Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me tonight?
Are you sorry we drifted apart? Does your boy oh boy, you.
Were recorded. Young State Allan smells like
liquor. This is a big episode today.
Welcome back to significant lovers.
Welcome. I am Mel.
I'm Kel. We're cousins and this is a true
love podcast and we're so happy to be here.
And why is it a big episode, Kel?
It's a big one because this is Beyoncé and Jay-Z, probably one
of the biggest celebrity couples of our age.
Power couple, Yep. Yes.
And they've been together for over 20 years.
So this this episode could have been many parts, but for some
reason I made the decision to just keep it in one.
You could talk about this couple, you could have a whole
podcast about them, You could go on and on.
There's so much to say, but, well, maybe to be selective.
Maybe in the future, because I'm sure you have a lot of research
that isn't going to be in the episode.
We could do an episode. We recover, you know, stuff that
we had to cut out of episodes left on the cutting room floor.
And so you can save it and we can revisit it sometime for a
bonus episode. Yeah, that's a good idea.
I know. I feel like there is sometimes
things that we don't include or like tangents that are kind of
related, but not really. Yeah.
But yes, we're doing it. This has been a couple, I feel
like kind of similar to Bennifer, where we always knew
we were going to do them eventually but have been putting
off because it's so big. But also Mel and I, this is kind
of funny. We're both hungover.
Yeah, because last night was the Oscars, and we're really into
that, and we're both partaking in the hair of the dog right
now, which we usually don't do. No, I told myself all day, I'm
not going to drink. I'm not going to drink like I
need to go easy. And here we are.
The recording time came around and I was like, you know what?
It will feel better to drink. I've been drinking.
I'm.
Drinking surfboard, Surfboard. Exactly.
Yeah. I mean, I was a little nervous.
You know, I need to be up for this episode.
I had stage fright, so I'm having a little beverage.
And you know what? It is making me feel better.
Too my head just said I really don't.
Yeah, last night was the Oscars. Thank you to everybody who did
not trash on us for our Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach
episode. Had some supportive comments.
I was nervous about that. So thanks.
What were you gonna say, Mel? Oh, I was gonna ask you about
that couple. If.
You're ready for it. I'm ready.
So what 3 words would you use to
describe them? I'm really curious.
OK, the three words I would used to describe them as a couple are
ambitious, strong and calculated.
Oh, I don't know how I feel about that calculated.
Yep, I know. And I'm also a little nervous
because I know Beyoncé has one of the biggest fandoms today.
So, you know, give us a little grace if we leave something out
or get something a little bit wrong, because there's a lot to
go through. But it's been fun.
It's been fun learning more about them because I never
really like paid that close attention.
I mean, everybody knows about them, some things about them
like the elevator incidents which we will talk about and the
I don't even know what it's called pregnancy gate.
Or oh, I forgot about. That people thought Beyoncé was
faking her pregnancy, you know, myself included.
Yeah, there's been big moments throughout pop culture of their
relationship and their music, too.
Like crazy in love. So many songs, but I didn't know
too, too, too much about them. So it's been fun, but I guess I
should get into it because it's going to be long.
All right. I'm going to start with Miss
Beyoncé Knowles. Just a little bit of background
information, because who is she? I mean, she seems like such a
goddess pop star, almost like on another cloud level these days.
She seems so polished and almost like unattainable, you know what
I mean? But who is she really?
Where did she begin? She was born September 4th, 1981
in Houston. Which reminds me, have you heard
her new? Country songs.
Yeah, I I actually country. Oh the second one I haven't
listened to that much. But the Texas Holdem one I love
I feel like. Me too, A.
Drug. To me, I feel like they're
pretty divisive. Like some people aren't so happy
about it. Or they're like, what's going
on? Oh yeah, I really.
I really like it. You know what?
I feel like boys don't like it for some reason.
I told my boyfriend like, Oh my God, I'm obsessed.
And I thought for some reason I thought he would be too.
And he was like, I hate it. And then his roommate also
hates. I love it.
Me too. Saint Texas.
I think that's a good move for her.
I'm, I'm excited. Yeah, it's and it's like very
soulful. I love it.
And Lana's going country too, so it's it'll be interesting.
What like I don't know. What's going on?
I know. I wonder if Taylor Swift's going
to come crawling back. She's like, wait a second.
Yeah, that was my thing. Everybody's going back to
country, OK? Me too.
I bet. Yeah, I I wouldn't be surprised.
But anyway, yeah. She was born in Texas, Houston,
TX and she has a sister, younger sister Solange, who was born
five years after her. She grew up pretty wealthy in
Houston. Her dad, Matthew Knowles, was a
businessman. He was an executive for medical
sales at Xerox and he made six figures.
And her mom, Tina, owned a salon and they lived in like a really
nice part of town and mansion. And about her name because I've
always been curious but never looked into it.
Like, where does the name Beyoncé come from?
I thought it was interesting that her mother, Tina realized
that her family name, her maiden name?
Beyoncé. Well, Beyoncé, it's spelled
BEYINCE. It's French, was dying out.
And she said, oh God, we'll run out of Beyoncé's.
So she gave her daughter Beyoncé a variant of her maiden name,
which I think is cool. That's really cool and wow, like
that. That's really gonna live on now.
Yeah, seriously. Beyoncé sang and dance from an
early age, as a lot of people do that we talk about on the show,
and she first started getting really serious about it around
age 10. Her father, Matthew Knowles,
knew she could be a star and started coaching her.
He got really intense about it. He would make her run a mile in
the morning while singing to build up her ability to sing and
dance at the same time. And that's crazy.
He ended becoming her manager and he was so intense about
this, you know, like practice every day, practice for hours,
singing and dancing. And she and a bunch of other
girls in the area formed a group called Girls Time.
And they would sing and dance just at local places, even like
at the moms salon. Kind of reminds me of, no,
remember that group that we used to see?
Oh, Girl Authority, Stage Girl Authority.
Yeah, they would sing and dance and yeah, that's.
My wow. That's my wow, you guys.
Don't get the reference, but they were kind of like that,
yeah? Oh, that's cute.
And there. Were a lot of different rotating
members and there were a lot of girls.
But this group eventually became Destiny's Child later on.
And actually Kelly Rowland was there from the early days, but
there were a lot of different rotating members and her dad,
Matthew Knowles was super into it.
He actually quit his job. Weight lost my place.
I'm like going off memory, but I lost my place right now.
He quit his job to take classes in music management and made it
his full time job basically to get Destiny's Child record deal
and to like he was so invested. Paid off.
Yeah, it did. I was wondering why wasn't
Solange in Destiny's Child? Yeah, that's great question.
She's a singer too. Well, was she too young?
She might have been. I think she was probably too
young and I guess she was a backup dancer for them
sometimes, but according to Matthew Knowles, even from a
young age, Solange didn't want to do it, didn't want to be part
of it and wanted to do her own thing, he said.
Many of you aren't aware, but I personally wanted Solange to be
in Destiny's Child. That didn't appeal to her, just
kind of crazy that she would turn that down.
But I can't almost. She seems independent and I can
almost see her being like, no, I don't want to be with my sister
and her friends like I'm doing my own thing.
Yeah, I feel like that's such a younger sibling thing too.
