Lil Wayne is one of the biggest success stories in rap history. He began as an original member of the Hot Boyz but then quickly climbed the ladder to solo stardom. Even with all his success, it wasn’t always certain the New Orleans native was going to be as big as he became.

During a recent interview with DJ Drama on Shade 45, Weezy remembered the time Jay Z offered him a deal to join on with Roc-A-Fella records as an artist. The fact that Jay offered him a deal is nothing surprising compared to the amount he put on the table.

“That man offered me 175 [thousand dollars],” Wayne remembered while smiling. “I said, ‘Believe that’ … I was looking like … two teeth in my mouth is 175 [thousand dollars]. My bottom teeth.” $175K?? We know Hov to be a great business man but come on. Prior to revealing the number offered, Wayne recalled the star-studded day this all went down on.

“You know, when I went out to talk to him about being at Roc-A-Fella – and mind you, this was years ago,” he said. “First of all, he was at the 40/40 in the daytime, and when I got up there he was talkin’, it was Denzel [Washington], it was Derek Jeter … I was like, ‘This is his clique?’ And they up there just laughin’ at jokes I just don’t get. He literally sat me down next to him, and this where all that is going on at, and he sat me right here. Like, ‘You ain’t a part of this,’ you know? And he would talk to me on the side after every joke.”

It sounds like everything’s cool now between the two megastars. Wayne also admitted during the interview that he still looks up to Jay Z and even said he texts him every other day for business advice. Probably a good person to have for that.

Watch the full interview segment below.

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(Photo: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)