Did Beyoncé Contract Block Teairra Mari's Career in Favor of Rihanna's?

Did Beyoncé come in between Teairra Mari and super stardom?

A new excerpt from L.A. Reid's forthcoming memoir, Sing to Me: My Story of Making Music, Finding Magic, and Searching for Who's Next, the record exec reveals that he and the label thought between the Love & Hip Hop Hollywood starlet and Rihanna that TeTe was the bigger star but Queen Bey had him rethink things.

Reid recollects,

After signing Rihanna, Jay Z and his team did the A&R for her first album, and I had nothing to do with it. The funny thing about Rihanna's success was that we signed two girls at that time -- Rihanna and a lovely young lady named Teairra Mari. We had an in-house company showcase and Beyoncé happened to be there with Jay Z. Teairra Mari, Rihanna, a four-girl group called Black Butterfly and Ne-Yo performed. At the label, we thought Teairra Mari would be the big star. We spent more time on her, did more work on her, paid more attention to her. Rihanna already had a hit with "Pon De Replay," but we still thought it was the other girl. A bell went off for me, however, when, after the showcase, Beyoncé came up to me.

"That Rihanna girl," she said, "she's a beast."

Obviously, RiRi blew up to be a big star and TeTe's spotlight has been bright, if dimmer, but is that Beyoncé's fault?

Let's reminisce to pre-Love & Hip Hop TeTe with her first hit "Make Her Feel Good." Damn, we can see what L.A. saw!

What do you think of this Tea from L.A. Reid? Sound off in the comments!