Like, I like purposely not wanting to do something that
your older siblings are doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Matthew Knowles was really overbearing and caused a lot of
issues with the Destiny child girls and apparently he wanted
Beyoncé to be the lightest skinned girl in the group so he
would make the other girls tan. Wait, that's terrible.
I know. And it led his behavior and it
LED, led to some of the members quitting like Latavia Roberson
and Latoya Luckett and Farrah Franklin.
They all overtime quit and then it ended up with the final three
that we know today, which is Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams
and Beyoncé. And they had a lot of hit songs
like Survivor, Say My Name, Say My Name, Yes, yes, yes.
Yeah. They were really, really big.
But Beyoncé was kind of always, I think, the star or like the
strongest singer of Destiny Child.
And she has acknowledged that she's a workaholic and very
competitive with herself and a bit of a bit of a perfectionist,
but she also seems very warm and fun.
It's so weird. But she does remind me of Taylor
Swift. Oh yeah, I see a lot of
similarities. And I do think they, I mean they
are two of the biggest stars today and I just, I see that.
I feel like they are so meticulous about their career
and yeah, very competitive with themselves, you know, always
wanting to be better and and there's more similarities that
will come up, but. I would say they're both like at
the same level, like very few people can probably relate to
that level of fame, but Beyoncé seems a little bit more
unattainable. I feel like Beyoncé she very
much. Holds back, Yes.
I feel like Beyoncé when she was younger was a little bit more
down to earth. Like she would do talk shows,
she would do interviews, you know.
But now she really doesn't really only ever see her through
her music or like official photo shoots.
You know, It's very professional.
Yeah. It's almost like she's in the
Royal family or something. It's just like very polished.
Oh yeah, I can't picture her like.
In her own way. On a late night talk show.
I know before Jay-Z, she apparently dated the R&B singer
Marquis Houston for a little bit.
And as a teenager, she dated a guy named Lyndall Locke for six
years. Oh, well, OK, so I I always
thought she didn't date anybody before Jay-Z.
She kind of, well, I'll get into this later, but I think that
that other guy, that R and BR and B singer, I don't think that
that was a very long thing at all.
And then her other boyfriend, they were together for six
years, but I mean, they were super young, like literally in
high school. So that's basically it.
Where is Jay-Z about to get to him?
His list of who he dated before Beyoncé is too long.
I can't even read them all. Was he married before?
He wasn't married before. OK, that's good at least.
But he was older, so you know, it's understandable that.
He. Dated a lot of people.
OK, so who's Jay-Z? Oh my God.
He has quite a story. He was born Sean Corey Parker,
born December 4th, 1969 in Brooklyn, NY.
So he is 12 years older than Beyoncé.
Oh, but they're both born on the 4th, right?
Interesting. That's true.
He grew up in the Marcy House Projects in Bed Stuy, and he has
three siblings, and his father actually abandoned them, sadly.
And he's pretty young, leaving his mother, Gloria, a single
mother. How old?
How much older did you say he is?
He's 12 years older than Beyoncé.
Not crazy. Yeah.
Later in life, him and his father did reconnect before his
father died in 2003. So very intense.
He had a really tough life. Like seriously, the ultimate
rags to riches story. It's kind of incredible.
I mean, he was living in the projects.
He was really poor. There was crime all around him.
He apparently shot his brother when he was 12 years old by
accident. I know, I I think it wasn't by
accident, but he was a kid so. OK.
We'll let it slide, you know. I know, and he has said, talking
about the incident. He said guns were everywhere in
his life and when he was only like in high school, I think he
started dealing crack cocaine and he dropped out of high
school sophomore year. I know he got really good at
being a drug dealer and he was super organized and he was
literally a drug dealer. Like, it's out and open.
People know this. He was super organized about it
and made a legit business out of this and made a lot of money.
So like, even before he became a successful rapper, he was doing
pretty well from himself just being a drug dealer.
But there there was a lot of crime.
I mean, guys don't get involved with organized crime because
there's a lot of problems that follow you.
He apparently got shot a couple times.
Oh my God. During this time in his life, I
know, but you know, he was also writing poetry, letting out his
feelings. He started sending, setting it
to music, making beats, and he would read the dictionary to
learn new words. And people were really impressed
by him, impressed that he knew all these words.
And he started doing rap battles around Brooklyn in the late 80s
and early 90s, and he battled LL Cool J, apparently.
And then I was wondering about his name.
So when I lived in Bushwick, I remember having this, like,
revelation on the train station because I lived on the J train
and the express train is Z. So there's JZ.
Yeah, right next to each other. And he lived at, you know, by
the Marcy Myrtle stop, basically like he he took the JZ train.
So I was like, Oh my God, this must be where he got his name
from, But apparently not what I know, I guess.
I guess he was named known as Jazzy around the neighborhood,
and he adopted the name Jay-Z to pay homage to his mentor, Jazzo.
I still feel like there must be some kind of subconscious
influence from the subway station and the train, but
whatever. I know.
I was so excited when I I said, Oh my God, that must be where
it's from. Nope.
But yeah. His first official rap single in
my lifetime came out in 1995, and he made his own CD's and
sold them out of his car. And he was having trouble
getting a record deal with a major label.
So him and his friends Dame Dash and Kareem Biggs Burke created
Rockefeller Records as an independent label, and he
released his first album in 1996.
Reasonable Doubt and it reached 23 on the billboards.
So you know, not not number one hit right away or anything, but
pretty good for just being like an independent label and had the
songs Can't Knock The Hustle and Brooklyn's Finest, which maybe
some of you guys have heard of. And then his career steadily
went up from there. His next album set songs like
Can I get a Don't wanna Like, Can I get AI?
Really. Everybody knows that song now.
Yeah, in 1999. This was crazy to me.
He apparently stabbed record executive Lance and Riviera who
was behind bootlegging his third album.
So I guess this guy had been selling Jay-Z album.
You know, this is before streaming and online sales.
This is all like CDs. He was selling Jay-Z record
illegally and profiting off of it.
And there's reports that Jay-Z stabbed him during an album
release party for Q-tip and Jay-Z surrendered to the police
and was placed under arrest. But then he was released on
bail. And then when he was indicted in
court, he pleaded not guilty. And then him and his lawyers
contended that they had witnesses and videotapes proving
he was nowhere near Riviera during the incident and then
late. And a lot of people said he was
actually nowhere near him. He didn't do it.
And then later he pleaded guilty to it, and he even admitted in
his memoir that he did it. But weirdly, in 2023, the guy
that he apparently stabbed said that Jay-Z lied and that he
wasn't the one that stabbed him and said no, Jay was not the guy
that actually stabbed me. It's never been his history.
Why would he admit to it then? I don't know.
What is the motivation that is so odd?
Hey, would that be a deal breaker for you?
Yes. Yeah, I don't think I could
start. What about you?
Yeah, I don't think I would start a relationship with
someone if they had been arrested or accused of stabbing
someone. Yes, it's so weird even either
he did do it and people are trying to cover for him for
some, but it's just weird that he that he himself admitted it
while other people are trying to say he didn't.
Is he covered for someone? Or maybe he thinks it looks good
for his image or something, that he's to have somebody.
That's. So, you know, like for his.
Story. Yeah, for his.
I don't think it does look good for his image.
I mean, I never. Heard.
I mean, this is, this is early in his career when his whole
thing is like, I'm from the streets.
Oh, true. Like, I don't know.
