the arenafication of country, K-Pop's takeover, the growing influence of TikTok and the impact of Trump's immigration policies on the music world--but I promised five, so there you go.

Which brings me to a personal note: it's been quite a ride this decade for yours truly. New Year’s Day 2010 found me unemployed and wondering how to write a book. By the end of the year I was a staff writer at Forbes; by the end of the decade, I’d finished book number four, finding time to live and lose and love somewhere in between. I’m one of a small group of people lucky enough to get paid to write professionally—and that wouldn’t happen without you—so thanks for reading!

JULY 20, 2019

Kanye West’s Second Coming

"I've got gold pharaoh wolverine blood in my bone marrow," Kanye told me in a recent interview for Forbes. If you think that sounds wild, check out the rest of my cover story on the controversial superstar, who went from lamenting personal debts of $53 million in 2016 to earning $150 million over the past year thanks to his Yeezy sneaker empire.

The Kanye profile anchored our annual Celebrity 100 issue, which ranks the highest-paid front-of-camera entertainers on the planet. Leading the way: Taylor Swift with $185 million in pretax pay, followed by Kylie Jenner at $170 million at No. 2 and her brother-in-law West at No. 3. The overall numbers are just as gaudy: the top stars pulled in over $6 billion, with even No. 100 (Celine Dion) clocking $37.5 million--a 7% increase in price-of-entry from a year ago. Check out my colleagues' stories on Swift's bonanza, Hollywood's persistent gender pay gap and how six Avengers tallied $340 million. For utmost entertainment value, watch this video of list newcomer DJ Khaled counting down the top five from atop a waterfall in his backyard.

Kanye and wife Kim Kardashian West (No. 26, $72 million) combined with in-law Jenner and her boyfriend Travis Scott (No. 39, $58 million) to earn nearly half a billion dollars over the past year, largely by following the same formula: launch a product, find a distribution partner and leverage the family's hundreds of millions of social media followers in lieu of pricey traditional marketing. Love them or hate them, they've established a remarkable blueprint for entertainers to own their audiences and profit accordingly.

For me, the Celeb 100 capped a busy spring at Forbes that also saw the launch of our annual list of richest rappers, punctuated by Jay-Z's coronation as a billionaire as part of the beautifully-redesigned print edition. That came on the heels of mourning a star gone far too soon and looking toward the future with our annual list of Hip-Hop Cash Princes And Princesses. All this music talk got you wishing you could invest in the industry's biggest hits? Then take a look at my mag piece on buying music royalties by stars from Cardi B to Bette Midler.

No matter how seriously you take the business of entertainment--and I'd say I'm on the "very seriously" end of the spectrum!--it's hard not to look around and see the bevy of more significant issues facing our increasingly-divided country and world. Sometimes, those spheres collide, as they did in the case of 21 Savage, the British-born rapper who was detained by ICE earlier this year and nearly got deported despite having built a career and family in Atlanta. I did a deeply-reported dive into what led to his arrest and the process that brought about his eventual release. Hopefully, this account can be helpful to others in the same position; at the very least, it's a potent reminder of what's going on all around us, usually with less fanfare.

Lastly, some good news--a title for my fourth book--it will now be called A-List Angels: How A Band Of Artists, Actors And Athletes Hacked Silicon Valley. Featuring interviews with entertainers-turned-startup-investors like Shaq, Nas, Joe Montana, Sophia Bush and Steve Aoki, it'll be published by Little, Brown next year. I'm currently in the final stages of editing, which I'll hopefully be able to tell you I've completed in the next Zoglet. Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer!

APRIL 20, 2019

Harrowing Landings, Million-Dollar Marshmellos

A pilot’s hand tugs an overhead lever and the puddle-jumper noses down sharply, the crest of a hillside suddenly visible through the open cockpit door. Designer bags are clutched. Bejeweled fingers squeeze seatbacks. And, moments after the plane sails perhaps a dozen feet over the tourists perched on the ridge below, you land with a thud in paradise.
 
