Nas is more than just a rapper.
To those who were born and raised in the culture, the man born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones is one of the greatest emcees of all time. Arguably, he’s one of the GOATs. (“Ether” is a masterpiece, and this is a statement of fact.) He’s sold millions of records, and raked in millions of dollars, with music, merchandise, and performing.
But today, Nas is more than just a rapper. He’s also proven himself to be quite the savvy businessman. Through his Queensbridge Venture Partners, he’s invested in more than 100 companies and has become a multi-millionaire in his own right. According to Celebrity Net Worth, he’s flipped all that money — and all that expertise — into a $70 million net worth.
He also has some investments in real estate. In 2002, he purchased a 3,500-square-foot home in McDonough, GA, for $659,000. When he was married to Kelis, he also purchased a $1.6 million home in Los Angeles, CA. Even a small hiccup with the IRS wasn’t enough to deter Nas from investments — he paid what was due, and continued on his course.
Let’s take a look at the myriad of ways that Nas has even become the GOAT in business, as well as behind the mic.
Queensbridge Venture Partners
According to its Crunchbase profile, Queensbridge Venture Partners has invested in more than 120 companies, and more than 30 “diversity” investments.
One of the fund’s most public investments was in Pluto TV. Back in 2019, AfroTech reported that the free TV app was acquired by Viacom for a staggering $340 million. Queensbridge has also invested in the likes of Lyft, Casper, Genius, and Dropbox.
Escboar Cigars
According to a press release, Nas is an equity partner and co-owner in the rising cigar company, Escobar Cigars.
“When the team at Escobar Cigars initially approached me, I was immediately drawn to the brand by the exceptional quality of their product,” he said, in the statement. “This partnership with Escobar has been almost two years in the making and I am honored to be an equity partner with them. I am looking forward to growing this brand and to giving back to the local communities in Nicaragua where our tobacco is grown, aged, and hand-rolled into a premium cigar.”
Coinbase
When Coinbase announced that it was going public, Nas received quite a handsome payout. As AfroTech reported, “it’s estimated that the ‘Ether’ rapper owns anywhere from nearly 100,000 to almost 500,000 shares in Coinbase. As of this writing, Coinbase is trading at $350 a share on private, secondary markets, which means that Nas’ assets — using that metric — are somewhere between about $35 million and $174 million.”
Ring and PillPack Buyouts
Two of Nas’ biggest payouts came courtesy of Ring and PillPack. According to The Source, Nas received a handsome $40 million after Amazon bought out both of the companies in a deal that was estimated to be worth between $1 billion and $2 billion, at the time.
Amazon’s acquisition of PillPack supported its growing effort to expand into the healthcare market.
“PillPack is meaningfully improving its customers’ lives, and we want to help them continue making it easy for people to save time, simplify their lives, and feel healthier,” said Amazon CEO Worldwide Consumer, Jeff Wilke, to One MusicFest.
Other Business Ventures
In 2014, Nas teamed up with Koru to fund a college scholarship for disadvantaged students. For a period of time, he was also part of the startup’s “guest coaching” lineup, and he periodically offers to be the guest coach to this day, according to The Observer.
