How Rihanna got signed to her first record deal was – apparently – by coercion.

This this true?

This might be true.

But it is hard to know how serious it all was.

Was it an actual Godfather-style death threat? Or was it just a dogged insistence that Jay-Z charismatically refused to let slip away?

Or flip it around: What would you do if a billion dollar opportunity was trying to walk out of the door?

Thank goodness Rihanna (Fenty) took it as a compliment.

Understand: Persistence – and insistence – can pay-off.

Jay-Z wouldn’t let Fenty leave the building until she signed, fearing that another label that had also received her demo might swoop in and steal her away. They were all there until three in the morning while the lawyers worked out the details. Fenty later recalled Jay-Z saying, ‘There’s only two ways out. Out the door’ ”—if she signed the contract—“ ‘or through this window’ ” if she didn’t. Was that a threat? “It was very flattering.” She left through the door.

-John Seabrook,The Song Machine