Top 10 Rappers Who Went Broke

#10: Ja Rule

Ja Rule dominated the early 2000s thanks to several top 10 singles, including “Always on Time” and “Mesmerize”. Despite the hits trickling to a crawl around 2004, he still earned $3 million between then and 2006. Unfortunately, he failed to claim this income and was saddled with a $1.1 million bill by the IRS. He was also sentenced to twenty-eight months in prison for tax evasion. Ja was busted again in 2019, when the IRS claimed that he owed more than $2 million in back taxes. His problems are not over, as he now faces dozens of class action lawsuits due to his role in the infamous Fyre Festival. Now that is something Ja will not live down for a LONG time.

#9: Nelly

Nelly saw great success throughout the 2000s, scoring four #1 singles and three #1 albums, including his debut Country Grammar, which has since gone diamond in the United States. According to the RIAA, Nelly has sold a cumulative 21 million albums, making him the fourth most successful rapper in American history. Needless to say, the man has some money. However, he started drowning in debt in 2016 when Uncle Sam slapped him with a $2.4 million tax lien, which was a substantial-enough debt that the IRS could seize property and assets. To make matters worse, he was also hit with a nearly $150,000 bill in unpaid state taxes. You know what they say about death and taxes...

#8: DMX

X gon give it to ya! Unless you’re the IRS, that is. DMX has enjoyed a long and successful rap career (despite a few legal hitches here and there), but all this accumulated wealth came back to bite him. He has reportedly attempted to file for bankruptcy on three separate occasions and claimed that he had absolutely no money and very little assets. In July of 2017, X was hit with a ridiculous FOURTEEN counts of tax fraud, as he failed to file his income taxes between 2010 and 2015. In that time, he had made over $2 million, and Uncle Sam wanted his slice. The rapper was later sentenced to one year in prison for tax evasion and was ordered to pay $2.29 million in restitution.

#7: Bow Wow

Shad Moss released a few popular records as Lil’ Bow Wow when he was a teen, and he eventually ventured into acting, starring in movies like “Johnson Family Vacation” and “Like Mike.” While his wealth likely never rivaled that of some other rappers on our list today, his money problems do! In the late 2000s, he fell behind on luxury car payments, and in 2012 he admitted that he was completely broke, having just $1,500 in his checking account. His money problems became a meme in 2017 when he was caught flying commercial after boasting about flying on a private jet online. This in turn inspired the #BowWowChallenge, and the internet had a good laugh. Poor Bow Wow.

#6: Lil’ Kim

If there’s one thing we’re all learning here, it’s that you should absolutely, unequivocally, and without exception… pay your taxes. Like Saul Goodman says, “If they can get Capone, they can get you.” In 2018, it was reported that Lil’ Kim owed the IRS over one million dollars in back taxes, which is quite a lot for someone who is already in the hole. According to legal documents obtained by TMZ, Kim owed $2 million on her house and roughly $186,000 in unpaid legal bills. All told, she was roughly $4 million in debt. The bank later foreclosed on her mansion, and Lil’ Kim filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

#5: Fat Joe

And wouldn’t you know it, the tax man comes a-callin’ yet again. Fat Joe failed to file income taxes between 2007 and 2010 and subsequently entered a plea bargain, reducing the charges to two counts of failing to file taxes. In those years, Fat Joe had made roughly $3.3 million, resulting in a tax bill of $718,000. Luckily, Fat Joe paid the bill in time for his sentencing, reducing his sentence from two years to four months in prison. He apparently didn’t learn his lesson, as he was hit by the IRS yet again in 2016, this time to the tune of just over one million dollars for tax evasion in 2014. So, yeah, the government doesn’t mess around.

#4: Young Buck

The story of Young Buck’s financial woes serve as a MAJOR cautionary tale. Young Buck owed the IRS hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in 2010, they stormed Buck’s house, seizing numerous expensive assets, like watches and leather chairs. They later auctioned these off for money. It was also revealed that Young Buck owed dozens of creditors over $11 million. As a result, Buck filed for Chapter 13. Granted, this mess wasn’t necessarily Buck’s fault, as his personal lawyer believed that the business manager was handling the taxes.Turns out, no one was giving Uncle Sam his cut, and no one won. Well, no one but the IRS. But isn’t that always the case?

#3: Xzibit

Have you ever wondered what happened to Xzibit after “Pimp My Ride?” Well, he went broke, that’s what happened. Following the end of “Pimp My Ride,” Xzibit was making just about $67,000 a year, which is nowhere near enough to sustain a lavish lifestyle. By 2010, just three years after the show’s cancellation, he was in the hole for $1.4 million. And, like many of his fellow rappers, Xzibit was targeted by the IRS and sent a bill for around $960,000 in unpaid taxes. That certainly didn’t help matters. He twice tried filing for bankruptcy, but his filings were denied on both occasions.

#2: Nas

Nas is one of the greatest rappers of all time, and his debut album, Illmatic, is often considered to be one of the most influential albums in history. Unfortunately, the IRS couldn’t care less about reputation; they just want their money. While working out child support payments with his ex-wife Kelis, it was revealed that Nas owed the IRS millions of dollars. But that wasn’t his only problem. Nas was actually drowning in debt, as he owed $700,000 to his manager, $300,000 in back child support payments, and was ordered to pay Kelis $50,000 a month, which was money that he definitely did not have. His house was later repossessed by the bank, as he failed to make payments on a $400,000 loan.

#1: MC Hammer

MC Hammer was living the high life in the early ‘90s. Thanks mostly to U Can’t Touch This, Hammer was worth an estimated $33 million, which he proceeded to blow on a massive entourage that cost $500,000 a month, a $30 million mansion, nineteen thoroughbred racehorses, two private helicopters, a Lambo, and a private jet, among others. He eventually dug himself a $13 million hole and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In 2011, Mr. Hammer was given an almost $780,000 bill from the IRS for unpaid taxes dating back to 1996 to 1997. It just goes to show that the IRS will always get you in the end…even if it takes fifteen years.