“That’s a lot of money back in the day too!” the 47-year-old says.
~Silkk The Shocker~
Jay-Z may be unabashed about his capitalistic ways, however, the rap legend once refused compensation for his appearance on a record by Silkk the Shocker during the late ’90s.
Silkk, who recently sat down with the Art of Dialogue spoke on the mutual respect between the Brooklyn native and No Limit, revealing that he turned down the $100,000 he attempted to give him for hopping on his 1999 song “You Know What We Bout.”
“Our relationship was dope because when I did the song with him, I thought I had a budget for him,” the 47-year-old recalled. “I was like, ‘Yo, I got a hundred racks’ — that’s a lot of money back in the day too! I’m sure he could’ve used the extra $100,000; who ain’t gonna use that? When I hit him up, I’m like, ‘Yo, the song is dope, you killed it. Where I should I send that bread to?’ Jay was like, ‘Nah, it’s good, man. Just keep it and we’ll figure out something later on down the line.’”
Silkk also says that while he was fortunate to be in Hov’s good graces to receive a verse at all, he believes that the gesture is indicative of Jay’s ability to reach the heights he’s climbed to over the years. “He won’t do it for anybody, though; he won’t even do music for anybody. What I came to learn was that it’s bigger than [money] for him,” he said. “To me, that’s consistent with [where he is] today — if you look at him, it’s not a fluke that he’s successful.
He continued, adding “I don’t care how rich you are, you gonna be like, ‘Man, send my bread.’ But he was just dead cool. He ain’t even second-guess it like, ‘Yeah, send me half of it.’ The good part about it: down the line, I kinda did something for him and I just thought it was solid.”
“You Know What We Bout” was released in 1999 as part of Silkk the Shocker’s third studio album Made Man. Debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Made Man reached platinum certification and remains Silkk’s highest-charting album to date. In addition to Hov, the album featured appearances by Snoop Dogg, Mýa, Master P, C-Murder, Mia X, Fiend, Mystikal, and more.
Listen to Silkk the Shocker “You Know What We Bout” featuring Master P and Jay-Z below.
