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There are always multiple sides to any story and today is the day Chauncey Mahan gets to tell his version of a recently uncovered plot to allegedly extort Jay Z for $20 million.

California police found a hefty–and pricey stock of old master recordings in a storage unit rented by Mahan this past Friday (April 18) but the former Roc-A-Fella engineer is claiming that it was Def Jam who asked him to guard the tapes with his life.

Reports TMZ:

Jay Z should be THANKING the producer he’s accused of extortion — or so the guy claims, telling TMZ, if it weren’t for him … the recordings he’s allegedly holding for ransom would have been lost or destroyed … because Jay Z was an irresponsible pothead back in the day.

TMZ broke the story … Chauncey Mahan was detained by police Friday after Jay Z’s people accused him of stealing the master recordings for several big songs back in 2002 — and then trying to hold them for ransom — a $100,000 “storage fee.”

But Chauncey insists the allegations are BS — telling TMZ, he didn’t steal jack … Def Jam asked him to keep track of the recordings in 2002 because no one else was doing it. According to Chauncey, Jay Z “was a stupid kid smoking blunts” who was reckless with his intellectual property.

What’s more, over the last 10 years, Chauncey says he’s repeatedly notified Jay Z’s people that he was in possession of the masters, and they blew him off. He says he finally asked for money last week when he could no longer afford to keep the masters in storage.

Chauncey says he asked for $100,000 to compensate him for keeping the recordings safe for 12 years. FYI, the masters are for Jay Z’s “Volume 3” and “Dynasty” albums — including huge songs like “Big Pimpin” and “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me).”

Mahan also noted that the recordings he has in his possession actually sound “terrible” and that is the reason for the sudden uproar.

According to Just Blaze however, the reason for the sound’s quality would actually be nobody’s fault but the engineer’s. When the story broke yesterday afternoon, the longtime Roc-A-Fella producer shared vivid memories of Mahan being a supreme slacker in the studio. So much to the point where he had to replaced with Young Guru.

The police are still determining rightful ownership of the masters and Mahan still hasn’t been charged with any crime, so keep it locked as the story continues to unfold.

Photo: YouTube