black millionaire blueprint Archives - Rolling Out

It’s been a long time since we first became familiarized with the island beauty Zoe Saldana in the Nick Cannon film Drumlines and Crossroads. Such a powerful combination of beauty and talent, Zoe Saldana has become one of the most sought-after actress in Hollywood and has starred in some of the highest-profile and biggest grossing…

The 2013 Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles not only featured a plethora of world’s most talented black artists, they also included many of the richest as well. Each one have their own engrossing stories about which they found fame and often sustained their perch in the upper echelon tax brackets of…

Drake’s uniqueness and sense of isolation as a kid propelled him to greatness in adulthood. He is the first and only black Jewish rapper and the only Canadian-American one. He was born into a musical family as his father was a drummer for the Rock-N-Roll superstar Jerry Lee Lewis and his mother had strong musical…

How does a ferocious, flesh-eating linebacker who was once accused of murder become one of the most likable and admired players of the modern era? Ray Lewis is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated defensive players to ever play the game. He is a three-time AFC Defensive Player of the Year and a two-time Associated…

Twenty years ago, Jermaine Dupri was a major part of the Atlanta (and Southern) explosion in hip-hop and popular music when he penned the smash hit “Jump” for up-and-coming rap duo Kris Kross, whose album went multiplatinum, created So So Def Recordings and then signed a bevy of talented artists to his label and raked…

Cee Lo Green is one of the most colorful and provocative personalities and multitalented artists in the entertainment industry and has been for the better part of two decades. Cee Lo, 38, first rose to fame through the Dungeon Family back in Atlanta, that included the likes of Andre 3000 and Big Boi, when…

The average fan has no clue what the “other” Randy Jackson did before he came to worldwide fame on the ratings bonanza “American Idol” in 2002. Most still don’t know that Jackson was such an accomplished musician back in the ’80s playing alongside some of the most iconic artists of this generation. This is why…

Dr. Michael Lee-Chin’s meteoric entrepreneurial ascendancy captured the world’s imagination, particularly when he was listed by Forbes and Fortune magazines as one of the few black billionaires in the world alongside Oprah Winfrey, (former billionaires) Bob Johnson, Sheila Johnson and several African presidents. People immediately wanted to know more about this self-made, rags-to-riches Canadian business…

Kobe Bryant’s enviable life has always been punctuated by the sound of a bouncing basketball. The quintessential hoops junkie and son of former NBA star, he picked up the game almost in infancy, prophesied his own stardom in toddlerhood, and became a prep phenom who awed his contemporaries and adversaries alike. Bryant has engineered one…

How many of us can be so bold as R&B songstress Keyshia Cole, a person so possessed with the belief that she was going to become a singing star. But when she caught her boyfriend cheating on her one day, she hopped into her car and drove from the Bay to L.A. In the middle…

It’s impossible to underestimate singer, songwriter, producer, businesswoman and reality star Kandi Burruss anymore. Because this cocoa-coasted cutie did not engage in the practice of wearing her impressive credentials on her sleeve or name drop like a pigeon on Ex-Lax, fans with only a surface knowledge of this starlet had little clue as to the…

A chance vacation to Barbados by a music executive. A caramel-coated cutie with an angelic aura and island accent in the right place at the right time. These two scarcely related people intersected in the city of St. Michael, Barbados and the result has been pure pop paradise for Robyn Rihanna Fenty. In just six…

From his earliest incarnations, Spike Lee has been a singular force as a cinematic defender and upholder of black culture, pride and self-respect. This controversial Morehouse man and Brooklyn, N.Y.- bred filmmaker first came to the national consciousness as the creator of the über-popular Nike commercials featuring the legendary Michael Jordan, playing the role of…

There are few superlatives adequate enough to describe the musical prowess of this ultimate stage and studio showman. Prince is undeniably one of the most versatile, naturally-gifted, prolific and accomplished musicians in music history. Very few artists have ever been able to boast as prolific a body of work as this Minneapolis-born maestro, but in…

The irrepressible Serena Williams is what they usually call superior male athletes —a freak of nature. Encroaching on her 31st birthday, the youngest Williams sister just wrapped up one of the most dominant summers in the history of the United States Tennis Association — and did it at an age when most of her contemporaries…

The overwhelming majority of the media’s focus has been furiously, anxiously and relentlessly aimed at Halle Berry’s beautiful visage. The mounds of stories and cover stories about the flawless caramel-coated beauty have effectively obscured a simple fact about this Cleveland-born and bred beauty queen: She is a self-made multimillionaire and blazed her path own path…

As I sat high in the ultra-upscale W Hotel on the outer edge of Beverly Hills for my interview with Bishop T.D. Jakes, I was struck by how this man of enormous national stature, fortune and influence was exceedingly humble and almost painstakingly polite. It is rare that you encounter an individual who has experienced…

Many people are unaware of this fact — Martin Laurence was destined for greatness at birth. His first and middle names that his parents bequeathed him were of great men, and Laurence fulfilled his destiny as he became a comedic superstar on stage, starred in his own television sitcom as well as multiple blockbuster motion…

The most commercially successful actor in Hollywood history had a very circuitous route to fame and fortune. A Washington, D.C., native, Jackson matriculated at famed Morehouse College in Atlanta and was swept up in the smoldering the civil rights and black power movement. There, Jackson ha a direct link to black royalty: he both served…