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L.A. Reid Reveals That Mariah Carey Is The Reason Jay Z Was Hired As Def Jam President

Well, this is an interesting little discovery.

During his interview with Rap Radar Podcast, L.A. Reid dropped some knowledge on some of our favorite industry heads--including Jay Z and Mariah Carey.

When speaking about becoming the chairman and CEO of The Island Def Jam Music Group in 2004, L.A. revealed he was a bit confused on where to start with his new venture.

"Coming into the label [Def Jam] and really sort of reading the tea leaves, I knew that I needed help. You know, I got the advice from Mariah Carey. I asked her, 'What should I do?' She said, 'Hire Jigga!'"

He continued, "She said, 'You know there's only one person?' I was like 'Who?' She said, 'Jay Z.'"

Call it fate or call it a well orchestrated plan from MC and Jay, but L.A. said as soon as Mariah told him this, Jay walked into his office. "I was like wait, they choreographed this. It was too good," he joked.

L.A. also gave Jigga a lot of credit for taking his new job extremely seriously. He admitted Jay came to work "every single day," attended every meeting, met and coached artists and more. He played zero games with his new work.

We can't say this is a complete shock, though. Hov said it himself. "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man!"

Check out the entire interview is below. But, if you're only here for Jay, skip to the 18:05 mark.