I mean, maybe I'm maybe I'm just pulling the strings here, but I
just don't get this whole story. It's so crazy if someone stabs
someone like that now, like if their career would just be a
non. Starter like that is like I
know. How do you come back from that?
I know. Wow.
If he did do it, that would make me fearful that he has, like
anger management problems. Yeah, like to stab someone that
is, that's, like, sick. I know what are you.
Capable of if you can do that. Yeah, it is.
Concerning Anatomy of a Stab, What happened?
I don't know. Luckily the guy was OK OK, so
that makes a huge difference. It does.
It does make a huge difference. Weirdly, his album The Blueprint
came out on September 11th, 2001.
Oh my. God, that's a terrible day for
it to come out. Yeah, terrible.
Must have been really, you know, not getting a lot of publicity,
but it was still pretty successful.
It has that song on it, Izzo, which is like H to the Izzo, B
to the essay. I was realizing like, well,
'cause I I'll admit, guys, I don't really listen to Jay-Z
music, but I was realizing from this, this episode that I know a
lot of his songs, actually, they're just some of them are
iconic. Later on, his song 99 Problems.
I mean that's just become a saying in English language.
I've got 99 problems, but a bitch ain't one or or but a but
a blank ain't one. You can just insert whatever you
want to say, you know, And I'm first, I didn't mind, you know
that's a New York iconic New York song now.
But yeah, his image became very much someone from the streets
who rose above and then became this like classy, self-made
businessman that really started to become his thing, like in the
2000s. And yeah, he actually had a lot
of feuds with business partners and such and people with the
labels earlier in his career and kind of throughout his career.
And early in early 2000s, he had a retirement show where he said
he was no longer going to make music.
And the first part of the show, he was in a T-shirt and jeans,
and the second-half he was, I think, in a tuxedo, just showing
like his new self. You know, he's like this classy
Gatsby guy now. But he did come back.
He came back with more music. I hate when people do that.
But yeah, not only is Jay-Z a rapper, he is also a businessman
and it's and so is Beyoncé. And it's just kind of crazy to
me how many business ventures he has.
Like he started this Roca Wear clothing company, hit an
endorsement with Reebok. He invested in Armand de Bernat
Champagne. He was the Co brand director of
Budweiser Select. He purchased a media company, a
Spiro. He started Tidal Music Company.
Oh wow. He invested in an app called Jet
Smarter. He was the president of Def Jam
Records. He was part owner of the New
Jersey and then the Brooklyn Nets for 10 years.
He had a media company called Life and Times.
He owned the 4040 club in several cities.
He launched his own cigars. He started Roc Nation.
He is recently planning to build a casino in Times Square.
I guess he does a lot. It's insane.
But they, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, I'm jumping ahead.
They're they're not together yet in the story, but they have done
a lot of philanthropic work too. They have donated lots and lots
of money too. So sometimes it is kind of
staggering to me, like how much wealth they have.
They really do. There's a lot of them, you know,
flying around in jets and being in helicopters and, you know,
all these lavish vacations. But they have donated a lot of
it too. But yeah, since this is going to
be a long episode, I feel like this is kind of like the
episodes we've had for Presidents or Royals.
Like I can't get into every single musical or business thing
that happened. Yeah, there's no.
But I'll mention it if it's really important, But you can
just assume throughout this whole relationship story that
they're in the studio, they're recording, they're shooting
music videos, they're going to business meetings, you know,
Jay's in the conference room on the phone and all that stuff.
But as a person, to me, he seems, I think he can open up
and have fun. He seems like he's really
selective with who he opens up to.
And I watched some injuries with him and I was kind of surprised
that he seemed kind of shy, not exactly shy, but just that he
didn't really open up and would answer very simply and he'd kind
of joke around. But he's very guarded, he seems.
Yeah, he seems pretty serious sometimes too.
So I feel like Beyoncé has this warmth about her that definitely
compliments him. But before Beyoncé, he
purportedly dated. I thought that was interesting.
A woman named Blue Cantrell, a singer?
Oh, Blue. Just weird, yeah?
Smells odd. I know and also dated the model
Chanel Scott. Actress Rosario Dawson possibly
dated the singer Aaliyah, maybe Lil' Kim and a lot more women.
But your child? The same name as an X?
It's. But also it's not like it's a
common name. That's crazy.
Imagine being his ex blue. Be like what?
I know it is a compliment, I guess.
It is. She did spell it without the E
Oh, OK, but still, that's that's blue.
I think that was just like a stylistic choice.
Anyway, how did they meet? What the heck?
They met in 2000. Beyoncé and Jay-Z say they met
when she was 18 but started dating when she was 19.
He was older. He's 12 years older, so he would
have been 32 or so. She's kind of crazy and a lot of
people debate how old she really was when they met.
Some people think maybe they met earlier when she was even
younger, but they don't want people to know that.
I don't know. That's just speculation.
The official story that people tell is that they met sitting on
a plane together heading to the MTV Spring Break festival in
2000, and she told Oprah. We were friends for a year and a
half before we went on any dates.
We were on the phone for a year and a half, and that foundation
is so important for a relationship.
Just to have someone who who you just like is so important and
someone who is honest. So I guess I met and according
to Beyoncé, they talked on the phone for a year and a half but
didn't date yet. It is very young.
She's like 18 years. Old.
It's really young, I know. And then in October 2000,
Beyoncé signed a deal for a solo solo record.
So this is the start of her solo career until she is today.
And so I put this as 2002, not in 2001 or 2002.
But Fiance said that, you know, they didn't go on a real date
for a year and a half and they went on their first date at the
Nobu restaurant that celebrities love.
And Daisy actually talked about their first date in his song,
Seven. Well, I think it's their song.
Later in life they have like joint album, their song 713.
And he said you came back. I let you set the date Nobu on
the plate. I brought my dude to play it
cool. My first foolish mistake.
He brought a friend. Yeah, that's that's not cool.
So Elvis, not a date. Someone brings her friend and
says, oh, it's not a date. It's kind of.
It could be cute. Like, maybe he's nervous, but I
I know. I think if you were actually
there, you would be kind of weirded out.
Also, you've already been talking for a year and a half.
I think if you just met like I I think it is nice if like you
meet someone casually in a bar and then you're like, I don't
really remember what they look like.
I don't remember what they were like.
Like, yeah, you bring your friend, I'll bring my friend and
we'll just hang out. But like that's true.
They know each other. It's a.
Fancy restaurant like your friend is sitting in the booth
with us. That's.
Odd, I know. Weird.
I guess it didn't faze her that much, because then that same
year, in October, they collaborated for their song 03
Bonnie and Clyde on Jay's album, and now the public didn't know
yet if they were dating. They thought this might be just
a musical thing. Yeah, and I didn't know this,
but I think that that song might be a reference to an Eminem
song, which is called 97 Bonnie and Clyde.
Oh, gaining some rap knowledge, apparently.
I don't know if this is I found this in a really old article.
I don't know if it's true because the picture was kind of
weird, but I read an article that said that Beyoncé had a
self designed Italian charm bracelet made that featured a
Bee Heart J Oh that's cute. Maybe, maybe not 2003.
Once again, people still don't really know what's going on with
them. But then they released the song
Crazy and Love Together, which is on her album, and they won a
Grammy for Best R&B Song and Best Best Rap Slash Song
collaboration in 2004. And at this point, people didn't
know they're together. But the song was a hit.
