Owning a music label is one thing, but owning one that rakes in the dough is another story. Music is embedded in the DNA of Murder Inc. founder Irv Gotti. He went from being the man that was Jay-Z’s first deejay, to the man calling the shots for one of the hottest labels in the industry during the 2000s. Thanks to heavy hitters like Ashanti, Ja Rule, and Lloyd, Gotti’s label was unstoppable — until it wasn’t.

Veteran Hip-Hop executive Irv Gotti may have leveled up in a huge way. Known for helping to launch the careers of artists like DMX and Ja Rule, the heavy-hitter has reportedly inked a $300 million deal with Iconoclast — a network developed to service global agencies, record labels, and content platforms, plus more. “I raised $5 million for me to shoot my movie, and I used my music catalog as collateral. When I did that, it opened up a can of worms,” he told Billboard. “My good friend Zach Horowitz, who used to be the CFO for the Universal Music Group, called me and was like, ‘Irv, are you interested in selling [your catalog]?” My guy Walter Jordan was always telling me, ‘Irv, you’ve got money there.'” He continued: “Then Zach said he knows Oliver Chastan, and he’s the best and pays top dollar. We met and it was a love fest — Oliver felt my energy and the deal didn’t take long, a couple months. I’m a very spiritual person, and it’s God and my dad who passed away on Nov. 1 looking out...

From Dennis Rodman to Ja Rule, celebrities are just like us in that they, too, can make bad financial investments. Most recently, AfroTech told the story of NBA player Tim Duncan, whose scamming financial adviser cost him more than $20 million. Yet, most interestingly of all, Duncan remained unbothered by his ex-adviser’s behavior. “Luckily I had a long career and made good money. This is a big chunk, but it’s not going to change my life in any way. It’s not going to make any decisions for me,” he said. But while the likes of Tim Duncan can easily bounce back from bad financial investments, not every celebrity is quite as lucky. These celebrities made bad financial investments — let’s take a look at how it worked out for them.

Celebrities of all shapes, sizes, and colors can only dream about having multi-million dollar deals. But there are some celebrities who prefer to walk away because they are worth so much more. In some cases, the decision to walk away from hefty paydays — whether on principle or on principal — proves to be a wise one. There are plenty of celebrities who play the long game that end up getting more in dividends because they chose to hold out for what they felt they deserved. And then there are other cases where the celebrity doesn’t know when to hold them — or when to fold them — and the consequences are devastating (We’re sure, for example, that Matt Damon could use that extra couple million right now. Should’ve done “Avatar,” sir, and you wouldn’t have the disaster of “Stillwater” to contend with). Did you know, for example, that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson turned down the opportunity to host the 2019 Oscars? According to Us Weekly, the wrestler-turned-multi-hyphenate was the first...