How Jay Z, Mariah Carey Landed Their Own Drinks: Music Exec Kevin Liles Explains

They've conquered music, movies, fragrance, clothing ... and now Jay Z and Mariah Carey have expanded their empires to the beverage world.

Hov's got a new lemonade/iced tea mix called 40/40, sharing the name of his famous Manhattan club. Mimi has a sweet, fruit drink, Butterfly, which shares the title of her 1997 album and single. Music executive and entrepreneur Kevin Liles stopped by Fuse HQ to tell us how the superstars landed in the drink aisle. 

"We were having a conversation with Walgreens ... we wanted to find a way to skew the [drink] audience a little more younger and hipper, but also stay committed to that 34-54 year-old female," the former Def Jam Records president says. "We came back to them and said, 'We want to create two tea blends, two drinks that we felt would cater to those markets, and we want to attach brands to them. Let me call my good friend Jay and ask him can we use 40/40.' Now, I want 40/40 to represent the new half-and-half." 

Liles adds, "I wanted to take things that [Jay and Mariah are] associated with and build a brand around that." Watch the full interview to learn how Mariah's name got throw into the mix and more.