“‘You gotta take the money’”
That was rapper and business mogul Jay-Z answering Gayle King’s question about a viral online debate of which is more valuable, $500,000 in cash or lunch with him.
The crux of the debate among fans is if the advice or knowledge that Jay-Z is going to give a person during that hypothetical meal is going to be so valuable that it’s actually worth more than half a million dollars. To be clear, that deal is not being offered by Jay-Z himself, nor other parties — it’s merely a viral theoretical proposition.
The origin of the Jay-Z debate is unclear, but social media users have been posting about it since at least 2017.
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The New York rapper said the reasoning behind his view that people should take the money is that all the knowledge he would give to somebody is available at a much lower cost.
“You got all that in the music for $10.99,” he said playfully, referencing the price of several music streaming services. He was a part owner of the music streaming company Tidal, before selling his shares.
“If you piece it together and really listen to the music for the words, for what it is, it’s all there. Everything that I said was going to happen, happened. Everything that I said I wanted to do, I’ve done, and there’s the blueprint,” he added, referencing the title of his iconic 2001 album. “The blueprint — literally — to me and my life and my journey is there already.”
Jay-Z, 53, has recorded 13 studio albums, and has numerous successful businesses, including a sports agency, Roc Nation Sports, and he was dubbed hip-hop’s first billionaire in 2019. He has a net worth of $2.5 billion, according to Forbes.
For years, people have paid a lot of money to have lunch with another billionaire. A charity lunch with Berkshire Hathaway’s
BRK.B,
legendary leader Warren Buffett fetched more than $19 million at auction in 2022.
So what money advice does Jay-Z offer in his lyrics?
Another verse from his 4:44 album on the track Legacy stated, “Generational wealth, that’s the key. My parents ain’t have sh-t, so that shift started with me. My mom took her money, she bought me bonds. That was the sweetest thing of all time.”
Other wisdom he has shared includes, “You wanna know what’s more important than throwin’ away money at a strip club? Credit.”
And on the importance of being an owner and not just an employee: “I’m not a businessman — I’m a business, man.”
See also: Deion Sanders is making a lot of people around him and the University of Colorado rich
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