THIS Noughties hit-maker has pursued a completely different career – and it’s made him a millionaire.
The Ridin’ hit-maker previously snagged countless awards for his musical prowess, including an MTV award in 2006 and a Grammy award for best rap performance – but he has given it all up to pursue an extremely lucrative career.
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Chamillionaire (Hakeem Temidayo Seriki) is an American rapper best known for his string of catchy rap beats including Ridin’, Turn it up and Hip Hop police.
Now, he has an eye-watering net-worth, that he largely accrued away from the music industry.
Chamillionaire originally caught the public’s eyes when he released his debut solo album in 2005: “The Sound of Revenge,” which featured his four-time platinum hit single – ‘Ridin’.
He later left Universal Music Group and founded himself as a true entrepreneur and even started his own label, Chamillitary Entertainment.
The star went on to make savvy investments and is now worth an estimated $50M.
He previously told UBS: “I got into investing by learning.
“The best advice is to surround yourself with people who are curious and intelligent. You can pick up from them along the way.”
Chamillionaire’s amazing investment portfolio includes brands that are now worth millions including Maker Studios (now acquired by Disney), Cruise (a self-driving start-up), Lyft (a ride-share app).
According to Business Insider, he is also the entrepreneur-in-residence at Upfront Ventures – a tech investment company.
A ‘X’ user recently took to social media to praise Chamillionaire’s jaw-dropping career.
They wrote: “Chamillionaire is one of the most successful rappers out of Texas. He went multi-platinum, didn’t curse in his music, made millions off ringtones, won a Grammy, retired before 30 and invested in Tech.
“He got in and got out.”
Seriki’s unusual stage name Chamillionaire combines the words “chameleon” and “millionaire” – clearly predicating his successful career.
According to Yahoo, Chamillionaire has previously admitted that he feels the music industry rips off his members.
He faced his own issue with the industry when he hired Jay-Z’s auditor, who discovered $600K had been hidden from him by his label.
Hakeem explained: “He goes and finds over $600,000 that the label hid from me.
“I was like, ‘Wait a second. Is this the way it always is?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, you got to keep on doing this.’ So, I realised that all my peers didn’t know this.”
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