Stephen A. Smith has finally weighed in on the viral debate about whether someone would take a meal with Jay-Z over a large payout.
On The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smith explained how he could take a meeting with Jay-Z or $500,000, depending on his life circumstances.
“I don’t think this is cut and dry like Jay-Z says,” Smith says. “If you are broke and you’re struggling to pay bills, you take the half a mil.”
Smith argued that while Jay-Z pointed out the blueprint for success was in his music, he believes one-on-one personal advice is different. “I don’t care what advice he has in his music, it might be hard for someone to decipher from time to time. It might not be contextualized properly. It might be misconstrued and misinterpreted whereas if you were in his face, you would have more clarity.”
He then summarizes, “the position that I am in, I would pass up on the half a mil to set down with a brother as brilliant as him. If I was dead broke and had bills to pay and I was struggling to make ends meet, then that would be different.”
Earlier this week, Ray J even chimed in at one point on Instagram, saying, "Relationships are way more valuable than money.”
Gayle King had a rare opportunity to sit down with Hov, where she settled the online debate once and for all by asking him whether to have lunch with him or take the money.
“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,” he said.
“Take the $500,000, go buy some albums, and listen to the albums,” Hov continued. “It’s all there 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 gonna happen, happened. Everything I said I wanted to do, I’ve done, and there’s The Blueprint. The blueprint, literally, to me and my life and my journey is there already.”
Watch the full segment down below.
