The viral internet debate turned meme over whether you would take dinner with Jay-Z or $500k in cash has finally been settled by the man himself. The rapper, whose real name is Shawn Carter, is one of the most successful in history and, in 2019, became the first billionaire in hip-hop. He is so successful, in fact, that he and his wife Beyonce were able to pay for a £160.5 million mansion in cash. Given his entrepreneurial experience, the debate has raged on the internet over whether you should take dinner with the mogul Jay-Z, and the opportunity to pick his brain, over half a million dollars. In a recent interview with Gayle King on CBS, Jay-Z settled the debate by urging people to take the money. “You gotta take the money,” said Jay-Z. “You got all that in the music for $10.99 – that’s a bad deal. I wouldn’t tell you to cut a bad deal. Take the $500,000, go buy some albums and listen to the albums. It’s all there.” JAY-Z weighs in on "$500,000 in cash or lunch with JAY-Z" debate: "You've gotta take the money" www.youtube.com Jay-Z went on to explain that everything people need to know about his journey to the top is already laid out in his music. He added: “If you piece it together and really listen to the music for the words, for what it is, it’s all there. Everything I said was going to happen happened, everything I said I wanted to do I’ve done. There’s the blueprint – literally, the blueprint to me and my life and my journey is there already.” According to Forbes, New York rapper Jay-Z has a net worth of around $2.5 billion, with his business ventures outside music including a clothing line, the music streaming service Tidal, and an alcohol business. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.