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Money Ain't a Thang: Hip-Hop's Top 20 Breadwinners - Each year, Forbes magazine releases its list of hip-hop top 20 "Cash Kings," calculating the top earners in the game. This year's list has some surprise debuts and a whole lot of ups and downs. Click on to find out rap's top 20 earners. Dollar, dollar bill, y'all!

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20. B.o.B, $5 million (tie) - This Atlanta MC-singer makes his debut on Forbes' Cash Kings list on the strength of steady touring, an Adidas ad, paid guest recordings and continued robust sales of his debut album, The Adventures of Bobby Ray.(Photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage)

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20. T-Pain, $5 million (tie) - T-Pain isn’t as popular as he used to be, but his bank account has barely noticed. Forbes says his paid guest appearances (60 since January 2010), concerts and side hustles like his I Am T-Pain iPhone app have kept him well in the black. (Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

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17. Pitbull, $6 million (tie) - Pitbull had major bark, bite and bank this year. With two albums, hit singles, 50-plus shows and major endorsement deals—Forbes says a contract with Kodak earned him seven figures—the Miami rapper pulled in a pretty penny.(Photo: Michael Caulfield/Getty Images For NCLR)

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17. 50 Cent, $6 million (tie) - You know you’re rich when pulling in $6 million is considered “falling off”—50 earned $150 million off his Vitamin Water deal in 2008, setting a Cash Kings record. Things aren't going that well for Fiddy anymore, but this year his sprawling G-Unit franchise, concert earnings, paid guest appearances, acting roles, royalties and record sales kept him on the list nonetheless.(Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images for The Weinstein Company)

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17. Rick Ross, $6 million (tie) - Unlike many of the other Cash Kings, Ross has kept his focus almost solely on music, and it’s paid off in terms of both quality and quantity—of dollars. Forbes cites his strong album and singles sales (Teflon Don went gold) and touring with Lil Wayne and others, but his burgeoning Maybach Music empire can’t be ignored either.(Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

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15. Nicki Minaj, $6.5 million (tie) - The Young Money queen is having a banner year. With sold-out tours, a smash debut album with several hit singles (Pink Friday has sold 1.5 million units, and “Super Bass” just became the highest-charting single by a female rapper since 2002) and big-money guest verses, Nicki is the first femcee ever to crash the Forbes Cash Kings list. (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/PictureGroup)

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15. Swizz Beatz, $6.5 million (tie) - With a lucrative backlog of countless hits since the late ’90s, Mr. Alicia Keys stays winning. This year he kept his bank up via profitable partnerships with Reebok and Aston Martin and high-profile production gigs on Jay and ’Ye’s Watch the Throne and elsewhere.(Photo: Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

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14. Timbaland, $7 million - Timbo’s catalog of classics keeps the royalty money rolling in, even in a down year. Forbes says the pioneering beatsmith also continued to command industry-leading production fees, leading to yet another year as a Cash King. (Photo: John Parra/FilmMagic)

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13. Pharrell Williams, $10 million - Between his Billionaire Boys Club clothing line, touring and album sales with N.E.R.D. and, of course, his top-dollar production services, the Neptunes beatmaker made out-of-this-world income this past year.(Photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for DKMS)

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11. Drake, $11 million (tie) - No need to “thank him later”—with a platinum debut album, heavy touring, countless guest appearances and big-bank endorsement deals with Kodak, Sprite and Virgin, Drizzy and his wallet are feeling the love right now.(Photo: Jag Gundu/Getty Images)

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11. Wiz Khalifa, $11 million (tie) - The past 12 months introduced Amber Rose’s boo to paper of a different, non-rolling sort. According to Forbes, the Pittsburgh spitter made his Cash Kings debut via his hit single “Black and Yellow,” pedal-to-the-medal touring (over 100 shows in the past year) and major merch sales. (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

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10. Ludacris, $12 million - Luda was pretty quiet on the music front in the past year, but with film roles that included Fast Five, No Strings Attached and New Year’s Eve and endorsement deals with Tag body spray and Trojan condoms, his bank account made plenty of noise.

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9. Akon, $13 million - You thought he fell off? Don’t tell his bank account. Forbes says the Senegalese singer earned plenty of zeros with high-profile concerts in Australia, Zimbabwe and elsewhere, a mega-watt World Cup ad with Pepsi and his guest appearance on the hit parody song “I Just Had Sex” (115 millions Youtube views).  (Photo: Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup)

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6. Snoop Dogg, $14 million (tie) - The Dogg got his bone yet again this past year, with his new album Doggumentary, strong touring, endorsement partnerships with Metro PCS and Pepsi and a verse on Katy Perry’s chart-topping “California Gurls.” (Photo: Adrian Sidney/PictureGroup)

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6. Andre "Dr. Dre" Young, $14 million (tie) - With this much green rolling in from producer fees and royalties from his 25-year strong catalog of hits, you can see why the pioneering MC-beatmaker isn’t in such a rush to put out Detox. Look for Dre to top the Forbes Cash Kings list next year due to his just-announced deal with HTC, who bought a majority stake in his Beats by Dre headphone line for a whopping $309 million. (Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

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6. Eminem, $14 million (tie) - The Detroit MC dominated the charts this year; his seventh album, Recovery, sold 5.7 million copies. In an unusual step for him, Slim also signed two huge endorsement deals, making major cake with Super Bowl ads for Lipton and Chrysler. (Photo: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)

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4. Birdman, $15 million (tie) - What’s a Cash Kings list without Cash Money? Birdman stays fly by taking a cut from the earnings of fellow Cash Kings Lil Wayne, Drake and Nicki Minaj, all of whom are signed to his Cash Money label through Weezy's profitable subsidiary Young Money.\r \r(Photo: Brad Barket/PictureGroup)

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4. Lil Wayne, $15 million (tie) - 50 Cent once said that being in jail is the only excuse for being broke, but that didn’t stop Weezy. His new album I Am Not a Human Being debuted at No. 1—the first time since Tupac a rapper topped the charts while incarcerated. Wayne hit the ground running when he got out, rocking 24 cities with his I Am Music II tour and leading his Young Money label to benchmark year with the successes of Drake and Nicki Minaj.\r \r(Photo: Valerie Macon/Getty Images)

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3. Kanye West, $16 million - Yeezy’s fifth album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, was hailed by many as 2010’s best album, and it sold accordingly, moving more than a million units. And with his just-released collabo LP with Jay-Z, Watch the Throne, slated to break digital sales records, the Chi-Town MC-producer should have no problem keeping “All of the Lights” on in the year to come. (Photo: Trago/WireImage)

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2. Diddy, $35 million - Can’t stop, won’t stop. Even with Forbes calculating that music comprised just a fifth of Diddy’s earnings in the past year, the mogul’s Sean John and Enyce clothing lines, his massive Ciroc vodka partnership and other business ventures kept the Benjamins rolling in.(Photo: Michael Underwood/PictureGroup)

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1) Jay-Z, $37 Million - And the winner is…Jay-Z. Forbes crowned Hova hip-hop’s “reigning Cash King,” citing his 10-year $150 million Live Nation deal and his stakes in the New Jersey Nets, the 40/40 Club chain and other profitable ventures. It the first time he's out-earned wifey Beyoncé since their 2008 marriage. About time Mr. Knowles started earning his keep! (Photo: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)

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