ECONOMY & WORK
MONEY 101
NEWS
PERSONAL FINANCE
NET WORTH
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use DMCA Opt-out of personalized ads
© Copyright 2023 Market Realist. Market Realist is a registered trademark. All Rights Reserved. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.
MARKETREALIST.COM / ECONOMY & WORK

Dinner with Jay-Z or $500,000? Rapper finally settles the debate with surprising answer

The rapper says people can find all the wisdom in his music.
UPDATED NOV 27, 2024
Rapper Jay-Z performing at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards | (Cover image source: Getty Images | Dave M. Benett)
Rapper Jay-Z performing at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards | (Cover image source: Getty Images | Dave M. Benett)

A hypothetical question, "Would you rather have dinner with rapper Jay-Z or take $500,000 in cash?" has been making rounds on social media since 2017. Last year, it finally reached Jay-Z, who settled the debate with a surprising answer. In an interview with CBS Morning's Gayle King, Jay-Z advised fans to take the $500,000 and buy his wisdom.

American rapper and music producer Jay-Z at the UEFA Champions League Final | Getty Images | Photo by ANP
American rapper and music producer Jay-Z at the UEFA Champions League Final | (Image source: Getty Images | ANP)

The “dinner with Jay-Z or $500K” meme has been going viral in various iterations since 2017. The premise of the meme is if the "99 Problems" rapper can share wisdom worth $500K over a dinner. 

The meme took off in 2021 when users who picked the dinner with Jay-Z were trolled for their choice, implying that taking the money was the obvious correct answer, as per Know Your Meme.

Years later, the rapper himself said, "You gotta take the money."

Before he became Jay-Z, Shawn Carter was struggling as a 13-year-old child, selling drugs on the street. He has had an inspiring rise as a rapper and music producer, selling over 140 million records.

He turned his musical success into a sprawling business empire. Apart from his own companies, he has made lucrative investments in record labels, sports teams, clothing brands, and alcohol brands. Thus, Jay-Z's wise money moves made him the world's first billionaire rapper. He is now estimated to be worth $2.5 billion, as per Forbes. 



 

Therefore, choosing a dinner to utilize his wisdom should be the right choice. However, Jay-Z believes that money could be a better bet as people can find all the wisdom in his music. With 13 Billboard 200 No.1 albums, the rap icon from Brooklyn doesn't seem to be wrong. 

“I wouldn’t tell you to cut a bad deal. Like, take the $500,000, go buy some albums, and listen to the albums,” he said in the CBS Mornings interview. He added that if fans "piece it together" and listen to the music for words, they will find all his wisdom there. 



 

"The blueprint to me and my life and my journey is there already," the rapper said. While Jay-Z says he would take the money, the rapper himself once had a high-profile lunch meeting with legendary investor Warren Buffet, back in 2010. The two reportedly discussed the strategies of investing in music at the time. The rapper talked about how he invests only in businesses and music that he understands.

"Music is like stocks, there’s the hot thing of the moment," the rapper said. He suggested that people often make emotional decisions based on that and fail to stick with things that they know. 



 

This prompted Buffet to say that the Roc Nation founder was a good source of money-making advice. "For a young person growing up, he’s the guy to learn from," the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway said at the time, as per CNBC Make It.

This article originally appeared 3 months ago.

MORE ON MARKET REALIST
The sharks did not expect the product to taste as good as it did, considering what it was made from.
4 hours ago
The designer was also commissioned by top brands and worked for the royal family.
5 hours ago
The host had a look of bewilderment on his face which was absolutely hilarious.
6 hours ago
Things did not seem to be going well for the entrepreneur due to her high energy.
9 hours ago
The guest might have had high expectations, but they were quickly brought down to earth.
10 hours ago
The contestant was unable to contain her excitement and hugged the model.
1 day ago
Two of the players got it right, and while the player who lost didn't mind, fans were not satisfied.
1 day ago
Lisa celebrated her birthday in style with a perfect two-card guess to win the big prize.
1 day ago
Rick Harrison did what he could to console the guest who said that he had lost faith in NASCAR.
1 day ago
Both the guest and the expert were fascinated by how well the automaton worked.
2 days ago
One of the entrepreneurs broke down in tears, explaining all the struggles they had to go through.
2 days ago
She couldn’t believe it when her doll was appraised at a five-figure sum, and laughed in disbelief.
2 days ago
Ken Jennings truly has embraced "Jeopardy!" in every way possible at this point.
2 days ago
The comedian was impressed by the simplicity of the product and amused by the pitch.
3 days ago
Harrison usually makes smart deals on the show, but this vintage car buy turned into a costly mistake.
3 days ago
Had she started the game in a better way, she might have won the five-figure prize money.
3 days ago
Barbara Corcoran made the exact same offer, and she wasn't happy about being rejected.
4 days ago
The guest believed that it was worth a modest amount of money, but that was clearly not the case.
4 days ago
With James Holzhauer in the lead, Amy Schneider and Andrew He decided to joke around.
4 days ago
Barbara Corcoran told the founders that she had never seen Greiner so passionate.
4 days ago