Cars of the cash kings

Jay-Z made an estimated $63 million last year. Diddy made $30 million. But when it comes to cars, the coolest thing for the top hip-hop stars is to hide it--sort of.

"Right now the major thing that has been going on in the market is all the matte paint jobs," says George Keshishyan, who owns Platinum Motorsport, an L.A. auto shop that customises rides for hip-hop stars, along with his brother, Jake. "Just last week we got a brand-new Rolls Royce Ghost--it had 100 miles on it. It came in on a flatbed truck straight from the dealership. We changed it all to a matte black."

Platinum Motorsport has stripped and then modified six-figure stunners for the likes of Lil' Wayne, Drake and T-Pain.

Kanye, for instance, had the Platinum team black out the grill and wheels of his Range Rover Supersport. And Jay-Z, despite his earlier, well-documented love of Ferrari F430s and Pagani Zonda S's, has gone the underground route, riding around in a Maybach 62 and rapping about "slamming Bentley doors" (and, in the same verse, "popping up on Forbes' list"), revealing his preference for a ride that’s relatively low-key compared to other choices in that price bracket.

The urge these days to go incognito extends even down the price-scale. Take Eminem. Sure, his $63,000 Hummer H2 is considered a luxury vehicle, as far as SUVs go. But the car will be around the corner before most gawkers even realise that the reserved rapper is behind the wheel. Ludacris famously gave away his 1971 Buick Oldsmobile convertible last year because he was tired of being recognised in it all over Atlanta.

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Image: Jay-Z