Mary J. Blige Recalls ‘Monster’ Jay-Z Collaboration Being Shelved Over Leak: ‘He Felt Disrespected’

There are times when music greatness gets left in the vault thanks to overzealous leakers. Mary J. Blige recently opened up about listening to a collaboration she had with Jay-Z that never received an official release due to Hov feeling “disrespected” by the track leaking at the time.

“I was playing one the other day and this one actually has Hov on it,” Mary teased during her appearance on 7PM in Brooklyn Monday (Jan. 19). “And It’s a monster, too! When we were younger, we were amped recording that record. I’m not gonna say who it was, but somebody leaked it and then we couldn’t do anything with it.”

However, Mary left the door open to possibly revisiting the shelved collaboration all these years later. “Hov, he felt disrespected that someone from my session had leaked it,” she explained. “But maybe we could revisit it.”

While the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul and Jay missed connecting that time around, they did join forces for Reasonable Doubt‘s “Cant Knock the Hustle,” as well as Mary’s The Breakthrough album in 2005 for “Can’t Hide From Luv” and 2003’s Love & Life intro.

Mary J. Blige and the Brooklyn rapper headed out on the co-headlining Heart of the City Tour in 2008 following the arrival of Mary’s Growing Pains album and Jay-Z’s American Gangster LP the year prior. The trek took over arenas across North American, including three dates at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The Grammy-winning artist will be taking her talents to Sin City this summer, where she’ll be playing her first-ever Las Vegas residency. The “Real Love” singer’s Mary J. Blige: My Life, My Story The Las Vegas Residency will hit the Dolby Live at Park MGM stage for 10 shows, which kicks off on May 1 and runs through July.

Watch Mary J. Blige’s interview, which finds her touching on the lost Jay-Z collab, passing on what became Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and more below.