UPDATE: Forbes recently told TMZ that, while the sale is huge, Dr. Dre only owned 23% of the company, which will put his net worth closer to $800 million. Not that this really means anything in the land of wealth (maybe it does).

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Looks like we have officially crowned the world’s first Hip-Hop billionaire. Sorry, Puff. From TMZ:

Dr. Dre could be days away from being the first rapper turned BILLIONAIRE … thanks to a mega-deal for Apple to snatch up his Beats Electronics brand.

Apple will reportedly buy Beats for a whopping $3.2 BILLION — and since Dre and Interscope honcho Jimmy Iovine created the brand … it’s a safe bet they will walk away with a huge chunk of that cash.

Dre and Jimmy started the brand back in 2008 with headphones — but now they’re also making bank off speakers, car audio systems, and a streaming service.

The deal could close next week … and would be Apple’s biggest acquisition ever.

Dre came in #2 on Forbes’ most recent list of hip hop’s wealthiest artists — with a net worth of $550 million … while Diddy was #1 at $700 million.

The Apple deal — first reported by Variety — could easily push the Doc to the top of that list. This would also explain his purchase of Tom Brady’s mansion.

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