50 Cent Explains How His Photo Shoot With $3.5 Million In Cash Is A Muhammad Ali Tribute

50 Cent has never shied away from flaunting and celebrating his wealth. After all, how could he have a “CEO war” with Dame Dash if they weren’t both so obsessed with their cash? Moreover, the G-Unit mogul raised some eyebrows and impressed more than a few business goons with his latest cover story for The Hollywood Reporter, for which he took $3.5 million in cash and sat on these stacks in the photoshoot. Stephen Colbert asked him about this on The Late Show this week, jokingly wondering why he didn’t use Photoshop to achieve the same effect and inquiring as to his inspirations.

“Stephen, I was trying to mirror a photo that I had seen that Muhammad Ali took,” 50 Cent revealed. Then, Colbert took out the image of the legendary boxer in question, which is a 1964 Sports Illustrated cover in which he sits on a million dollars. Fif used $3.5 million instead either to make a cheeky reference to inflation or to just flex that much harder. “I like how you act like you don’t have a lot of money, Stephen,” he comically responded when the host proposed just using Photoshop. “You’re on Season 10, bro! He’s posturing himself in this way so he doesn’t have to give his relatives money.”

“When you watch a movie and it’s, like, a bank robbery, that’s not real,” 50 Cent answered when asked about the literal weight of the $3.5 million dollars. “When they put the money in the bag and then you see them run out? They’re not running. It’s about 77 pounds. So you walk it out. No machine gun, none of that. You just go walk out and if they didn’t get me, I made it. I just wanted to make the picture good.” It’s not as big of a payout as, say, a potential Vegas residency, but it’s still a lot.

Jokes aside, this Late Show interview holds some other gems. There are conversations around 50 Cent’s celibacy, his celebrity status, his commitment to his endeavors, and a whole lot more. We can only wonder as to what his next magazine cover story will look like. Is $7 million the next move or is Photoshop one of Colbert’s better ideas?