Visitors to St. Barts appear grateful to be there—perhaps because the majority arrive by this seemingly near-death experience. The island recently survived a near-death experience of its own: In 2017, Hurricane Irma roared in with sustained winds just shy of 200 miles per hour, racking up €800 million in insured damage. But with help from famous interlopers like Jimmy Buffett and St. Barts’ own surplus, the crown jewel of the French West Indies is sparkling again. I covered all of this in my first-ever freelance piece for the New York Times.

It's been a little longer than usual between Zoglet newsletters, so we've got a lot to cover, and the aforementioned story is just the beginning. Let's start last fall with the Forbes 30 Under 30, our biggest conference of the year--and also fertile ground for interviews. Over a few days in Boston, I profiled hip-hop sensation Russ on the business of independence, interviewed rising star Billie Eilish about her creative process and spoke to Hozier about protest music. The big finale: a cover story on Marshmello, in which I had a rare sit-down with the masked DJ, hearing about everything from his branding strategy to the first time he put his dessert-shaped helmet through an airport X-ray machine: "It was cracked," he explained sadly.

My musical odyssey continued with a trip to the Grammys, which were...underwhelming. Though I got a chance to peek inside the world of Weird Al, the ceremony managed to cut off all of music's most interesting names before they could finish their speeches while failing to champion the cause of then-detained rapper 21 Savage (more on that in the next Zoglet). The following month brought more troubling news as I dove into the recent Michael Jackson controversy, finding--to the surprise of many--that his business remains strong even as some challenge his cultural legacy.

A bit more enjoyable: writing about how Third Eye Blind's former bassist and his brother founded one of my favorite taco spots in New York and writing a Forbes feature on Cash Money Records, the first of what we're calling immersive daily digital covers. The idea was to bring together all of our best storytelling tools, from words to stills to video, coupling them with cutting-edge graphic design while exploring a worthy topic: in this case, the label that launched Lil Wayne, Drake and Nicki Minaj and must now find a path for continued success even as its biggest artists depart.

"A lot of people see the finished product, they don't see the work that goes into it," Cash Money chief Ronald "Slim" Williams told me. Added his brother and cofounder, Brian "Birdman" Williams: "We make this shit look easy, but it's really not."

In the last Zoglet, I reminisced on Mac Miller, a hip-hop star gone too soon--and, unfortunately, this edition brings another batch of bad news. Nipsey Hussle was gunned down a week ago in Los Angeles, killed in the very neighborhood he was working tirelessly to uplift. This one hit me hard, as I had just profiled Nipsey and his plans for his hometown in February; we had been texting back and forth about future projects when he died. I've been in a funk all week, so I can only imagine how tough this is for his loved ones, and my heart goes out to them.

To end this letter on a bright note, I do have some good news: I've finished the first draft of my fourth book. It's going to be called The Fame Squad: How A Band Of Artists, Actors And Athletes Hacked Silicon Valley, and will be published in a year or so by Little, Brown. More updates to come...

OCTOBER 1, 2018

Life Is Good: Nas Finally Crowned A Cash King

Hip-hop is now officially America's most-consumed musical genre, and the streaming-fueled results are evident in the staggering paydays of its top acts. As I revealed in the latest issue of Forbes, hip-hop's top ten cash kings pulled in more than $400 million over the past 12 months, easily besting the highest-paid in country music and EDM.

Of course, it's not just the music. The top two names on the list--Jay-Z ($76.5 million) and Diddy ($64 million)--boast vast and diversified business empires. Even Nas, who appeared on the list for the first time just days before his 45th birthday, earned $35 million, buoyed by a burgeoning career as a startup investor. His portfolio includes stakes in companies from Lyft to Mass Appeal, and recently enjoyed a slice of the payout for the sale of smart doorbell outfit Ring, which Amazon bought for north of $1 billion earlier this year.

“There wasn’t a time when [rappers] didn’t think about investing,” Nas told me. “It just so happens that the world is opening up.”

