Jay-Z And Kanye West Land On Most Powerful People In Rap List

27 February 2013, 17:34

The 'Young Forever' rapper and his 'Watch The Throne' teammate both found themselves on the power list.

Jay-Z and Kanye West have both made it onto a list of the 25 most powerful people in rap music right now.

The '99 Problems' rapper came second on Complex magazine's brand new list, with the publication citing his work as both a rap artist and the CEO of Roc Nation as reasons for his position.

Jay-Z came just behind Cash Money label bosses Bryan 'Birdman' Williams and Ronald 'Slim' Williams, who are in charge of their Young Money imprint which helped launch the careers of stars like Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne.

The third most powerful person in rap was listed to be Def Jam president Joie Manda, with Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine at number four through their various entrepreneurial ventures like Beats By Dre.

Kanye West was named number five on the publications list, after both his success as a solo artist, with Jay-Z on their 'Watch The Throne' record and for launching his G.O.O.D. Music record label.

Check out a picture of Jay-Z at the Grammy Awards 2013 earlier this month below (Credit: Getty):

"Between concerts, major labels, independent artists and terrestrial radio, streaming services, artist management and legal, the entertainment business has become a constantly shifting matrix of power," Complex writes. "But power, in rap, is different.'

Earlier this week Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake announced plans to launch their 'Legends Of The Summer' tour later this year, while Kanye West has been performing several one-off shows around Europe.