What Is Chamillionaire's Net Worth?
Chamillionaire is an American singer, rapper, and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $50 million. In addition to his successful music career, Chamillionaire has earned much of his net worth from his various investment ventures as well as his role as CEO of the entertainment company Chamillitary Entertainment.
Early Life
Hakeem Seriki, best known by his stage name Chamillionaire, was born on November 28, 1979, in Washington, D.C. The family moved to Houston, Texas, when he was three years old. He attended Jersey Village High School, where he became interested in rap music. He has a younger brother, Rasaq Seriki, who is also a rapper.
Music Career
The stage name "Chamillionaire" is a portmanteau of the words "chameleon" and "millionaire." Seriki and fellow rapper and friend Paul Wall were promoting at an event when they met Michael "5000" Watts, a popular mixtape DJ active in the Houston area. They proposed to help promote Watt's company, Swishahouse, and also convinced him to let them freestyle on an intro to his radio show on Houston hip-hop station KBXX-FM. Watt's put their freestyles on one of his mixtapes, and they soon became regulars in the Houston rap scene and mixtape circuit. Seriki and Wall started the group The Color Changin' Click. They also worked together on the album "Get Ya Mind Correct" (2002), which sold over 150,000 copies. The album was nominated by "The Source" magazine for independent album of the year in 2002, and they began to make a name for themselves, with the Color Changin' Click also performing at the SXSW music festival in 2004.
Seriki released his solo debut album, "The Sound of Revenge," in 2005 through Chamilitary Entertainment and Universal Records. It debuted and peaked at #10 on the "Billboard" 200 chart in the United States and was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA. The album also produced the hit single "Ridin'," which was #1 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and won him the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
"Ultimate Victory" (2007) was Seriki's second studio album and featured guests such as UGK, Lil Wayne, Devin the Dude, and Lloyd. He had plans for a third album titled "Venom," initially scheduled to be released in 2011, but the project was eventually scrapped after he parted ways with Universal Records. He dropped the EP "Ammunition" in March 2012 and was supposed to release a third album, "Poison," in 2013. However, as of this writing, it remains unreleased.
In addition to his studio albums, Seriki's various mixtape projects have been wildly successful. In 2004, he released "The Mixtape Messiah," which featured 61 tracks over three CDs and is the longest and most bought mixtape in Texas history. It was also the first mixtape in what would eventually be one of his most popular and highly anticipated projects, the Mixtape Messiah series. The series had seven mixtapes in total, with subsequent releases in 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009. Seriki began a new mixtape series titled "Major Pain" in 2009, dropping the first disc in February 2010. He dropped the second "Major Pain" installment in April 2011, followed by the mixtapes "Badazz Freemixes," "Badazz Freemixes 2," and "Badazz Slowmixes."
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Business and Investments
In 2004, he founded Chamillitary Entertainment, his own record label. He is signed as an artist, along with Lil Ken and Troy Henry. Former artists include Yung Ro, 50/50 Twin, and Seriki's younger brother Rasaq. The label has over 20 releases between mixtapes and albums. Chamillitary Entertainment was formerly distributed by Universal Records but has been independent since Seriki parted ways with the major label in January 2011.
In 2003, Seriki invested in a Houston-based auto dealer, Fly Rydes. The company specializes in customizing cars, something which he noted is very popular in Texas. Seriki also founded the modeling company Masterpiece Mind Frame. Along with Quincy Jones III, Seriki launched the Global Innovation Tournament as part of the Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar Series in 2009. Also in 2009, he invested in Maker Studios, an online video talent network, which Disney eventually acquired for $500 million. Seriki's initial investment in Maker Studios was $1.5 million, and his payout from the sale was reportedly over $20 million. He also began a partnership with the Maker Studios founder Mark Suster, a managing partner at venture capital firm Upfront Ventures, which helped him get appointed as entrepreneur in residence for the firm in 2015. He has since stepped back a little from music, devoting more focus to his entrepreneurial career.
Seriki's other ventures include an investment in the self-driving automation tech company Cruise Automation in 2013, which was a highly successful investment because the company was sold to General Motors for over $1 billion in 2016. In January 2018, he launched the social media app Convoz as a better way to allow an influencer to connect directly with their fans. In May 2019, he and rapper E-40 announced that they were going to invest $25,000 in a startup founded and managed by a woman or person of color. That September, they invested in the footwear company Atoms, which offers shoes in quarter sizes.
In 2022, Chamillionaire's tech company, X Empire Inc., released the Access Club beta app, a private members-only social club for investing and deals allowing exclusive access to startups and companies looking to connect with people of influence.
