So, what’s the consensus about Rihanna and Jay-Z? Are they “just friends” or collegues, or are they hooking up? Have they hooked up in the past? Are they attracted to each other? Would Jay cheat on his wife Beyonce? I don’t really know the answers to any of those questions, I only have my assumptions. My gossipy guess is that they aren’t currently hooking up, but they may have in the past, like a one-shot deal or something.

In any case, the rumors about Jay and Rihanna’s alleged hookups have swirled for years, and Rihanna is denying that sh-t. She even claims one specific hookup rumor was all around Barbados! It’s a good one too:

RIHANNA was so embarrassed by rumors she landed her record deal by embarking on a sexual relationship with JAY-Z, she couldn’t look him in the face.

Stories surfaced alleging the Umbrella beauty was more than just the rapper’s business acquaintance when she first made it into the industry.

And even Rihanna’s close friends in her native Barbados believed she’d jumped into bed with the hip-hop mogul to seal the deal – but she insists the false stories left her cringing.

She says, “It was like: ‘Of course she had to give Jay-Z oral sex to get that deal.’ That rumor was everywhere in Barbados and it was so disgusting. It made me feel really weird. I would even be weird around Jay-Z. I wouldn’t be able to look him in the eye.’

“One day, he called and he was like, ‘Yo, you can’t buy into these rumors. You can’t let people move you with anything they say.’ The rumors got very funny to me after that.”

[From Contact Music]

Yeah, I doubt Jay made her go down on him for a record deal. I think Jay looks at her like one of his investments, his protégé, his kid sister. But here’s another little interesting note: when I was searching around for pictures of the two of them in the same frame, I found something weird – they are very, very conscious of being photographed together, whether they’re staying at the same hotel, or leaving a club or going into an event, they are rarely captured together in the same “candid” moment. Now, they appear in each other’s videos and all, so it’s not that big of a deal, but it did strike me as weird. Like they’re trying too hard to make it look like there’s nothing to talk about.

Rihanna and Jay-Z performing at the ‘Africa Rising’ festival in Abuja, Nigeria on August, 11 2008. Additional picture of Rihanna on November 23 in New York. Credit: WENN