Millionaire mayor Salim Mehajer caused a stir this week as he apparently paid $50,000 for rapper Tyga to come and perform at his wife’s 30th birthday party in Auburn, western Sydney.
The scene was set with the rapper turning up in a rented Rolls Royce and a security team by his side as he entered into the Auburn council deputy mayor’s mansion. The bizarre appearance, complete with pictures and videos of the two together, got us thinking about some of the other times people have chucked obscene amounts of money at rappers to come and perform at their private parties.
Kanye West and Jay-Z
Perhaps the greatest show of wealth ever, when it comes to private parties, was when heavyweight rappers Kanye West and Jay Z were paid US$3m each to perform at an Arab billionaire’s daughter’s party. The sweet 16 party saw the two rappers flown out just before Christmas five years ago to perform some exclusive sets. The rappers apparently did a number of shows for the packed party and even threw in some rare content to keep the crowds happy. What the girl, who is a member of the wealthy family that rules the United Arab Emirates, was given for her 21st Birthday party is anyone’s guess.
Drake
Just last month, Drake appeared at the famous Rainbow Room in New York. Only he wasn’t performing in front of an adoring crowd of fans: instead, he was there for an intimate Bat Mitzvah performance. The Canadian rapper ripped through a number of his hits including Hotline Bling at the restaurant, which had been privately booked for Gigi Ashkenazy. Drake’s going rate for private shows is around a staggering $500,000 but you can be sure that Gigi’s father, a commercial real estate developer worth $7 billion, was good for it. It’s not the first time the rapper has been spotted at a Bat Mitzvah, by the way: he was also on hand in 2011 at the Four Seasons to undercut Kanye West.
Pitbull
US rapper Pitbull earned over $1 million when he appeared at a 15-year old girl’s private party in Texas recently. The singer, who was the headline act after Nick Jonas also stopped by, raked in the obscene amount for an hour long set. The birthday girl, Maya Henry, was clearly thrilled at his appearance as she posted numerous pictures of the two of them on her social media accounts. While her family also stated that she wore two $20,000 dresses during the special night for reasons that haven’t really been explained.
Snoop Dogg
Everybody’s favourite stoner rapper, Snoop Dogg also cashed in on a lucrative gig when he appeared at a Bat Mitzvah. It’s actually just better leaving what happened at said event down to the man himself though. “I performed at a bat mitzvah. And I’m telling you, man, these little motherfuckers, they were singing my shit, they was cussin’, they were singing the dirty version. I’m talking about 12 and 13-year old little white kids singing this real gangsta shit. Man, I was shocked. para kazanma siteleri. I just gave them the mic and let them motherfuckers go.”
50 Cent
The year was 2005 and 50 Cent was in his heyday and absolutely rolling in it. He had a mega-hit on his hands in In Da Club and he was just about to make some more serious money thanks to his investments in vitamin water. But that wasn’t enough, as he also netted himself a cool half a million when he performed a five song set at Elizabeth Brooks’ party. The highlight of the night? 50 actually changing the lyrics of his hit to, “Go shorty, it’s your bat mitzvah, we gonna party like it’s your bat mitzvah.”
Nicki Minaj
It doesn’t all go quite so smoothly when it comes to making lucrative appearances at private events. Rapper Nicki Minaj found this out the hard way when she was sued by a Las Vegas club for not fulfilling her contract. Chateau, a nightclub in Vegas, alleges she only performed for 34 minutes of what was supposed to be a full hour, and to make matters worse, she arrived late to the show and cost the club excessive revenue for VIP tables that it was counting on her providing. The club filed a lawsuit and claimed it wanted its cool quarter of a million back off the Pink Friday hit maker.
T.I
What do you do when you are about to be sentenced for illegal gun possession? Well, if you are rapper and actor T.I. you drop by the Townsend Hotel for an Adam Katzman party. The Atlanta native performed a 45 minute set, which was apparently raved over in the local high school newspaper. He then promptly left the party to go to jail for a year. What a guy.
Notable mention: Lil Jon who stills somehow gets paid handsomely for shouting “shots” over and over again on stage in Las Vegas.
Image: Vlad TV