The Queens native also happens to be an important player in my next book, which I'm very excited to announce: tentatively titled The Fame Squad, it will tell the story of a small group of billionaires, managers and celebrities who helped unite the worlds of entertainment and tech. If you enjoyed my Forbescover story on Ashton Kutcher, you'll love this one--I've already interviewed stars from Shaq to Joe Montana and behind-the-scenes players from Guy Oseary to Troy Carter. The book will be released by Little, Brown (publisher of 3 Kings) in late 2019 or early 2020.

In the meantime, I've got some more reading material for you. First, there's my magazine piece on how a digital entrepreneur from Long Island is making a mint on the most analog of businesses: selling vinyl record players under the Victrola brand. Here are my thoughts on Taylor Swift's expiring record deal. And my interview with DJ/producer Afrojack at the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Amsterdam earlier this month (email me directly if you're interested in attending our flagship event in Boston, which runs Sept 30 - Oct 3).

Lastly, on a sad note, here are my reflections on Mac Miller, another 30u30 alum--one with the grim distinction of being the first Hip-Hop Cash King to pass away, with many goals left to complete. “Making history is super-cool,” he told me when I first interviewed him in 2011. “I still don’t think I necessarily ‘made it’ … my whole thing is always, no matter where I get, to never be satisfied.”

JULY 29, 2018

Bruno's Bonanza, Celeb 100, 3 Kings' Reign

Shortly before the first time I interviewed Bruno Mars, he appeared on the hit song "Billionaire" and expressed his desire to--among other goals--buy all of the things he never had and be on the cover of Forbes magazine. Bruno still hasn't gotten the latter (aside from this glorious fake cover), but he is getting closer to ten-figure status, raking in $100 million over the past year.

Bruno's bonanza is the subject of my latest Forbes feature (one of our new visually delicious digital daily covers), "$100M Magic: Why Bruno Mars And Other Stars Are Ditching Their Managers." The story, which I've spent the better part of a year researching, explains the previously unreported factors that went into Bruno deciding to part ways with his longtime manager in 2016. It also delves into the state of music management and why many of the top-earning acts are choosing to fly solo, while also exploring the reasons others don't.

Speaking of top-earning acts, now would be a good time to mention that the Bruno story is but one piece of the annual Forbes Celebrity 100 list, which made its debut last week. The package, now at its 20th anniversary, ranks the world's highest-paid entertainers from sports to film to comedy to music and beyond. You probably already heard about my colleague Natalie Robehmed's incredible cover story on Kylie Jenner, the No. 3 highest paid celeb on our list behind top-ranked Floyd Mayweather and No. 2 George Clooney; also be sure to check out her piece on The Rock and how he's revolutionizing the way movie stars get paid.

Since we're going in reverse chronological order here and starting with the project that occupied me for June and July, I'll now mention my big adventure for May: a trip to the Holy Land for the Forbes Under 30 Global Summit, which brought together 700 young movers and shakers for panel discussions, public service, a music festival and much more. On my end, activities ranged from a one-on-one keynote with Dr. Ruth in Tel Aviv to judging a startup competition with Palestinian entrepreneurs in the new town of Rawabi. I could go on for dozens of pages, if not hundreds, and would welcome the chance to trade impressions of this incredibly complicated part of the world at greater length. For now, I'll leave it at this: I truly hope matters in the region will break from the dark direction they seem to be heading, particularly in recent days.

I spent the rest of my spring exploring somewhat less globally worrisome yet still intriguing topics, like how a relatively unknown headphone line managed to garner a $70 million investment from the likes of Drake and Michael Jordan; why Jeff Sessions sort of technically controls the fate of the Wu-Tang Clan's not-so-secret-anymore album; and how Alex Rodriguez has found redemption through business and baseball (and J.Lo).

