Jay-Z's 2005 Joke To A Teenaged Rihanna Feels A Tad Disturbing Now
A joke Jay-Z once made to Rihanna has taken on a much darker tone.
Last week, a 2005 clip from the “Tyra Banks Show” began to gain traction on Reddit. In the clip, a teenaged Rihanna explains to Banks how she was signed to Def Jam Records in 2005 at the age of 16. At the time, Jay-Z was president and CEO of the music label.
In the clip, Rihanna recalled auditioning for the rapper and Def Jam chairman Antonio “L.A.” Reid at the label’s offices by singing “Pon de Replay” — and noted that after performing what would be her breakout hit, the men were “interested” in signing her.
“But then [Jay-Z] said something about a window and a door?” Banks said.
“Oh, then he said,” Rihanna began with a nervous giggle, “then he said there are two ways to leave here: Either through the door with the deal signed or through this window, and we’re on the 29th floor.”
“So you were like, ‘Where’s the pen! Where’s the paper! I’m signing!’” Banks responded.
But, papers weren’t signed right away, as Banks imagined.
Two years later, the “Umbrella” singer told a similar story to The Guardian, in which she added that the folks at Def Jam “locked me into the office — till 3am” in a bid to get her to sign.
Jay-Z corroborated Rihanna’s claim about how she signed Def Jam’s contract at 3 a.m. during an interview with former rapper and MTV VJ Sway in the early aughts.
Jay-Z told Sway that they “signed her that night. We didn’t let her leave the office. Three in the morning is when that contract got signed.”
Although Rihanna has described Jay-Z as being her mentor — and even left Def Jam in 2014 to work with his label Roc Nation — the joke Jay-Z made to Rihanna in 2005 has taken on a more sinister tone in 2024.
Earlier this month, Jay-Z was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in an amended lawsuit from October. The plaintiff, who filed as “Jane Doe,” revised her lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs to include the “Big Pimpin’” rapper. In the suit, the then-preteen alleges that during a 2000 house party after the MTV Video Music Awards, the two men drugged her and took turns raping her while an unnamed female celebrity watched.
Earlier this month, Bryana “Bana” Bongolan filed a lawsuit against Combs in which she accused Combs of dangling her from a 17-floor balcony in 2016 — which sounds reminiscent of the joke Jay-Z made to Rihanna about throwing her out a 29th-floor window.
HuffPost has reached out to Jay-Z and Rihanna for comment about the joke, but did not receive an immediate response.
