- Stockton Rush said he'd buy Macklemore a "baby" shark if they failed to spot any during their dive.
- "That's a deal," Macklemore said as he shook Rush's hand in OceanGate's YouTube video.
The late OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush once told Macklemore that he'd buy the rapper a "baby" shark if they failed to spot any during a submersible dive in July 2014.
The exchange was documented in a video uploaded to OceanGate's YouTube channel in December 2021.
"If we don't see a shark, you will buy me a shark," Macklemore told Rush.
"A little one," Rush replied.
"A baby shark?" Macklemore asked.
"Baby one," Rush said.
"That's a deal," Macklemore said as he shook Rush's hand.
Macklemore took a dive with Rush and his crew to search for sharks in Elliot Bay, Washington. OceanGate used a submersible named Antipodes, and the expedition was documented by Discovery Channel as part of their weeklong programming event, "Shark Week."
"Our objective was to find the elusive sixgill sharks that roam the deep waters in Puget Sound and fulfill a lifelong dream and ambition of Macklemore, a devoted shark enthusiast," OceanGate's website said.
To lure the sharks to the area, the OceanGate team said they had to sink a "bait ball to a depth of over 400 feet two days prior to the dive."
But that wasn't enough. The crew had to turn the submersible's lights off partway through the dive to try to draw the sharks closer to the vessel, according to OceanGate's video.
The move paid off when Macklemore and the OceanGate crew spotted "a juvenile sixgill shark swimming alone in the dark" near the bait tank, per OceanGate's website.
"It was incredible. I did not think we would see one. It got to a certain point I lost faith," Macklemore said in the video.
Rush and OceanGate have come under intense scrutiny after the company's Titan submersible vanished during a dive to the Titanic shipwreck on June 18.
Rush and four other passengers aboard the Titan were declared dead after the US Coast Guard said on June 22 that the submersible likely imploded during the dive.
Representatives for Macklemore and OceanGate did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.