Rolling Stone that year put it as #118 on the 500 best songs of
All Time, which I thought was pretty high and impressive for a
brand new song. Like a song that came up that
year. There's Yeah is the 118th Best
Song of all time, and today they have it as #16, as the best.
Song of all time. I mean, it is a great song.
It is a great song. I mean the the list is really
subjective. I don't.
I don't agree with everything on the list, but it is a really
good song. And like I love variations of it
too. Me too.
Slowed down version of it so good.
I love The Great Gatsby. One Oh, yeah, and you know.
What? I didn't know that Jay-Z was a
producer of The Great Gatsby. Oh, interesting. 2013 movie.
Wow, he's everywhere. Makes sense.
Yeah, he is. Everywhere.
He's a Gatsby type too, like you said.
Can see why people accused him of being in the Illuminati.
He's controlling everything. But yeah, they continue to be
featured on more songs together over the years, including Deja
Vu and Upgrade You on her B-day album.
And then she was on his song Hollywood In 2004, Rolling Stone
asked her about her and Jay's relationship and she said, I
don't say I'm single. People are like, why does she
say that? They're just friends.
I don't say that. I just don't talk about it.
I just want to protect my private life.
And then she wanted to say in relationships, I think a lot
like a guy, if I do something wrong, I don't get emotional.
I think about it and I change it and fix it.
I've always been very logical, but then she says when I do
anything, I do it. If I fall in love, I'm there.
And she said she'd like to have children one day and said if it
was a perfect world I would have two boys and a girl.
I love little boys and girls are so much drama.
OK, there was a lot of internalized misogyny in what
she was saying. There no shades of Beyoncé.
But it was younger. Being a younger time.
She's grown up. Yeah.
Oh, I don't think she'd ever say that now.
No, no, no. But that just shows how toxic
society is. Telling you to be strong, you
have to be like a guy, yeah. I know.
And OK, I don't get emotional, Jay-Z stabbed somebody, but
allegedly because he was upset, so I think a little crying isn't
too bad. I know it's interesting, but I I
do think that she, whether that's all true or not, I don't
know. But she definitely does.
Like when she has her sights on something, she goes for it.
And maybe she does put up with some things just because it is
maybe for the greater good of her, you know what she wants.
Or I don't know. But I do.
Unfortunately. As powerful as Beyoncé is, it's
sad 'cause I get I've gotten the sense maybe we'll see otherwise,
that she's a little submissive in this relationship.
Yeah, I would agree with that. It's very interesting.
You see that a lot with really powerful people.
Yeah. That in their private life,
they're actually letting somebody else kind of rule them.
I don't, I don't know, I feel like this has happened so many
times, like Tina Turner or there's been a lot of women that
are just so amazing and you would think just have it all.
But I mean, I don't we'll get into it, but I see what you're
saying. She in the article it said that
even though she was kind of avoiding talking about him that
she kept saying the phrase we to obviously mean her and Jay-Z.
And the journalist asked where she was during the blackout of
2003 in New York, when the whole city lost power, and she said we
were at the 4040 club, which is Day's.
Club. And she said there was a
generator, so the party never stopped.
Well, she didn't say that, but there was a generator, so the
party never stopped. And then she said at 4:00 AM we
took a plane to Italy, we got to Rome and they had a blackout
there. Oh wow.
All of them. That's crazy that they just did
that though. Like I had the club and then
4:00 AM we flew to Italy. Oh my gosh.
Yeah. Like these people are not very
relatable. No, not at all.
I mean, there will always be some human things that are
relatable, but that aspect, no. In 2005 this was sad.
Just something that, you know, keep in mind what's going on
with them. Jay's 18 year old nephew, nephew
Kalique, died in a car crash and he was actually in a car that
Jay had bought him for his graduation.
That's kind of sad. That's really sad, which is
really sad. And Jay-Z had made many
references to his nephews and his songs and he had said that I
carry my nephews like my sons always have and they have filled
that void for me. So that's that's really sad.
Must have been hard also in 2005.
This is the start of some rumours in the press because
Rihanna is coming onto the scene and Jay-Z was the one that got
her signed to Jeff de Def Jam records, which he was now the
president of. And there were a lot of rumours
about him cheating on Beyoncé with Rihanna.
Oh, wow. And a lot of publications
pitting them against each other. And these rumors have gone on
for a really long time and I don't really know what to make
of them. You know, I don't have to be
real with. You.
I don't. Yeah.
I don't know if people are just saying that because they're like
two of the biggest stars. I don't know.
But this I'll get back to this later.
So basically, Rihanna's like, new on the scene.
He's helping her with her career, but supposedly
everything's still good with him and Beyoncé.
Also in 2005, there was this Fox article about Beyoncé taking
credit for things that aren't hers.
And this is something that happens actually a lot with both
Beyoncé and Jay-Z over the years, over the decades, people
coming out to be like, actually I wrote that or I did that.
The article was about how Beyoncé did not write her big
hit Crazy in Love or even conceive of it.
It said that the horns progression chief melody overall
feel was written by the late and very great Eugene record of The
Chai Lights who died this summer, and that the person who
sought out the track and put all together was Rich Harrison.
And he seemed just annoyed because Beyoncé had in another
articles talked about how she wrote Crazy in Love and made it
sound like she said Crazy in Love was really hard to write
because there was so much going on.
I mean, I had written what, 7-8 number one songs and with
Destiny's Child in a row? And then she said I knew the
song wasn't complete because the horns are so old school so they
needed Jay-Z rap. So this guy was just kind of
annoyed that she was acting like she wrote the song and.
Yeah, giving no credit where credit is due.
And I mean, usually I think her songs do have credits to
writers, but she, she has written lyrics and I think
melodies and she has written songs.
But she does have a lot of people write for her.
But this is a kind of a routine thing that happens where she
takes all credit for it. And it's kind of crazy because
there's some songs that people think this will come up later
are about Jay-Z. But she didn't even write the
lyrics. Oh yeah.
So you can't always trust everything you hear in the
songs. I feel like people that often do
automatically assume whoever is singing the song wrote the song,
yes, and always assume it's still.
Biographical. She's still amazingly talented.
I mean, she's a singer. She's a performer.
I mean, Elvis didn't write his own songs either, so it's no
shade, but it's just a reoccurring theme that people
come out of the woodwork to be like, hey, they stole my thing.
Like they're not acknowledging that I wrote this.
And yeah, it's a it's a theme 2006.
I'm going to skip this, not relevant 2007.
So they're still together and still dating 2007.
Rihanna's Song umbrella comes out which features Jay-Z and I
just mentioned that cause Rihanna's becoming even more of
a star people. The these rumors just keep
coming up. I don't know why people saying
that Jay-Z cheated on cheated with Rihanna, but about three
months later, news comes out that Beyoncé and Jay-Z are
engaged if. You like it?
Then you should have put a ring. On it, The Associated Press
released that he popped the question during a trip to
Cannes, France. And of course she said yes.
And the article said that they were planning to marry in Hawaii
in the fall. That did not happen, but she
said I want to get married and really want a family once again.
She said in a perfect world to have two boys and a girl.
And she said, you know someone loves you by the way he treats
you and respects you. Me and Jay respect each other.
I feel like her second daughter. That would be awkward to hear.
He was like you. Know you keep saying you want
two boys and a girl. So.
