How much of hip hop is money laundering?
It seems like the careers of rappers who have gang ties, or whose managers have gang ties, are simply fronts for the gang, so the gang can keep making money selling drugs or trafficking weapons but prop up this rapper as their "legal" way of making money.
You also see this a lot with hip hop producers. In a sense, sampling has made music more cheap and reproducible, very much like modern "art." Anyone can push buttons on a sampler and call it a "beat," then sell the beat and make money from it.
The truth is that there is very little money to be made in music nowadays, especially in the era of music streaming. Live concerts cost more to put on then they make in revenue. Given these facts, why are so many rappers "rich" and walking around wearing chains and shoes that cost thousands of dollars? Why do they all have multiple cars and $10 million mansions? Where is this money coming from if the actual music pays so little?