Who says hip-hop and hedge funds don’t mix?
Long before Wall Street giant Galleon became mired in an insider-trading scandal, a rap song was created to tout the success of the company — urging listeners to “put your money on Galleon.”
The catchy, sleekly mixed ditty — with a chorus set to the 1934 Shirley Temple hit, “On the Good Ship Lollipop” — boast of now-disgraced founder Raj Rajaratnam’s skills and mentions one of the tech firms involved in the $20 million scandal announced yesterday.
“Raj and Chris, their stocks don’t miss, they could have co-starred in ‘Analyze This’!” the song boasts, referring to the 1999 Robert De Niro movie.
Also charged in the alleged scheme was Rajiv Goel, 51, director of strategic investments at Intel Capital, the investment arm of Intel Corp.
Another line of the song says the investors at Galleon “know all the terminology, trade in health care and blocks of technology.”
As the melody rambles on, Galleon even seems to suggest it had inside information.
“When the market flopped, they knew it would dip, that’s why they call it the good ship,” the song says.
The three-minute tune features a chorus of sweet-sounding women that goes: “It’s the good ship Galleon, when Wall Street has a rally on. When traders trade, everyone in the place gets paid.”
A group of burly-sounding male singers chime in, “Make money, money. Make money, money.”
The tune has been a favorite among Wall Streeters for years — but took on a bizarre tone yesterday as traders e-mailed the song to one another just hours after the feds indicted Rajaratnam, 52, on charges of insider trading.
In the song, the rappers — who identify themselves as Jesse James and Cleveland D — say they went to Galleon’s Midtown headquarters to see what all the fuss was about.
Once there, people at Galleon claimed they “trade stocks and we do it well, our first trade was 100,000 warrants of Intel.
“That was when we had 300 million [dollars] — but now we manage 5 billion [dollars].”
A Galleon spokesman did not return a call seeking comment.
Bustin’ rhymes
Lyrics from the Galleon rap song
“It’s the good ship Galleon, when Wall Street has a rally on. When traders trade, everyone in the place gets paid. Make money, money. Make money, money.”
“If you know Galleon, everything is groovy because these guys are out of a movie . . . Raj and Chris, their stocks don’t miss, they could have co- starred in ‘Analyze This’!”
“He said, ‘We trade stocks, and we do it well, our first trade was 100,000 warrants of Intel. That was when we had 300 million — but now we manage 5 billion.’”
“When the market flopped, they knew it would dip, that’s why they call it the good ship.”