Lastly, a status update on my last book, 3 Kings: as you may have gleaned from previous newsletters, it's alive! And out in the world, walking on its own feet. You may have already seen it excerpted in Forbes and Complex, highlighted in NPR's Marketplace, praised by Rolling Stone, etc. Since then, the book has also popped up at SXSW, on WNYC and even in a Skype panel in Indonesia featuring yours truly along with a handful of local hip-hop experts and rap stars. If you haven't gotten your copy yet, whether you're into Kindle, audiobooks, or good old-fashioned print, you can snag one here.

MARCH 6, 2018

New Book Alert: 3 Kings!

At long last, 3 Kings is here! You can find it in your favorite bookstore -- or in your mailbox, if you order on Amazon. Anyone interested in the history of hip-hop, the lives of its three wealthiest practitioners and the blueprints for their entrepreneurial success should find it a fascinating read.

But don't take my word for it. Steve Forbes says it “reads better than an adventure novel and provides highly useful entrepreneurial lessons for anyone who wants to achieve success," and Arianna Huffington believes "3 Kings will inspire hip-hop newcomers and deepen the appreciation of aficionados." DJ Khaled adds: "I’ve been blessed to work with Diddy, Jay-Z and Dr. Dre, and let me be honest: 3 Kings gives you the major keys to how the biggest bosses on the planet keep winning."

The reviews are regal, too. Rolling Stone praised 3 Kings in print, calling it one of the "four great music books to read right now"; Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review and labeled it "an excellent look at hip-hop that combines cultural and financial history." USA Today named 3 Kings one of the five can't-miss reads. The book was also featured in the New York Times, excerpted in both Forbes and Complex, and highlighted in NPR's "Marketplace," America's most widely-heard program on business and the economy.

But in order to make 3 Kings a bestseller, I need your help!

So, if you could do any of the following, I would be eternally grateful:
*Order the book on Amazon or buy a copy at your favorite local bookstore.
*Spread the word about 3 Kings via Facebook and/or Twitter -- create your own post or retweet mine.
*Write a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads.

Thank you so much for your support -- I couldn't be a writer without readers! And if you still want more, you're in luck: I'll be doing several speaking engagements around the country this month in support of 3 Kings.

Dates and locations:
*March 7, 2018, New York, NY: 3 Kings reading at Corner Bookstore, 6-7:30pm (details here)
*March 14, 2018, Austin, TX: Moderating panel with Kurtis Blow, Grandwizzard Theodore and Rocky Bucano, 2pm (more information here)
*March 19, 2018, Boston, MA: 3 Kings reading at Trident Booksellers, 7pm(details here)
*March 29, 2018: New Haven, CT: 3 Kings discussion at Yale (time and location TBD)
 
Hope to see you there!

DECEMBER 29, 2017

3 Kings: Due Out March 6, 2018!

From Khaled To Kendrick To 3 Kings: My Year In Review

Somehow, 2017 has simultaneously been a big year for hip-hop--which took its place as America's most-consumed genre--and someone who's not exactly a friend of the movement: Donald Trump. I spent the year chronicling the latter's impact through the lens of music, telling the stories of an Iraqi-America oud player, a Cuban crossover collective and an ersatz Russian pop star, among others; I chronicled the former with the above covers on Kendrick Lamar and DJ Khaled, all while plugging away at my new book, 3 Kings: Diddy, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z and Hip-Hop's Multibillion-Dollar Rise, due out on March 6 (order your copy here).

So without further ado, let's go back to January and take a look at the year that was in music, as covered by yours truly. I kicked off 2017 by unveiling the 30 Under 30 Music Class of 2017, complete with a wide-ranging interview with callout Gallant. The "Weight In Gold" singer offered a wise prediction for the coming year. "2016 was already pretty political," he said. "I think 2017 is going to be a little bit even more passionate in terms of reacting to politics, social issues that people feel very strongly about."

Indeed, Trump talk was front and center starting with the inauguration concert and continuing through the Grammys and Oscars. I explored the business of international touring in the Trump travel ban era, from the story of Iraqi oud virtuoso Rahim AlHaj to the travails of Syrian and Iranian musicians in Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble. "You’re banning human beings who are enriching this country,” AlHaj told me. “We’re talking about professionals. We're talking about doctors and engineers and scientists and musicians and artists.”

