The rapper has recently become the center of another viral discussion, but this time it’s not about whether people would choose $500,000 or the chance to dine with him. During a conversation with Kevin Hart on his podcast “Hart to Heart,” Jay-Z explained why he isn’t just “giving out opportunities,” even with family members.
“You have cousins, you gotta go home for Thanksgiving, and people are talking to you like Kevin Hart, and you going home for solace,” Jay-Z explained to Hart. “You want family, you’re going home for peace of mind, and you got your cousins in your grandma’s living room saying ‘Yo, man, I got this play. If you just give me $4,800, I could make you $2 million.’ You like ‘It don’t work like that.’ And you gotta explain to him, ‘Life isn’t like that. Money isn’t free and no one’s giving out opportunities.’ If it sounds too good to be true, it really is.”
While Jay-Z isn’t openly handing out money, he is directing his dollars towards areas he perceives as promising. Per USA Today, Jay-Z had purchased stake valued at $2 million in Uber at one point, and by 2019 it was worth $70 million.
One year prior, in 2018, he established venture capital firm Marcy Venture Partners alongside Jay Brown and Larry Marcus to support “innovative businesses and mass-market brands,” the firm’s website states.
Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners has also increased its investments to benefit Black-owned and -led businesses, putting its dollars toward companies such as Savage X Fenty, Perch Credit, Scratch, and Partake Foods.
