'First billionaire in hip-hop' Dre boasts of Apple-Beats deal on Facebook

Beats co-founder Dr. Dre is the "first billionaire in hip-hop", according to a video featuring the producer and entrepreneur, which appears to confirm rumours of a $3.2 billion Apple buyout.

The clip, since removed from Facebook, was posted by by singer-songwriter Tyrese Gibson, with the caption, "Dr Dre ON THE night his deal went public that he did with Apple 3.2 BILLION!!!!" In the video, Gibson appears to be celebrating the deal with Dre and friends.

"The Forbes list just changed," Gibson exclaims, referring to the publication's famous list of the world's billionaires before Dre adds, "In a big way."

Even if Dre personally profited by the entire $3.2 billion, however, it would currently put him at equal 513th place on the list, alongside Doris Fisher, co-founder of the Gap clothing empire.

The photo above was later posted on Gibson's Facebook wall, showing Gibson and Dre, with the caption, "Apple = Beats 3.2 BILLION!!!!!! The night everything changed!!!!"

Around 4:30am PT both the video and photo were either removed from Gibson's Facebook page, or set to private. The clip had already been uploaded to YouTube however, and is embedded below. Warning -- very strong language.

The video and photos aren't quite final confirmation of the rumoured deal (it's possible the posts are jokes, based on rumours of the buyout) but are the strongest evidence yet that Tim Cook and pals have snapped up headphone and speaker-maker Beats.

CNBC earlier reported that if the deal is genuine, it could make Dre the world's first billionaire rapper.

Are you a fan of Beats? What do you think of the buyout rumours? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Update, 12:58 pm BST: This story was updated to note the mentioned Facebook content was deleted or made private.