In the dead of winter, I took a break and jetted off to the tropical paradise known as Norway to do some reporting for 3 Kings. I came away with some scoops on Jay-Z, who landed a $200 million investment from Sprint in his Tidal streaming service while I was in Oslo. The spring brought interviews at South By Southwest: Garth Brooks talking Amazon, Sammy Hagar on private jets (literally) and Nirvana's Krist Novoselic on grunge and government. Then came more international adventures, this time in the form of a piece on Ghana's best (and only) startup incubator and a trip to the Forbes Under 30 Summit EMEA, where I curated a concert that brought Palestinian and Israeli musicians to perform together in an ancient fort in Jerusalem.

Throughout 2017, one of the biggest storylines was the continued rise of streaming--and I dug into that with a Forbes Celebrity 100 cover story on The Weeknd. Along with Canadian Invasion pals Drake and Bieber, nobody has generated more spins over the past two years. "I really wanted people who had no idea who I was to hear my project," the Weeknd told me. "You don't do that by asking for money."

After noting how Jay-Z found a way to make apologizing lucrative with 4:44, I explored Trump era Cuban collaborations, gypsy punk,  "Despacito" and political intrigue behind an ersatz Russian pop star before undertaking perhaps my most hazardous assignment yet: going car shopping with DJ Khaled.

September brought the release of the Forbes Centennial anniversary issue--and interviews with the world's 100 greatest living business minds. I tackled ten, most notably Paul McCartney (who talked about what he learned from losing the Beatles' publishing catalog), Berry Gordy (who reminisced on releasing an album by Martin Luther King, Jr.), Richard Branson (who recounted lessons from bungee-jumping into a party and losing his trousers), Diddy (who discussed the importance of customer service) and Bono (who explained his thoughts on the free market).

"Capitalism is not immoral, but it is amoral," he said. "And it requires our instruction. It's a wild beast that needs to be tamed, a better servant than master."

Then it was on to another Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit, complete with a music festival for a good cause and keynote interviews--and, as always, chronicling hip-hop's top earners. It was a banner year for Diddy, Drake, Chance the Rapper and Kendrick Lamar. The latter earned a spot on the cover of our 30 Under 30 issue. And the year came to a close as it had began, with the unveiling of another class of 30 Under 30 Music stars, led this time by Cardi B, Joe Jonas and Khalid.

In November, I traveled to Princeton and debuted a brand-new TEDx talk dubbed "Stardust: How to make the fame economy work for you." The idea is to study the careers of celebrities like Dr. Dre, Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Alba, picking out tips that normal people can use in real life. Check it out here.

Before heading off for vacation, I added a few more stories in December: a look at how pumping poop can be profitable (and good for the planet), a ranking of the world's highest-paid musicians (Diddy did it!), a piece on a startup that aims to sync beats your motion on the run (and in the bedroom) and some year-end music predictions (as well as reflections on a big year for hip-hop and what the music business must do in the wake of the #MeToo movement). And I got a terrific year-end present in the form of the first early review of 3 Kings, from the usually-salty publishing maven Kirkus Reviews:

"3 Kings offers a pleasingly broad perspective of hip-hop as economic triumph. Greenburg’s vivid descriptions--a small sampling includes the ‘farty bass lines’ of Dre’s G-funk period; Suge Knight in his notorious 1995 Source Awards appearance ‘looking like a gang-affiliated Kool-Aid Man’; and Diddy dressed like ‘a very fashionable porcupine’--make for engaging reporting that will satisfy neophytes and devotees alike. A wide-ranging survey of the first four decades of hip-hop that vividly brings some of the culture’s biggest success stories into one place.” (Did I mention you can pre-order?)

Next up: the Grammys in January, as Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar look to continue hip-hop's momentum and turn their combined 15 nominations into some golden gramophones. And if they don't, there's still plenty to be learned.

