This is the first installment of the series “What Would Jay-Z Do?” He once said he’d give you $1 million worth of game for $9.99. I’m offering it for even more of a bargain: the price of a Substack subscription. And, as the author of the Jay-Z biography Empire State of Mind, I know a thing or two about the guy. Enjoy!

“A wise man told me, ‘Don’t argue with fools, ‘cause people from a distance can’t tell who is who,’” Jay-Z once rapped. At various points during his rise, he used the parable to his...