JAY-Z RIDES

Jay-Z wrote to a federal judge saying he'd offer a job to a jailed cocaine trafficker for whom the rapper once worked. According to The Smoking Gun, Jay said he'd give Emory Jones a $50,000 job at his Roc Apparel Group. "I believe his attributes -- including intelligence, interpersonal skills and solid work ethic -- will be a significant asset for my organization . . . he is an honest and reliable individual; it would be a privilege to offer him an opportunity," Jay-Z wrote to Judge Benson Legg in a letter included in a sentence reduction plea for Jones. The Smoking Gun reports Jones pleaded guilty to a cocaine trafficking charge and was sentenced in January 2000 to nearly 16 years. But Legg shaved time off his sentence, and Jones was released in April. Jay referenced his relationship with Jones in the 2006 "Do U Wanna Ride."