"It's really about failure, not being in fear of that," Lamar told me. "Once you tackle that and block that idea, and you know it's okay to actually make a mistake or to fail at something, you get back up and try it again."

2017 was a tough year in many ways. Let's take a cue from Kendrick, dust ourselves off and give 2018 all we've got.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

3 Kings: Due Out March 6, 2018!

Please judge my upcoming book, 3 Kings: Diddy, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z and Hip-Hop's Multibillion-Dollar Rise, by its cover -- revealed publicly for the first time just now.

To create the iconic red crown you see on the cover above, my publisher and I enlisted hip-hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy -- a contemporary of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol who helped bring graffiti from the subways of New York to the finest art galleries on the planet, going on to host the hit show Yo! MTV Raps. Fab explains the process behind his latest creation in 3 Kings' foreword; the book will be released by Little, Brown in hardcover and eBook editions on March 6, 2018, available in your friendly neighborhood bookstore and online.

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY OF 3 KINGS ON AMAZON

3 Kings traces the history of the business of hip-hop through the lens of its three most profitable practitioners -- Diddy, Dr. Dre and Jay-Z -- and offers a blueprint for entrepreneurs of all stripes looking to follow in their footsteps.

All three lifted themselves from childhood adversity into tycoon territory, amassing levels of fame and wealth that not only outshone all other contemporary hip-hop artists, but with a combined net worth of well over $2 billion made them the three richest American musicians, period. Yet their fortunes have little to do with selling their own albums: between Diddy's Ciroc vodka, Dre's $3 billion sale of his Beats headphones to Apple, and Jay-Z's Tidal streaming service and other assets, these artists have transcended pop music fame to become lifestyle icons and moguls.

These men are the modern embodiment of the American Dream, but their stories as great thinkers and entrepreneurs have yet to be told in full. Based on a decade of reporting, and interviews with more than 100 sources including hip-hop pioneers Russell Simmons and Lovebug Starski; new-breed executives like former Def Jam chief Kevin Liles and venture capitalist Troy Carter; and stars from Swizz Beatz to Shaquille O'Neal, 3 Kings tells the fascinating story of the rise and rise of the three most influential musicians in America.

But don't take my word for it. Here's some advance praise from a few names you may know:

"There is no keener, more knowledgeable and scintillating observer of the modern cultural scene than Zack Greenburg. He proves it with this definitive, absorbing history of hip-hop and its three mega-giants. It reads better than an adventure novel and provides highly useful entrepreneurial lessons for anyone who wants to achieve success."
―Steve Forbes

"Hip-hop is one of the most significant cultural forces of the past half-century, not just in music but in art, fashion, film, technology, politics and business. Greenburg provides a comprehensive review of hip-hop history on all fronts. It will inspire newcomers and deepen the appreciation of aficionados, while explaining just how hip-hop took its current place on the world stage."
―Arianna Huffington

"I've been blessed to work with Diddy, Jay-Z and Dr. Dre, and let me be honest: 3 Kings gives you the major keys to how the biggest bosses on the planet keep winning."
―DJ Khaled

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY OF 3 KINGS ON AMAZON

SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

A Spin With DJ Khaled.

Just in time for the latest Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, I went car-shopping with DJ Khaled and wrote a cover story about it for ForbesLife. "What I love about Rolls-Royce is, you look at me, it's like you're looking at a Rolls-Royce," he told me. "It's just powerful; it's smooth; it's iconic." We also did some not-so-safe things in a convertible on the West Side Highway--video evidence here. If that's not enough Khaled for you, here's a look inside the cover shoot at his Beverly Hills home and a sneak peek at his son's nascent Rolls-Royce collection. And another one.

Diddy did it -- again.

The aforementioned DJ Khaled pulled in $24 million over the past year, good for No. 9 on the Cash Kings list, but the No. 1 spot goes to Diddy once again. The artist formerly known as Puff Daddy pulled in a staggering $130 million over the past 12 months, boosted in part by a $70 million windfall from the sale of a chunk of his Sean John clothing line. Drake, the world's most-streamed artist over the past two years, ranks No. 2 with the best showing of his career--$94 million--and Jay-Z rounds out the top three with $42.5 million. Full list of 20 here.

