From Hood Rich To Over $100 Million Dollars (The Evolution Of Money In The Black Community)

There's a myth that all black people do is spend their money on crazy unnecessary valuables. There's a myth that every black person lives from paycheck to paycheck. Half of the people, according to the myth, can't even pay their own rent, nothing is in their name because of bad credit, and the list goes on. Even if the myths were true at one point in time, it is definitely a lie now. The life of the hood rich niggas being the majority is over.

According to Urban Dictionary the definition of hood rich is someone who spends a lot of money that they don't even have and they live off of their parents. Back in the 90's The Big Tymerz, a rap group consisting of Baby and Mannie Fresh of Cash Money Millionaires label, made a song about being hood rich. The song was hot at the time because it described the lifestyle of many celebrities who went from being broke to not knowing what to do with their millions, except spend all of it.

Some examples of  black celebrities that lived the hood rich lifestyle before the 21st century are TLC, Toni Braxton, MC Hammer, George Clinton, Gary Coleman, and Latoya Jackson. Latoya Jackson filed bankruptcy in 1995. Gary Coleman filed bankruptcy in 1999 and used long term medical conditions and money mismanagement as his excuses. George Clinton filed bankruptcy in 1984 and as a result cannot make money of off songs he's wrote in the 10 years before that. M. C. Hammer filed bankruptcy in 1995 because he was being sued and he could no longer afford his lavish lifestyle. When Toni Braxton filed for bankruptcy in 1997 she was in debt by $3.9 million. TLC also had a debt of over $3 million when they filed for bankruptcy in 1995.

What all of these people had in common was quick money. They received money just for appearing on scenes, so it was just as easy to spend that money on lavish things. That's what being hood rich is all about. However, sometime between the early 21st century and now the hood rich lifestyle died. Instead of spending money as quickly as they got it, African Americans learned to save.

The hood rich lifestyle no longer exists. It's now about at least $100 million being in a black person's bank. If an African American does haven't $100 million or even a $1000 they're saving to get to that point. You probably think this is crazy. You're probably naming off your list of friends and people you associate with that are still living hood rich. They live at their parent's house, spend their money on frivolous things, and have no real goals. I agree with you. They are living hood rich, but there are more successful blacks and (future successful blacks) that are proving the myths wrong.

An example is the Forbes 2011 pick of future billionaires. Five black men made the cut and they were all rappers. Those names are:

P. Diddy ($475 Million)

50 Cent ($100 Million)

Jay-Z ($450 Million)

Dr. Dre ($300 Million)

Birdman ($100 Million)

Remember when Birdman made that song called "Still Fly" and rapped about being hood rich? That's no longer a lifestyle he can talk about. Remember when no one would sign 50 Cent because of his hood ways? I believe 50 Cent abandoned the hood rich lifestyle around the time he got the $50 million contract from Vitamin water. Do you remember when Jay-Z was a drug dealer hustling on the street corner? Only he remembers that lifestyle. Hood rich isn't even a word in Jay-Z's vocabulary. P. Diddy, Dr. Dre, and Jay-Z have definitely put their earnings over everything else, but now they can all sincerely say they've made it. Wait, Jay-Z is expressing how he made it. 

This was just a short analysis of how African Americans are coming up. Let's drop the myth that we spend more than we make, because clearly more blacks are learning to make more than they spend. These were just my examples. Can you think of prominent African Americans that abandoned the hood rich lifestyle for real money? Are you that prominent African American that's making more than you spend?