Specific. Yeah, that same month they went
to a nude beach in France. But we're fully clothed, OK?
How? Crazy would that be to be on the
beach And you see them naked. I know they see you naked.
That's even. Crazier, I know.
I guess they were just checking it out.
I thought this was kind of funny.
There was this article from Entertainment Weekly by Bethany
Butler about how she was getting sick of Beyoncé and that she was
overexposed and that everybody was saying to the left, to the
left, and it was too much. Wow, she does have a lot of
iconic songs. She does.
That was a big song. Yeah, that's a song like
whenever I get my heart broken, I that song helps me.
It's. Just funny because like, girl,
this is just the beginning. I know.
For real December. Oh yeah, Once again there were
rumors about Jay-Z that he hooked up with Rihanna at a club
and Rihanna addressed this, she said to Allure magazine.
This is what really happened. He and my management, they have
each other's contact information.
I went to Pink Elephant, which is a club, and he came by all of
a sudden the next day I'm seeing that we were kissing and hugging
up each other. You can't even go out with a
friend who's a celebrity and have a good time without people
making shit up. Well, at least he's good
looking, right? Well, about.
Beyoncé add the good looking part.
I know what also he's not about. Yeah, you did not need to add
that. And then about Beyoncé, she said
she's Beyoncé and I'm his new protege.
When we see each other, we say hi.
We're not enemies, but we're not friend friends.
Re. I don't know if that helped.
None of that helps. I don't know.
We'll never know. But.
I just like while you're talking.
I googled like Rihanna and Beyoncé and they have posts
together and like taking pictures together, so it seems
like all must be OK. Yeah, must be but they.
Are contemporaries in many ways, like how could you avoid each
other for so? Long.
That's true. 2008 April 2008 They get married.
Congrats. They get married in a private
ceremony apparently held in Jay's Manhattan penthouse.
How? Gossip Girl of him.
And they decorated the apartment with 70,000 orchids flown in
from Thailand for the event. Oh my God.
At this point they've been together for eight years, so
that's a good amount of time. Wow.
Eight years. Yeah.
So she's still pretty. Young, so I guess she's like 26.
Wow. If I'm I'm just thinking off the
top of my head, Yeah, there. It was.
Very private. There were no photos sent to the
public. Nobody saw what this wedding
looked like for a really long time.
Both the Destiny's Child ladies were there and Gwyneth Paltrow
was there too, because I guess her and Fiance are friends.
Oh, that's sweet. Wow, Gwyneth is kind of
everywhere too, isn't she? I know she's the new John Mayer.
I know every episode. Yeah, they had a no social media
policy and collected everybody's Blackberries because of 2008 and
so no photos were allowed. But in recent years pictures
have been released that they're pretty blurry.
So I think they were taken on Blackberries or something.
But now we've seen a couple pictures from it, and Jay did an
interview with Vibe and he was asked if they got married and he
said that's ridiculous for me to confirm.
I don't have. I'm going to say I think that's
a ridiculous question. I just think it's really part of
your life that you got to keep to yourself.
You have to, you'll go insane. In this type of business.
You have to have something that's scared sacred to you and
the people around you. I shared so much my life, my
childhood, my family, the death of my nephew with the world.
I should have something to hold on to.
You need something for your sanity to say OK, I could chill
out and this is it. If you got married, that's
pretty big though. I know.
Yeah. He he does seem kind of
emotional. It seems like an overreaction to
me being asked if you got married.
That's like that's like polite, like, oh, did you get married?
If so, I'll wish you congratulations.
Weird. Beyoncé and Jay shared that they
got matching tattoos of the Roman numeral 4 on their ring
finger, which is significant to them because they were both born
on the 4th. Oh yeah, her September 4th, him
December 4th. And they were married on April
4th, which is 444 is their number.
It's a good number. It's just one of you to me
because I'm not even like a Swifty, but it just makes me
think of two or so because like 13 is so her number and like
them, they use the number four a lot.
It's their thing. In May 2008, there was a news
article that said they were buying a house in Scarsdale, NY
and I didn't really even investigate this to see if it
was true. But there were so many articles
about the moving places and I think probably some of them are
true. I think they have many
properties. But I just wanted to ask you,
Mel, do you remember around this time in like 2008 or maybe even
later like 2011, there were all these fake articles that were
claiming that celebrities were moving to like Chelmsford or
Reading Mass. Do you remember that?
No, I don't actually, I. Remember, it was a thing.
There were really all these fake articles of saying, oh, so and
so is moving to your hometown, and then there's like, these
fake quotes. And it'd be like a spam.
It'd be like these fake quotes saying that they wanted to get
away from Hollywood and they really like the town.
And I remember people, like, totally falling for it.
I don't really get what the objective was, I guess just to
get clicks, but it just reminded me of that.
Yeah, that seems. If anybody else remembers that,
let me know. Yeah.
October 2008, Single Ladies is released.
Wow, what a song. The best music video of all
time. Of all time.
I mean, yeah, that song. It is a great music video, but
honestly I thought that was an overreaction on his part.
I mean, obviously it was an overreaction.
Yeah, but it was. It was.
Great music video, great dance, iconic.
But it is just kind of like a dance in a room.
It is. Maybe cut that out.
No, but I mean, it is Just Dance.
And then there I wasn't even going to mention this, but there
was some controversy about someone saying like that dance
was my choreography. It was iconic, though.
I mean, there was like that SNL spoof.
A lot of people were dressing up as IT and doing the dance.
Yeah, it was my friends and I actually.
Learned the dance. I ended up quitting before it
happened. We were going to do it in the
talent show, but yeah, this was part of her I am Sasha Fierce
album when she had an alter ego. Do you remember that?
I do remember. It yeah.
So it was kind of like Beyoncé. She was herself, she was kind of
more of an R&B singer. And then there was this like
Sasha Fierce, who was her diva alter ego and was more pop.
And I think it only lasted for that album.
And later on she just said that oh, Sasha Fierce is
uncomfortable just being that side of myself now.
I don't need Sasha Fierce anymore.
That's kind of a unique way to expand your brand.
Yeah, it was. It was November 2008.
She talked to 17 about what she's learned from her
relationship. Oh, seventeen.
I used to get that magazine. You too.
And she said that you learned, I guess probably that we're all
human. I don't care if you're picture
perfect on every magazine cover and you're the most handsome,
successful, coolest guy. You still get sad and you still
get your feelings hurt and you still get confused and
vulnerable and nervous and scared.
You have to find a person. You can make it through the
tough times. With 2009, the couple attends
President Obama's inauguration and Beyoncé sings America the
Beautiful at the swearing in ceremony, which is a big moment
for them. And I mean a lot happened in
2009. But the only other thing I
included in this timeline that I thought was funny was that
Beyoncé showed on her Tumblr, which what I didn't even know
she had Tumblr. She shared pictures of her
nails, which had her and Jay's faces paint on painted on.
Wow. I know 2010.
I did not know this, but in 2010 a woman named Wanda Satterwhite,
I hope I said that right, claimed that Jay-Z was the
father of her son Rhymer, who was conceived in 1992.
It would have been before Beyoncé.
But the kid? Was 18.
I know, Is it true? And she requested.
Well, she requested that Jay take a paternity test and he
refused. And she actually died a few
years ago, which is sad, but to this day the son is fighting in
court to force him to take a paternity test.
Oh my God, why doesn't he just speak it?
