Hip-hop music mogul Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith has come a long way since his days of robbing KFC franchises in the 1980s. The former gangster, born and reared in the gritty L.A. neighborhood of Watts, now reigns as one of the wealthiest producers in the music industry, presiding over one of the fastest-growing independent labels in the business.
Tiffith is CEO and founder of Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), whose artists account for nearly 5% of America’s highly lucrative R&B/hip-hop business, music’s most-consumed genre. TDE’s longtime MVP is critically-acclaimed rapper Kendrick Lamar, whom Tiffith is credited with discovering and whose 2017 “Damn” tour grossed over $62 million from ticket sales alone. Snoop Dogg himself has termed TDE a “better version” of the long-defunct Death Row Records.
Despite his accolades, Tiffith remains a somewhat enigmatic figure in Hollywood and even the music biz itself, mostly because he rarely grants interviews or speaks to the press. Still, he’s noted for his generosity — last month, the music impresario paid rent for over 300 families in his hometown of Watts.
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Now based in Calabasas, Tiffith recently expanded his real estate horizons with the $11 million, all-cash purchase of an architecturally exuberant contemporary mansion high in the mountains above Beverly Hills. Tucked into a gated community, the all-new house sports more than 13,000 square feet of living space and sits atop a perilously steep knoll, lording over more modest homes on the hillside below.
Built by controversial Russian jeweler Igor Mavlyanov and designed by architect Jay Vanos, the white-and-grey manor is secured behind its own set of gates and cameras, in addition to those of the gated community. Though most of the yard is hardscaped with concrete, a handful of planters and a tranquil fountain keep the place from feeling inherently cold.
Inside, the public rooms are all massive in scale, somehow glitzily minimal and mostly adhere to a strict palette of all-white everything, making the place feel akin to a modernized “Miami Vice” set. There’s a soaring marble fireplace in the living room, a custom kitchen with designer appliances and Bulthaup cabinetry, a walk-in wine closet with tasting area, and an alfresco dining terrace with soaring views out over Coldwater Canyon.
Naturally, the three-level mansion is equipped with an elevator that ferries the homeowners — or a tired housekeeper — down to the basement level, which is tricked out with a built-in golf simulator and plenty of space for grand-scale entertaining, plus a movie theater with room for a couple dozen of Tiffith’s closest friends. For the car collector, the house is outfitted with a garage spanning more than 2,100 square feet, or bigger than the average American house.
Other lavish amenities include a full spa/wellness center with sauna, Turkish hammam and massage room. Upstairs, the Ferrugio & Associates-designed master suite flaunts jetliner views to Century City, the Pacific Ocean and the San Fernando Valley. Glass sliders and clerestory windows bathe the space in natural light, and at night the twinkling city lights below give the impression that the homeowner is floating above the fray, hovering on his magic carpet of a bed.
Because the house takes up most of the property’s hillside lot, there are no formal gardens or mature trees in the backyard. There is, however, an unconventionally-shaped infinity pool with inset spa, both of them with the same amazing views over the L.A. basin. Perhaps the property’s most notable feature, however, is its open-air rooftop deck with convenient outdoor bar.
And besides his new 90210 estate, Tiffith’s $30 million real estate portfolio includes a $2.8 million house in the L.A. neighborhood of Encino, a condo in Paramount, Calif., a condo in Inglewood, a separate apartment complex in Inglewood, and a $3.4 million home in Calabasas’ exclusive Estates at the Oaks gated community, purchased from Toni Braxton in 2016.
Tiffith’s main residence, however, is a $6.7 million Calabasas mansion, also tucked away within the Estates at the Oaks, acquired in 2014 from Mexican radio host Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo.
Stephen Apelian and Joyce Rey of Coldwell Banker held the listing; Ugene Dozier II of Vista Sotheby’s International Realty repped Tiffith.