Inside the billionaire lifestyle of Jay-Z who has £91m mansions, spends £78k on boozy nights out and splashed £191k on a gold chain necklace

HE WAS famously raised in a poverty-stricken New York ghetto and turned to rap to escape a life of drugs and violence.

And this week, Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, has become the first billionaire in hip hop after striking gold with investments in music, property, fashion and tech.

According to a new report released by Forbes, Jay-Z has taken the crown as the world's richest rapper following a two-year battle with P Diddy in the race to accumulate their first billion.

The rise in fortune of the 49-year-old husband of Beyonce is all the more impressive given his deprived start in life.

He was raised on the notorious Marcy Houses projects in Brooklyn by a single mum after his dad left when he was 11, survived being shot at, lost friends to death and jail, and famously dealt crack cocaine which he credits with honing his future business nous.

"I know about budgets. I was a drug dealer," he once told .

In the ultimate rag-to-riches tale, it was music that helped propel him out a dire situation, and he went from selling CDs from his car to founding the hugely successful Roc-A-Fella Records in 1995, selling over 100m records and nabbing 22 Grammy Awards.

Alongside this, Jay-Z founded entertainment company Roc Nation, created his own champagne brand, bought music streaming service Tidal, and has invested in tech start-ups like Uber.

And the man who once rapped "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man" certainly knows how to spend the fruits of his labour - splashing his cash on a £69m mansion and a pair of £2k animal skin trainers.

£69m Bel-Air mansion with recording studio

The rapper splits his time between three stunning homes in the United States.

There's the £69m Bel-Air home with eight bedrooms, eleven bathrooms, four pools, a 15-car garage, bulletproof windows and a recording studio.

His £20m waterfront home in the East Hamptons boasts seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms with heated bathtubs, as well as imported Venetian floors and 18th-century French Louis XV carved stone fireplaces worth £49,000 each.

£2m former church

In New Orleans, he stays in a £2m former Presbyterian Church which features three master bedrooms, a huge dining table and lots of quirky decor.

Jewellery collection including £190k solid gold chain necklace

However, it's his bling where the star really splashes out.

There's his iconic £191,000 solid gold chain necklace, a Hublot Big Bang watch worth an estimated £60,000 and a £10,000 panther ring from Cartier.

£26k sapphire ring 'push present' for Bey

The rapper sure knows how to treat one of the most adored women on the planet - he regularly flies Beyonce on romantic trips to Paris where they stay in the £15,350-a-night penthouse suite at Hotel Le Meurice with incredible views of the Eiffel Tower.

He also bought her a 1959 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, worth £767,000, for her 25th birthday, and for the 2017 birth of their twins gave her a £26,000 blue sapphire ring as a 'push present'.

Family holidays on £3m private Bahamas island and £50m yacht

Jay-Z goes just as big on his well-deserved downtime, and jets to a number of exotic locations with his 37-year-old pop star wife, their seven-year-old daughter Blue Ivy, and one-year-old girl and boy twins Rumi and Sir.

He has purchased his own £3m private island in the Bahamas, according to .