I know. And can I say he does look a lot
like Jay's name. Does he?
What's his name? Rhymer RYMIR And the last name
is like Satter SATTER satter. Wait, I probably said that so
wrong. Oh, he does look like Jay-Z.
I mean, yeah, why would he refuse if he was, like,
confident it wasn't his son? That's that terrible He's
refusing, though. What if that really is your son
and his own father abandoned him?
I know. And the kid said like he said, I
don't want anything from him. I.
Just like you want to know, you want.
Like that's that mystery your whole life hanging over you.
And you have to see, OK, Jay-Z could be your father.
You have to see images of him all the time.
Like, you probably just want that closure.
Like OK. And if he is his father, that's
messed up. But he, I don't know.
I I don't really know what people usually do in these
situations. I feel like it does kind of
happen to celebrities a lot. But just take that test if
you're if you're positive it's not your kid, then.
It seems like he's not positive. I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm pretty
positive he is the father. Yeah, there are a lot of groups
out there that, I mean, I don't know why this has anything to do
with their advocacy or charity or whatever, but they say that
his denial is like proof that he is the father.
Oh, totally the groups about this specifically.
No, It's like, because I think it's a New Jersey thing that you
have to pay child support, you have to take a test, and if you
don't, then you have to pay child support.
And I think that they're from New Jersey.
And so they're saying that, like, his refusal means that he
is the father basically, like, legally until he takes the test.
Interest. Oh, interesting.
I mean, hey, I mean, I just think it's also shitty because
women could never have sex with someone and then get pregnant
and wipe their hands of it with, like, no repercussions.
Like the fact that, like, he could just knock somebody up.
She goes through a pregnancy, she raises a child and he just
like acts like it has nothing to do with him.
If that's the case, like I think that shows his character too.
I'm not really a huge fan so far.
That's pretty bad. What does she think of all this?
I would, I honestly, if someone said you're the father,
especially if it's before I met them, but also if it was during
I met them too, Like I would be like take the test.
Like I don't. I don't want to be questioning
that the rest of my life either. I don't understand what she
thinks about this. I don't know.
Sometimes I I I mean, we don't know them.
And I try to speculate as much as I can and like research, but
you can't really. You can't find out everything.
But in 2011, according to Glamour magazine, Fiance made it
sound like Jay-Z was possibly the only man she'd ever been
with. You know, like people would be
surprised as the lack of my experiences I've had.
When I was 12 or 13, I had my first boyfriend, and he was my
boyfriend until I was 17. At that age, that was a long
time. I've always been very loyal and
a little more mature. I was too young for it to really
be a for it to really be a boyfriend.
We didn't live together. We didn't, you know, That was my
only experience with a guy. And since then, I've only had
one other boyfriend in my life, Jay.
Oh, I mean very well. Could be the only man she's ever
been with. I know.
That's crazy. That is crazy.
Wow. It's for one of the biggest
stars of all time. I.
Know. That's like that's honestly a.
Fiance. Like, that's like, pretty
impressive. I know around this time,
interestingly, she was working with Clint Eastwood on the
remake of A Star Is Born, but we know that he didn't end up
directing it and she ended up not being an incident.
Gaga was, But it's just funny how much projects can change.
I know that. Would have been interesting.
I should mention I haven't even talked about it, but she has
acted too. She's been in several films,
like she was in Austin Powers, she was in Obsessed, some other
things. Also in 2011, the couple
revealed that they were expecting their first child at
the MTVVMAS in Los Angeles. Beyoncé was performing and she
wore an outfit or she came out and like rubbed her stomach
while she was singing Love on Top.
And she said I want you to stand up on your feet, I want you to
feel the love that's going inside of me.
And people lost their minds. People were freaking out.
I feel like this is the time when people like Beyoncé
suddenly was like, oh, I got Beyoncé.
This is when she started moving into and upper level of stardom
and like maybe they did a Beyoncé Glee episode and yes,
suddenly she was huge. I definitely feel like from this
time to maybe through 2014 or maybe even to 2016, Beyoncé was
huge. The fandom was fierce.
Like it was not safe to say that you didn't like Beyoncé.
No. And sometimes that pushes people
away, though. Like, yeah.
OK. It was intense, yeah.
I feel like it's chilled out recently, but.
Because I the way Taylor Swift fans are way scarier than
Beyoncé fans. I feel like the way Taylor Swift
has been in 2023, that's what it was like with Beyoncé around
this time. It was, it was intense.
There was there was a controversy around her
pregnancy. I remember.
She was on an Australian talk show called Sunday night and she
walked in to sit down and talk on the show and when she sits
down it looks like her stomach folds as she sits down.
Yep, I remember this. People were wondering if this
was a fake pregnancy. Was she actually having a
surrogate? You know what?
I know that sounds crazy and I feel like gone to my head.
She really did. She really was pregnant.
But these people are of such a different wealth that like,
maybe maybe she did. I mean, she could easily afford
a surrogate, but maybe didn't want people to know.
I don't know if Beyoncé has done it, we don't know for sure, but
I think some celebrities have done it.
Fake their pregnancy? Yes, really.
Yes, because I I have OK. I once ago somehow found myself
on this website that it was linked to from a article that
was about stars. This new emerging trend of stars
having circuits because they don't want to ruin their bodies
or because they don't have time to be pregnant.
This kind of new trend and I found myself on this website
that sold very realistic looking baby bumps.
Like, very well made. Wow.
So do you think they like to post pregnancy pictures?
Make it seem like they're pregnant.
Wow. I.
Mean I don't I don't know who. I'm just saying like the fact
that this is an industry. I mean yeah, they might just use
them for movies but the the people on the article, I don't.
I wish I had it pulled up like what publication it was.
They made it sound like people have used this just in their
personal slash professional lives.
So I don't think it's like too insane that people thought this
was a possibility. Yeah, fake her pregnancy is all
I'm saying. I feel like someone, maybe
they're not even that famous. Like, I don't know.
I just feel like someone maybe has done it.
I definitely don't think she faked her second one when she
had twins. No.
I know. We don't know.
And then then there was people responding to it saying it's
just the way the dress folded and it just looks like it, It is
weird. If you watch the video, it, it
does look kind of strange. Yeah, it does.
I don't know. I don't know how to explain it.
It does look like it soft. Yeah, it does look soft.
I don't know. And like her bump.
I don't want to over analyze it, but like her bump does look like
kind of perfect. Yeah, it does.
I think she had. It's a conspiracy, I think most.
Likely she really was pregnant. But yeah, no, I agree.
I mean, I think it's something that definitely could happen for
stars that big, that rich. I could see even maybe the
excuse of like, oh, we want to protect our surrogates privacy
or it's no one's business that we need a surrogate.
So we'll do this, but that that would be crazy.
But yeah, I mean, she's she's having a baby.
Her and Jay were seen around this time out and about a couple
of times with Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow.
I guess they were friends, couple of friends which I didn't
know, And Chris Martin and Jay-Z have actually done music
together. So yeah, they're close.
They're they're doing a lot of things.
They went to the US Open, They went to Italy for Beyoncé's
birthday. They seemed to really like
Italy. They go there all the time.
They went to Chicago. They were.
I just thought, there's this funny story about that.
They were trying to go to this pizza place that was like really
in demand. But even they had like a wait
time, they couldn't get a table. So then they went to some bar
next door and Beyoncé got a mocktail.
