The sound specialist Beats By Dr Dre was bought by Apple for $ 3 Billion. This move eventually made Dr. Dre the "wealthiest Hip-Hop artist."

Beats By Dr. Dre specialized in consumer audio products specifically consumer headphones. The co-founders of the company are Dr. Dre and record producer Jimmy Iovine. Apple's interest in the company was described by The Verge:

"Apple has just confirmed plans to purchase Beats Electronics for $3 billion. The acquisition ranks as the largest that Apple has ever made and will see it take ownership of an enormously successful and profitable line of consumer headphones as well as a burgeoning subscription music service. Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will also join Apple as part of the acquisition, which it will pay for with $2.6 billion in cash and $400 million in stock."

But why did Apple buy Beats? They have their own line of consumer headphones that even competes with Beats and it is reported that that will not actually change. The answer is Beats Music. Apple's Eddy Cue has confirmed: "You just heard why we did this deal - it's about music. (Beats Music was)"the first music subscription service done right."

Apple's music sales arm, iTunes, greatly suffered from the new trend of streaming instead of downloading. People did not want to own music anymore as interest is always fleeting. The industry leader for music streaming, Spotify, was starting to make a dent in the iTunes market. The Verge continues: "Apple knows that the digital music industry is shifting rapidly, moving away from downloads and toward all-you-can-eat subscription services. It's hoping that with its marketing muscle and Beats industry connections it can create a true rival to Spotify and keep Cupertino synonymous with the cutting edge of music."

Currently, Beats music has about 250,00 subscribers as opposed to the 10 million for Spotify. Apple has already dipped its hands into this industry with iTunes Radio but it turned out to be a dismal failure. They had to start over and look outside.

Meanwhile, the move has made Dr. Dre the wealthiest hip-hop artist although the race for the genre's first billionaire is far from over. Dre actually declared himself as the first rap mogul to reach the big Billion in a cell phone video with artist Tyrese, but even after the sale, Billionaire.com reports Dr. Dre's overall net worth at being at $790 million.