Silkk the Shocker sat down for an interview with The Art of Dialogue, where he revealed Jay-Z turned down $100,000 for his feature on their 1999 song “You Know What We Bout.”
Silkk reflected on his relationship with HOV and the lifelong impression he left on the No Limit Forever rapper for appearing on his Made Men album.
“Our relationship was dope because when I did the song with him, I thought I had a budget for him. 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?”
He continued, “When I hit him up, I’m like, ‘Yo, the song is dope; you killed it.’ So I said, ‘Where 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 believes that the Roc Nation founder doesn’t “mess with a lot of lame dudes” and that making music is more than just about money to him. The rapper says that Jay’s attitude back then was a good indication of how successful he would become.
“He won’t even do music for anybody, so if he does the music for you, what I came to learn was that it’s bigger than that for him,” Silkk explained. “He has a plan, an idea, a thought process. I don’t think he really mess with a lot of lame dudes. It’s kind of like, if I do it for you, it’s bigger than money.”
https://youtu.be/t6Ys88b4eUs
Silkk previously spoke about the record during an appearance on Drink Champs, where he revealed that DMX was also supposed to appear on the record. Jay and DMX were both on the Hard Knock Life tour at the time, with Jay able to turn in his last-minute verse, whereas DMX couldn’t get to it.
The rest is history.