Oh wow, this is during her pregnancy.
Yes, she's still pregnant. In November.
Jay talked to People Appeal magazine about not wanting to
repeat his father's mistakes, and he said.
He already has. I know, he said.
It makes me a little paranoid because no matter what, I don't
think any person or any male goes into a relationship
thinking they're going to leave or wouldn't it be there?
I think circumstances a lot of times dictate things, right?
I'm just a different kind of guy he means compared to his dad.
I'm highly principled person. I come from a real place where
you had to be a highly principled person.
So I'm pretty confident that I'll figure it out.
Kind of kind of weird. I mean, I guess it's.
I guess it's a good thing, but it's it's interesting that he's
like thinking about am I going to leave someday?
Like, no. I'll figure it out.
Yeah. And then in the article he said
that they'll lavish their child and the interviewer said, will
the baby's diapers be made of gold?
And he said no leather, No. OK, funny.
Yeah, people are going crazy wondering if it was a boy or
girl going to be a boy or girl. And in November, Kelly Rowland
from Destiny's Child let it slip that it was a girl.
Well, that's. A big slip.
I know. And Beyoncé was asked if this
was true by Katie Couric and she kind of just said she asked it
was actually it was true. And she just kind of said like
she didn't really answer awkward That December, though sadly,
Beyoncé's parents got divorced. Well, they had a really rocky
relationship happen on and off. And I don't think her father was
faithful to her mother. So it's it's not the best
relationship, but that's that's got to be stressful, you know,
while you're pregnant and then your parents are breaking up.
You know it's a lot going on. And then January 7th, 2012, Blue
Ivy Carter is. Born what a famous baby.
Very famous baby. Sucks for those twins, but like,
they'll never be Blue Ivy. Like they, I know.
Always in her shadows. They really are.
They are. This was a huge deal.
I mean, first of all, people were freaking out about the
name. But but yeah, I mean this.
This is when they became parents.
It was crazy. And this is when I put in my
note that maybe we should take a break.
Oh, I actually do have to. Go back.
Yeah, that's a good idea. All right, I'll scrap.
OK. I'll be back.
OK. A 5 minute break.
All right. Sounds good.
All right, we'll be back. We're back.
All right. So where are we now?
So Blue Ivy Carter has just been born Beyoncé.
Would you go have a Bay? Bay.
Like she kind of goes away.
Both they they say that they're working on a super secret
project together and what's kind of crazy is I don't think this
is the project, but three weeks after her birth, they start
making moves to trademark Blue Ivy's name.
Interesting. So does that mean if they
trademark it, nobody, like can do anything with Blue Ivy?
Like you can't name your kid Blue Ivy.
I don't know. I don't know if it means you
can't name your kid, but they were trying to make it a
trademark to use for business purposes.
I guess it's just the word, but I guess they lost the bid to
trademark Blue Ivy. Didn't work out.
Interesting. But it is weird.
Like, so soon after your daughter's birth?
To already be thinking about like business opportunities, I I
guess the one argument I could see there is to prevent other
people from starting businesses inspired after your child.
They same year, we're doing a lot to campaign for Obama's next
term. And they had a fundraiser at
Jay's Club 4040. They raised $4 million in one
night and Obama was there and he addressed the people at the
party and he said Jay-Z now knows, you know what my life is
like. He said we both have daughters
and our wives are more popular than we are.
And then he turned to Jay and said, so, you know, we've got a
little bond there. It's hard, but it's OK.
Everybody laughed. And oh, and the Obamas, We just
did a March Madness. Oh yeah, yeah.
Oh my God. And they and they won.
They not only won for this March Madness, they actually beat out
previous winners Robin Kristen, which I.
Can't believe? That I was actually shocked
because I started thinking the power of those Twilight
listeners was too strong, too big to me, too failed because
you guys were voting for Robin Suki.
When I I hate to say it, they and I think.
I think me saying something actually changed it because.
Probably because Mel did make a little post when she revealed
the updated bracket. Made a little comment that said
not going to lie. Getting worried that our results
are skewed by the twilight they were. 100%.
Because we didn't expect Robin Suki to go this far, yeah.
They were totally skewed. Like, I think, but maybe Robin
Suki had the easiest path to victory to get there.
But maybe. But they they vote.
Beat out Rachel. Oh no they didn't.
They beat out Rachel Bilson. Adam Brody?
Okay fine. Maybe not a lot of people have
seen The OC. Then they beat out Isla Fisher
and Sasha Baron Cohen like, hello, they've.
Been such a lovable couple a. Lovable couple.
Been together for years, 20 years.
Then they beat out Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield.
Don't feel that's like a fame. I thought they were gonna.
I thought they would win the whole thing.
So I was like, OK, people are just voting for them.
What do you just say? Oh no, I just meant meant you
had to say. Something.
Oh yeah, I had to say something, yeah.
Because I was like, I don't want, I don't want these results
to be not honest, but then people.
Imagine if both of our March madnesses Robert Pence in one
bowl of. Time out.
Then we'd have to take a break from the Twilight people all
together. But then I was like, OK, now I
feel bad I said something. Because now now the Obamas are.
And I think, you know, I'm. I'm happy for the Obamas.
But then they beat Robson. I was like, oh, people just like
now afraid to vote for the Twilight couples Like, Okay.
You can vote Robson like that's Okay.
If anybody doesn't know, we used to host a Twilight podcast, so I
was worried he was going to ruin our credibility.
I like, OK, but I'm happy for the Obamas.
I I think they really do deserve it and it was great to see them
there. It's great to have a couple
that's like still together. When the whole thing that's
true, people. People were really voting for
JFK Junior and Carolyn and like. They were.
I know they died tragically and they were very fashionable, but,
like, did you listen to that episode like you don't want to
model your relationship off off of them?
Some of you guys did not listen to that episode.
I mean, that was a really good episode.
I know, I know. What are people basing it off
of? Like Is it they like the
relationship or they just? Say like the episode.
I don't know. Or they just like how they look?
I don't know. But this this couple Beyoncé and
Jay ZI feel like they will be at least semi finalists next time
we do another March Madness bracket.
Thanks. I would guess I.
Bet I can't. I can't wait to do another one.
It's so, so, so fun. And if you guys missed it, we'll
do it again someday. Yeah, you missed a good time.
Obama did get criticism for this party.
The Washington Post and an article said President Obama
assumed the role of celebrity in chief again Tuesday.
Not really relevant, but I do remember that like at the time,
people were like judging him for hanging out with celebrities so
much. And I don't know.
I guess. That's just interesting, yeah.
But hey, I mean. He's popular he's popular He's.
Popular. And like, so are they.
If you're president, you're like, yeah, I can hang out with
Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Yeah, I like their music.
Yeah. Why not tend them up on that
opportunity? Yes and won't.
Know if this is when it started, but this is when it started
becoming very popular to accuse Beyoncé and Jay-Z of being part
of the Illuminati. Some, you know, shadowy
underground group that's controlling the world, yes.
That'd be crazy. It would be crazy.
Crazy. Crazy.
Exactly. And you know she's acknowledged
this in her music. I What did you say?
Y'all corny with that Illuminati shit.
Yeah, I could believe that there are groups, people that like
meet up and stuff, but I I don't think it's like as insidious or
like all controlling as people think.
But I don't want to get. Too much?
