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A collection of Jay Z recordings, valued at $30 million, is at the center of an extortion plot after being stolen by a former studio intern over a decade ago.
According to Billboard, producer Chancey Mahan allegedly demanded that Hov pay him over $100,000 to get them back.
Mahan, who worked with Jay from 2008-2009, was in possession of the 1998-2002 recordings, which went missing in 2012.
The former employee told police that he reached out to Live Nation to tell them that the recordings — which included master tracks of Jay’s songs like ‘Holla’ and ‘I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)’ — were in storage and he planned to auction the recordings unless he received a $100,000 “storage fee.”
When Mahan went to the storage facility on Friday (April 18), he was arrested by LAPD and detained for questioning, but not arrested. Authorities then contacted Jay Z.
TMZ reportedly talked to Chauncey who denies that he tried to extort the Brooklyn-born rapper.
The producer told the gossip website that Hov “was a stupid kid smoking blunts” who was irresponsible with his creative works.
Chauncey said that he requested $100,000 as compensation for keeping the recordings safe for over a decade. He also added that the master recordings sounded terrible.
As of now, LAPD will hold on to the recordings until a judge decides who is the rightful owner.