Happy birthday, Forbes!

I can only hope I look this good at 100. In honor of the big Centennial anniversary, we tracked down the world's greatest 100 living business minds, interviewed them and photographed them. You will definitely want to check out the insights from Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Oprah, Elon Musk and more in our beautiful interactive web feature. If the music industry is more your bag, read my contributions: Bono on the philanthropic power of capitalism; Paul McCartney on the importance of owning your work; Diddy on the value of customer service; David Geffen on why you should never do something you don't love; Russell Simmons on the business of yoga; and Richard Branson on why people will love you even if your pants fall down at a party.

Up next...

This weekend, I'll be heading to Boston for the Forbes Under 30 Summit. The festivities kick off Sunday at 6pm with the U30 Music Festival--curated by yours truly and powered by Global Citizen--featuring performances by Skylar Grey, Playboi Carti and Zedd. On Monday and Tuesday, I'll be running our Create stage and interviewing Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Ruth, Okieriete Onoadowan, Zedd and more. Other big names on the agenda include Ashton Kutcher, DeRay McKesson and Karlie Kloss. Tickets are still available. When I get back, I'll be doing my final read of 3 Kings: Diddy, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z and Hip-Hop's Multibillion-Dollar Rise, due out in March! More on that, including a very special announcement about the cover, next time...

JUNE 18, 2017

Ready for The Weeknd

Over the past two years, Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye has clocked 5.5 billion streaming spins, more than any musician on the planet besides Drake. The Weeknd pulled in $92 million over the past 12 months, good for No. 6 on the latest Forbes Celebrity 100 list of the world's highest-paid entertainers -- and he's the subject of my latest cover story. It's on his big year and the new streaming economy, which is finally paying direct and indirect dividends for top live acts.

"We live in a world where artists don't really make the money off the music like we did in the Golden Age," he told me. "It's not really coming in until you hit the stage."

Putting together the Celebrity 100 package has occupied the bulk of my time over the past couple months; in addition to my piece on The Weeknd, I wrote about how Diddy earned more than any other front-of-camera entertainer this year; I interviewed Garth Brooks about why he doesn't like playing stadiums; and I explored the origins and implications of a musical phenomenon I've dubbed The Canadian Invasion (Drake, Justin Bieber and The Weeknd all hail from the Toronto area).

The Celeb 100 came on the heels of another popular Forbes list: our ranking of the world's wealthiest hip-hop acts. This year's version was topped by reigning king Diddy at $820 million, but thanks to Sprint's $200 million investment in Tidal (the move values the streaming service at $600 million), Jay Z has leapfrogged Dr. Dre in the race to $1 billion. He now sits just shy of the top spot with $810 million.

Of course, this isn't the biggest news of the year for the Carter family. You may have heard that Jay Z and Beyonce welcomed twins to their family this weekend (congratulations to music's first couple). You can rest assured that their progeny will be in excellent financial shape: Jay Z and Beyonce officially became a billion-dollar couple, as I explained recently on Forbes.com.

I also spent a good amount of time in recent months exploring the financial realities of lesser-known musicians in stories like "Playing Oud In The Age Of Trump" and "Driving Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road." And I moonlighted as a concert promoter, helping to bring together an Israeli rocker, a Palestinian rapper and an interfaith youth chorus onstage at the second annual Forbes Under 30 EMEA Music Festival in Jerusalem.

In other international news, I finally published the two magazine stories that emanated from my trip to Ghana last fall. The first is a profile of Jorn Lyseggen, the Korea-born, Norway-bred, California-based entrepreneur who founded Meltwater, a company that created a service like Google Alerts before Google Alerts; the second is a brief look at MEST, the startup academy he founded in Accra. As Lyseggen likes to say: "Talent is talent, everywhere."