For The Love of Money was recorded by American soul group The O'Jays and released in 1973 on the album Ship Ahoy, written and produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff for Philadelphia International Records. Built around a distinctive bassline, the song warned about greed while its chant became instantly memorable. It reached the US top ten in 1974 and later gained a new audience as the theme for the reality show The Apprentice, cementing the money refrain as shorthand for wealth, ambition and payday humour online today.
About this sound
The O'Jays chant from For The Love of Money over a funk bassline, used for paydays, wins, shopping hauls and cash jokes in short videos online.
This clip cuts straight to the famous chant from The O'Jays' For The Love of Money, with layered voices repeating money again and again over a tight funk groove and driving bass. It lasts only a few seconds but lands instantly, turning any ordinary moment into a joke about greed, luck or getting paid. The call and response feels triumphant and a little shameless, which is why it works so well under footage of wallets opening, prices dropping, salaries arriving or someone suddenly acting rich for the camera in a playful exaggerated way.
