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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 14: Jay-Z attends the Shawn Carter Foundation 20th Anniversary Black Tie Gala at Pier 60 on July 14, 2023 in New York City.
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Jay-Z's Verdict On The $500K Debate: Skip the Lunch 'You Gotta Take The Money'

Jay-Z's Verdict On The $500K Debate: Skip the Lunch 'You Gotta Take The Money'

Published Mon, October 23, 2023 at 3:30 PM EDT

Welp, Jay-Z has finally settled the years-long debate that posed the hypothetical question: Would you take $500,000 in cash or have lunch with Jay-Z instead?

“You’ve gotta take the money," Jay-Z said in a recent interview with CBS Mornings host Gayle King, because, duh.

When King expressed surprise, assuming there's a lot of wisdom that the billionaire businessman could share, Jay said if you want to soak up game, just buy his albums.

“You’ve got all that in the music for $10.99,” Jay-Z said. “That’s a bad deal. I wouldn’t tell you to cut a bad deal.” He went on to elaborate on his "take the money" stance. “It’s all there. If you piece it together and listen to the music for the words, well, what it is, it’s all there," he said. “Everything that I said was going to happen, happened. Everything I said I wanted to do, I’ve done.”

In other Jay-Z news, he recently gave acclaimed director, Hype Williams his flowers. Jay first worked with Williams in 1996 for the mob-inspired “Can’t Knock the Hustle” music video from his acclaimed debut, Reasonable Doubt.

“‘Can’t Knock The Hustle’ felt like cinema,” Jay told Complex. “We also have to talk about Malik [Haseen Sayeed], the cinematographer Hype worked with. The cinematography was just so beautiful and the way it was shot it just elevated it to another level. We weren’t spending that sort of money then to finish the pyrotechnics. So when the limousine blows up it’s really janky, you know. But the vision and the cinematography was just beautiful and his eye was just different. The combination between Hype and June [Ambrose] elevated our look and feel. I remember people talking about how great a video it was. ”

Jay went on to say that Hype was hugely responsible for Hip-Hop's success at the time.

“I would say that Hype could take credit for 50 percent of the success of the music at that time. If not 55 percent. We gave people an audio experience that they imagined in their mind and when he put those visuals to it, it took it to a whole new level.” 

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