A collection of 50 Jay Z original master recordings, valued at more than $30 million, is at the center of a theft-and-extortion plot after a former studio intern allegedly demanded the music mogul pay $110,000 to get them back.
Sources tell Page Six that the ex-intern allegedly contacted Jay’s Roc Nation by e-mail last week, saying he had a series of master recordings that were made between 2002 and 2003 at the now-closed New York hip-hop haven Baseline Studios, home of Roc-A-Fella records.
The former employee claimed the recordings — which include masters of Jay tracks such as “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)” and “Holla” — were now in storage in Northridge, Calif., and he needed $110,000 to get them out or the facility’s owners would put the contents up for auction.
Quick-thinking execs at Roc Nation dispatched a staffer to meet the ex-intern at the lockup on Thursday and agreed to pay $2,500 to open the unit. Inside, they found many of the masters the intern had listed on the e-mail and called police. But since the master tapes were never reported missing or stolen, police said they couldn’t do anything until a report was filed in New York.
A source close to the investigation told us: “The guy wanted cash and told Jay’s people, ‘If you don’t pay up now, you will lose these recordings forever.’ Roc Nation stalled him a day to get the police report filed in New York. They said they would come back the next day to seal the deal and filed the report in New York. Then, on Friday, the LAPD took the guy into custody, but he was released pending further investigation.”
The master recordings were taken into evidence, and Miles Cooley, a lawyer for Roc Nation, is going into court Tuesday in LA to ask for them back. Roc Nation didn’t comment and Cooley didn’t respond.
The source added, “Jay owns the rights to his master recordings. Some of those in question are songs that are out, but there are others the public has never heard. An album of Jay songs is worth around $25 to $30 million, but there are also tracks that he wouldn’t want out there.”