American hip-hop culture is intertwined with car culture in ways no other genre of music is. Sure, using cars as a status symbol is nothing new, but nowhere else in media is a custom car more of a requirement to be taken seriously than hip-hop.
There are a couple of factors that contribute to this. One important aspect is that the best hip-hop comes from hardship and struggle. Hip-hop became the poetic lens that the world could use to hear the struggle of impoverished urban Americans. To a hip-hop artist, a custom car is a signifier that they'd risen above the adversity of their circumstances. More than that, though, it was a sign of hope for those struggling that they too may be capable of achieving the same thing.
It takes a lot for a car to really stand out in the hip-hop game. Let's take a look at some we think are the best of the best.
Nicki Minaj: Lamborghini Aventador
Nicki Minaj supposedly paid over $30 thousand to paint this Lamborghini Aventador roadster a stunning shade of hot pink back in 2013. Nicki's not the first celeb to go all out with a pink paint job. Elvis Presley once modified his 1955 Cadillac Fleetwood with a similar shade of pink. Minaj also once owned a Bentley Continental, which was also painted pink.
Nicki's Lambo takes that same idea and turns up the intensity a few notches. This shiny pink car was shown to the world at Nicki's launch of her fashion line, "The Nicki Minaj Collection." The base car costs $400,000 before you even touch the paint-job. Safe to say, in this case, this is one of the most unique Lambos on the road.
Megan Thee Stallion: Rolls Royce Dawn
Nicki's close associate Megan Thee Stallion is also no stranger herself to showing off her sweet ride. Megan purchased a grey Rolls Royce Dawn with a stunning red leather interior. Before modifications, the Dawn is a $350,000 car, safe to assume with custom rims and trim pieces that Megan's ride is worth a good deal more than it would have straight from the factory. It looks like she just might have Nicki beat in the custom car department, especially if you aren't a fan of hot pink cars.
Post Malone: Hennesey Velociraptor 6x6
Hennesey Performance gave Post Malone the red carpet treatment when they personally delivered his heavily modified Ford F-150 Raptor 6x6 in January 2019. We couldn't help but share his giddiness as the 600 horsepower twin-turbocharged six-wheeled monster pulls into the rapper's driveway. Custom touches include barbed wire decals on the brake calipers, and a barbed wire themed step handle that fits into the truck's bed. MSRP for this truck is $350,000, a hefty sum for what's basically a pickup truck. We don't think Post will have any complaints though, he's too busy doing burnouts and having fun in his new toy.
Jay Z: Bugatti Veyron
Most normal married people will buy their significant other something unique and thoughtful for their birthday. Beyonce is included in this group, except when her hubby Jay-Z turned 41, his gift wasn't a watch or a tie or a set of golf clubs. Instead, Beyonce bought her husband a $2 million pearl white Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport.
Jay-Z has one of the most stacked car collections in the world. This includes the one-off Maybach Excelero, among dozens of others. The 1,000 horsepower, 250-mile per hour ultra-car will feel right at home sitting among the other amazing cars in his collection, including a Pagani Zonda, Rolls-Royce Phantom, and Mclaren Mercedes SLR.
Tyga: LaFerrari
Being an ex-boyfriend to one of the Kardashians definitely has its perks. Tyga owned the Ferrari Laferrari that features in his music video "Floss In The Back." He purchased the exclusive hybrid-electric hypercar from Ferrari of Beverly Hills, California.
This is the only car on this list that can legitimately claim to be just as fast as Jay-Z's Veyron while being even more exclusive. LaFerraris can sell from anywhere from 1.2 to over 2 million dollars, depending on options and where the car is purchased. It seems Tyga had some trouble making payments on the hypercar as it was repossessed soon after he purchased it.
Tupac Shakur: BMW 750
The rest of the cars on this list deserve being called some of the hottest rides in hip-hop. Only this one has the distinction of being owned by a legend of our time taken from us far too soon, as well as also being a legitimate piece of American history.
We've all heard the story, Tupac and his business partner Suge Knight were cruising the Las Vegas Strip when unknown assailants in a red Cadillac pulled alongside and riddled the vehicle with bullets, he died six days later. It seems fitting that the car in which Tupac Shakur would lose his life exemplified the lifestyle which the world-famous music artist had grown accustomed to, a cushy, big, German luxury sedan with shiny chrome wheels.
The car Tupac took his last ride in is now valued at over 1.5 million dollars, it may not be the fastest or most exclusive car ever owned by a hip-hop artist, but there's no argument that it isn't one of the most important. In a game of top-trumps, this pokey little BMW has everything here in the dust.
Sources: thenewswheel.com, carscoops.com, networthlinks.com, Dupont Registry