"A Picture is worth about $50 Billion Dollars"

... or a thousand words, depending on how you look at it.  You could write a sociology/anthropology paper on the cultural significance of this photograph:

"Bill Gates and Def Jam Recordings CEO Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter were among the highlights of MSN’s Strategic Account Summit, a gathering of top Internet advertising industry notables that is taking place this week in Redmond, Wash"

via eskay at Nah Right:

Comments

[obifromsouthlondon]

sean charter = juice

[SuckFreeOG]

Thats right Hip hop is now a money maker thats why Jay-z is up in this shit, why else is he at a stupid ass event like "MSN’s Strategic Account Summit". But I dont need to tell y'all about hip hop and its power to move units, dollars, and minds.

It's about the bones and Bill Gates wants some more damn paper for himself and his crooked ass investers. While the real heads out here aint got shit.

Bill gates aint streets and neither is Jay-z.
They probably hang out often and talk about how to sell there up and comming busted ass products.

This is a great image says alot about who Jay-z really hangs out with.

Jigga aint real he's just another damn product.

[dj mirateck]

SuckaFreeOG- You sound like a bitter dude.

I couldn't disagree more.

[SuckFreeOG]

Nah that’s passion but hey I can see how it could come across as bitter.

Where's yours, lets hear your perspective fire away. It's not enough just to disagree. On with it. This shits healthy. Bring the shit.

Bitter...Wrong....Right...Articulate...Stupid. who gives a damn 'lest we speakin on the shit.

"Hip Hop is prosecution evidence
The out of court settlement
Ad space for liquor
Sick without benefits
Luxury tenements choking the skyline
It's low life getting tree-top high
Here there's a back water remedy
Bitter and tender memory"

-mos def

[Worldwide Underground]

lmao..funny you should quote mos cuz last time I checked..he brushes shoulders with some white collar folks..what you thought he got broadway and blockbusters on mere merit? It's smart.Since when is street synonymous with the inability to be sucessful. If you wanna make money and get your shit out there you get involved with people who already got money and their shit out there.

And Gates neva claimed gangsta..but he did claim to donate money to the AIDS campaign..which he did so as far as I'm concerned he is "dat dude" in my book.

oh and I know you don't think that every artist on and off the radio don't deal with white collar ppl...artists don't endorse themselves you know..-shakin my head-

[obifromsouthlondon]

SuckerFree depends on where u looking from. carter the business man? yup he's doing it and this is boardroom business, it's only right. carter the rapper? out-of-context cos he ain't reppin' for the streets on this (he's got investors to answer to). Does that take away his street rep? hell no. he's earned his stripes in one sphere and is doing it again in another. like i said juice.

give the man some fucking dap for the application of his thinking cap!

[SuckFreeOG]

Gates and Jigga are perpetuating a mentality of economic inequality. From the AIDS epidemic to the Justice system to the bombed out ghettos in my hood there is a strong divide between the privileged one percent and those living in extreme poverty.

Pulling your self up by your bootstrap as some folks would say is a myth. How the hell you goin to pull your self up out of prison when you got a cheap lawyer and no suit for court. You get three strikes and some states and that’s it if you can’t afford a good lawyer your serving 25 to life.

Charity of a couple Mil' from a billionaire wont stop the AIDS the epicdemic in Africa. Sure it may save a couple hundred but when proscription drug companies have patents that make them pricier then a bucket of grillz its no wonder it’s an epidemic you either by pills or food. Sytoms from a root problem are only being addressed and not the actual root cause.

So my point is it aint about these two cats in the long run because its bigger then them and its bigger then Hip hop and the AIDS epidemic.

The shit we got goin on is perpetuating poverty thru economic inequality among many other inequalities, Carter and Gates are just symbolic in my eyes of a greater problem a huge division of wealth and it's choking the world.

[dj mirateck (Michael Miraflor)]

Huh? What was that? SuckaFree you sound like how I used to in college before I realized that I was being shortsighted and overly pessimistic.

I respect Jay-Z meeting with Bill Gates. They come from completely different words but they have enough humanity in each other to sit down and break bread.

SuckaFreeOG- Do you know how much Bill and Melinda Gates give to the community through their foundation? A LOT. A couple of my friends who couldn't afford college got everything paid for through their Millenium Scholarship. If you actually read about dude you'd realize that he's realer than most.

You sound like one of those too far left liberals that like to bitch about how dark the world is and dismiss acts of charity and generosity as trite because it won't solve the world's problems. Get your head of that box it's stuck in and realize that the world has always been and will continue to be fucked up. No one person however rich can save the world with his or her money. But does that mean to have to put them on blast? No.

