Jay-Z’s Shocking Joke to Teenage Rihanna Revealed in Resurfaced Clip
Rihanna auditioned for Def Jam, where the rapper was CEO, in 2005.

Jerritt Clark/WireImage
Rihanna revealed that Jay-Z said that she was either going “through the door with the deal signed or through this window” during an audition for the rapper’s Def Jam label in 2005.
Jay-Z’s comments are under renewed scrutiny after a lawsuit was filed that says he raped a 13-year-old girl in 2000 with disgraced rapper Diddy.
In a resurfaced clip shared on Reddit, Rihanna, then 17, shared her experience meeting Jay-Z on The Tyra Banks Show. Jay-Z, then 34, had just been made president and CEO of Def Jam.
“The moment I walked into the office the atmosphere was so warm and welcoming,” Rihanna said of the meeting, adding that she sang her breakout hit “Pon de Replay” for the rapper.
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“And what did he say to you? He said something to you,” Banks said.
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“He said, ‘we don’t sign songs here, we sign artists’ and there was this little pause,” Rihanna continued. “I was nervous and then he said, ‘and we’re interested’ and there was this sudden feel of relief.”
“But then he said something about a window and a door?” Banks said.
“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,” Rihanna said.
Banks added: “So you were like, where’s the pen! Where’s the paper! I’m signing!”
In an interview with Group82Music.com, Jay-Z said: “We signed her that night. We didn’t let her leave the office till three in the morning.”
Jay-Z left Def Jam in 2008 to found his own label, Roc Nation. Rihanna signed with Roc Nation in 2014, and made only one album, 2016’s Anti.
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