For any hip hop fan, this week was a pretty important week. Dr Dre, the man who has had his finger prints on pretty much half of the hip hop music to grace our ears over the past 20 odd years apparently became the first hip hop billionaire.

The historical impact of this must never ever be lost. We don't need a history lesson, but we know that hip hop started from the streets of predominantly African American areas. While many other genres of music have been around for yonks, hip hop became a voice for people who were still (despite the civil rights movement) being treated in a manner that as a white European male, I feel shit about. Anyway so for a black male to become a billionaire thanks to a type of music that was largely started and influenced by black culture, is pretty cool. A lot cooler than a non-black person making a bill from hip hop.

Dr Dre puts himself ahead of the likes of P Diddy, Jay-Z and the Williams brothers (Cash Money, who have a shitload more money than people think). Thanks to Apple's purchase of Beats Electronics, which for many are overpriced headphones, as well as their music streaming offshoot is something new for Apple. It's something new for hip hop. And it's something slightly confuzzling.

First of all it's important to establish that nothing official has come out of both parties, so it's happened but it hasn't. Secondly, it's also important to note that will.i.am (along with Jimmy Iovine) is also a founding shareholder of Beats Electronics. He's a prominent figure (flex your memory, Will and the Black Eyed Peas were signed by Eazy-E and Ruthless Records) in hip hop and the music industry too. With the deal rumoured to be around $3billion, does that mean that will.i.am and Dre are both the first billionaires? Probably not, as Dr Dre will have a bigger stake in the business.

I do know that it's a shrewd piece of business by Apple. With 'Beats Music' launching recently, Apple have now acquired a rival to Spotify  ... to go along with their iTunes machine. So Apple could have a stranglehold on not only the music download niche, but also the music streaming niche, but with a much cooler brand that oozes street cred. 

I myself have never owned a pair of Beats headphones. I'm all good with my $20 headphones that do what they should. I'm not a DJ, I'm not someone who has to listen to music and perfectly hear all the sounds ... cancelling out the outside noise etc, I just need to listen to what's on my iPod ... oh the irony. Personally, it's hard to see Beats headphones growing or expanding. They were obviously pretty cool to get your hands on with their slick design and endorsement from the great Doc, but I mean there's plenty of other tech brands coming out with good (probably better) headphones as well. This isn't no iPhone vs Android, Vodafone vs Telecom duopoly ... lots of companies make headphones so you would imagine that there would be a ceiling for how many Beats can get sold. That's not even including the fakes that have flooded the market.

It would be interesting to see the details of the deal - will Dr Dre, Jimmy Iovine and will.i.am still hold some sort of power within the brand? Or will Apple take the reigns and do what they please? You get the feeling the Dr Dre is just happy to be making a few stacks, beating out his fellow hip hop mogul rivals. It's a competitive business. Apple are much more likely to have the technical knowledge in their stables to enhance the headphones, but whether they see it as worthwhile will be the key. (Rumours are floating around the Dre and Iovine will get reasonable input in the Apple hierarchy)

The cultural significance of this is much larger than the business side of the deal. It's pretty cool that there are people who have come through off hip hop and transcended the industry, let alone the likes of P Diddy, Jay-Z and the Williams bros doing deals with large corporations (think Jay-Z's deal with Samsung), let alone someone making a billion. I do feel bad playing the race card, but we live in a time where despite an 80 year old male (who spent 50 years living in a racist America) having some pretty high profile racist views, no matter your race, culture or background, you can do what Dr Dre has done. This success has come purely thanks to hip hop, a musical genre which has risen from nothing, withstood the constant criticisms of largely white America (but also from many African Americans) and is now considered a huge part of modern society, no matter your race, culture or background.

Beats Electronics would not be what it is without hip hop. It's pretty hard to argue that it has built it's reputation from Dr Dre's standing and respect, which he earned through hip hop. While some may still be holding their breath to hear Detox, Dr Dre has been making smart business deals. So hats off to Dr Dre, you've gone to another level. A level that others haven't reached. But on the whole, the deal is a bit meh. We'll have to wait and see what Apple will do with Beat Electronics before any more judgements are made ... til then we'll just watch Dr Dre keep making it rain.