Is it wrong to root for boardroom Jay-Z? No. I work in what you might call "corporate America" and I'll be damned if we could use more minorities in the white collar workforce. Especially in media and marketing, we bring a whole new element to the table. But no one wants to step up. Whose fault is that? The white man? NO. The kids? NO. Does the issue even allow for a single finger to be pointed at a single cause? NO. There are too many socioeconomic factors that go into this, understood, but a lot of the equation still lies with motivation and having a role model to look up to, a trailblazer whose path one can follow.

Jay Z is that trailblazer. Bitch all you want about him, he's setting an example that a kid from the hood can make it to the boardroom.

[dj mirateck (Michael Miraflor)]

Huh? What was that? SuckaFree you sound like how I used to in college before I realized that I was being shortsighted and overly pessimistic.

I respect Jay-Z meeting with Bill Gates. They come from completely different words but they have enough humanity in each other to sit down and break bread.

SuckaFreeOG- Do you know how much Bill and Melinda Gates give to the community through their foundation? A LOT. A couple of my friends who couldn't afford college got everything paid for through their Millenium Scholarship. If you actually read about dude you'd realize that he's realer than most.

You sound like one of those too far left liberals that like to bitch about how dark the world is and dismiss acts of charity and generosity as trite because it won't solve the world's problems. Get your head of that box it's stuck in and realize that the world has always been and will continue to be fucked up. No one person however rich can save the world with his or her money. But does that mean to have to put them on blast? No.

Is it wrong to root for boardroom Jay-Z? No. I work in what you might call "corporate America" and I'll be damned if we could use more minorities in the white collar workforce. Especially in media and marketing, we bring a whole new element to the table. But no one wants to step up. Whose fault is that? The white man? NO. The kids? NO. Does the issue even allow for a single finger to be pointed at a single cause? NO. There are too many socioeconomic factors that go into this, understood, but a lot of the equation still lies with motivation and having a role model to look up to, a trailblazer whose path one can follow.

Jay Z is that trailblazer. Bitch all you want about him, he's setting an example that a kid from the hood can make it to the boardroom.

[DJ Big Daddy]

Everybody has their opinion but I must say suckaFreeOg that I strongly disagree with you on this one. I agree in this world there is a strong disparity of wealth. Even in this country. But believe it or not countries that practice your mentality have a larger separation than we do. China, several latin american countries, Cuba, these are all countries that practice a Socialist/ Communist way of thinking that really truly does not work. Now I am not calling you a communist but you seem to be anti capitalist. America while having huge faults in the system does allow you to have a shot in expanding beyond the class that you were born in. So do other countries that practice a similar system. I am not going to go into a whole essay about the subject but basically I saying that it is not as bad as your saying it is. Hip Hop needs representation in the boardroom as well as the streets.

[moneyface]

yo thets real big for jay z to be chillin with bill gates,whos this new cat jeremiah matches were can i get his songs?

[Rodrigo D]

Interesting picture and even more
interesting comments.. I think you
are dissecting this to the point where
it makes no sense.. It's just a business
meeting - as long as both contribute
back to society / hoods - which both have
done... especially the Bill & Melinda Gates
foundation ( gatesfoundation.org) and http://www.standup.org/

with respect to this comment:
" he's setting an example that a kid from the hood can make it to the boardroom."

I wish that those kids from the hood
selected a different path to the boardroom,
other than following hard-core rap culture,
such as doctors, lawyers, teachers..

I believe Bill Cosby said it best --
"this rap culture is going to lead to the destruction of the black community."

1love

[E-BRIZZLE]

why do people always have a problem with positive progression? jigga is my nigga cause he is making monumental moves. he aint frontin like he's a business man, he's a BUSINESS MAN! where are these other so-called CEO's?!?!?! what ever happened to that kid Damon Dash? he fell off as soon as Shawn Carter made his best move ever. rap won't lead to the destruction of the black community cause rap or guns don't kill people, people kill people. anyway, keep up the good work and keep growing jigga. you inspire the next generation. I SALUTE YOU!

[Karla]

I thought Shawn Carter had a scholarship out for teenagers that received their GED and is trying to go to college. Also if he does how do you apply and what are the qualifications.

[Billion Dollar Brain]

Although it might not look like it, Bill and Jay-Z are old friends, really. Bill used get his crack from Jay in the 90's.

[Business Process Consulting,Australia]

Im not sure of this photo.... anyway thanks for posting