I don't really get it. Yeah, but even like this stuff,
because I don't, I mean, Freemasons, that's a similar
thing. People get all like, nervous
about that. Freemasons are like controlling
everything. And it's true Freemasons are a
real group of people that meet and there's all these like,
levels to it and stuff. But I've heard that it's like,
not. It's all just show, basically.
It's like, they make it seem really important, but it's not.
They're not really doing much. It's just like a bunch of
traditions, yeah. Basically, people just thought
that like or still think that it's like this exclusive group
of people that only certain people get invited to, and
they're like making decisions about how the whole world should
run. How can they do that?
That would be so hard. That, well, I think they think
that like world leaders are like billionaires are in it.
They're influencing politics. And I mean, it's true.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z combined our billionaires and, yeah, mega
businessmen, and I can see why people get all paranoid and
think these things, but I almost think it's like it's more
exciting to think it's true. I think they just want money.
Yeah. But anyway.
Anyway. 2013, for Obama's second inauguration, the couple was
there again. And this time, Beyoncé sang the
national anthem in July, Jays album Magna Carta Holy Grail is
released and Beyoncé is on Part 2 on the run.
And then in December herself titled Album was released out of
nowhere. This was a big deal with the
visual album. She did no promotion for
anything. And I feel like since then some
artists have done this, but at the time it felt very
revolutionary, like she just dropped an album.
Oh my God. And this is the album that had
drunken love with Jay-Z and Partition and Jay-Z.
In the videos, he's in Partition.
He's like, I rewatched it recently.
He's sort of like an observer watching her perform in like a
burlesque, burlesque show. It's very sexy.
And they performed Drunken love together at the Grammys a month
later. This was a huge time.
This is like what we're talking about, like Beyoncé just being
so popular, Yeah. Huge.
Huge.
Drunk in love. 2014 The elevator
incident. Oh my God, I'm so excited to
talk about this. Can't believe we have this.
This is why they're not in that Illuminati.
You would know to not release that video or.
They would have stopped it. Yeah.
The elevator incident. In case you don't know about
this, I'm going to walk you through everything that
happened. This is following a Met Gala,
the Met Gala after party at the Standard Hotel in New York.
And basically, footage from a hotel elevator was released
showing Beyoncé's sister Solange fighting Jay-Z, kicking him and
attacking him. And what happened was they got
in on the 18th floor. B walks in first, she seems
rather calm, and then Solange walks in, and then Jay and then
Julius de Boer, Beyoncé's bodyguard who's been her
bodyguard since 2008. Once Jay entered, enters the
elevator and the door is closed, Solange raises a finger and goes
right up to him to yell at him. She starts hitting him, pushing
him, kicking him, and then Julius the bodyguard holds her
back. Beyoncé is just standing there
next to Jay doing nothing, literally.
Her hands are just like by her side.
She doesn't even try to stop it. And then Julius bodyguard is
holding Solange back and Jay goes in to yell and sort of
reaches towards her. Then Beyoncé seemingly does yell
something and steps forward and Solange, while she's being held
back, reaches out and kicks Jay again.
He grabs her leg. Beyoncé kind of pushes Solange
away. Solange is still yelling.
Julius is holding her back. He keeps pressing the elevator
buttons. It's funny, he keeps pressing
the buttons, like over and over, trying to make it go faster.
Solange keeps yelling, and it almost seems like Beyoncé's
trying to ignore her, or like or not, or maybe just trying to
ignore the whole situation, like she's really not reacting.
It's very weird and it's just interesting to interpret it,
interpret what's going on here. Because she's standing next to
Jay, she seems kind of like solid by his side.
But she also isn't trying to, like, dispute whatever Solange
is saying. You know, whatever Solange, her
sister is yelling at her husband.
She's not mad at her sister or she's not telling her sister,
you're wrong. We don't know what she's saying,
but, you know, she's just kind of staying neutral throughout
it. Once they finally reached the
lobby, Solange tries. It's crazy.
Like, it seems kind of composed, like they finally got to the
lobby, like, OK, let's just get out of here.
But once the the door almost opens, Solange tries to attack
him again. Oh my God.
Julius stops her. The doors keep closing, and they
keep opening it and then closing it again and opening it, opening
again. Julius tries to calm Solange
down. And then just as they're about
to walk out the door, Solange strikes again and hits him.
They talk about, I guess they're guessing, I think they're
talking about what they're going to do.
Beyoncé's like pointing to the lobby.
And then finally they all walk out.
And as they walk out of the hotel, they're all playing it
cool. And there's a huge crowd of
people. It's just so crazy to think
about. Like if you were in that crowd,
you have no idea what. Just happened, you know.
And Beyoncé and Solange get into a car together, but Jay doesn't.
He walks away into the crowd and he gets into another car.
It's kind of scary. Like, I watch this video of what
was going on on the street and there were all these people
yelling and some people were yelling at him that he's in the
Illuminati and there's so many people.
It was kind of freaking me out. Yeah, that is in the after an
incident. Yeah, that would feel so
intense. So.
Intense. Yeah, I think the most.
Happened. I think the most telling thing
about that elevator incident is how neutral Beyoncé stays.
Like even if he did something pretty bad, like cheated on her,
I think a lot of people in that situation, if they saw their
sister getting violent with their husband, would still be
like, hey, calm down, like don't get physical.
She's just letting it happen. She's like, so he had to do
something really bad that she's like, OK, go off on him.
She's like, I'm not going to hit him, but you can if you want to,
like that has to be pretty bad, whatever he did to upset Solange
that badly. And like Solange isn't even the
one that I'm assuming it was infidelity that got cheated on.
I want. Can you imagine that?
I was just like, seems to be like a very independent woman.
She's just, like, fighting for her sister I.
Think I was going to say, Can you imagine if that happened in
our family? But I actually, with our
parents, yes. And I actually could picture
that happening. Yes.
That seems like something that would maybe not.
I don't think it ever, I don't think it ever got physical, but
I think that basically did happen.
Yes, there was a a car chase. There was.
Yes, there was a car chase. There's spying.
There's, yeah, there's a private investigator.
Yeah, a lot of drama. Yes.
But I mean, what happened? What happened?
So do you, have they ever spoken about this?
They have spoken about this. Oh wow.
But first a a source spoke about this to People magazine and this
source claimed that it's kind of crazy this is to people because
I always think of people as pretty, like, reputable.
But the source said that Solange had to run in with the fashion
designer Rachel Roy earlier in the night and said that Solange
was provoked by Rachel and said toward the end of the night, Jay
said something inappropriate to Beyoncé and Solange and she
snapped. When they got in the elevator.
It escalated quickly, the way family tensions can.
It got exceptionally heated the way family moments can.
OK, so who's Rachel Roy? Apparently she previously
interned at Rocco Wear, which is Jay-Z fashion label, and she
eventually became the creative director of the Women's and
Children's line. And in 2005, Jay bought out.
OK, this is interesting. He started the label with his
friend, the producer Damon Dash. And in 2005, Jay-Z bought Dash
out of his share. And then Rachel Roy and Dash
married. And then Roy started her own
fashion label. And then in 2009, Dash, that
friend, and Rachel Roy divorced a year after Beyoncé and Jay-Z
were married. So I don't know if like, the
people might be just speculating, but people seem to
think that some kind of interaction with this woman.
Rachel Roy set this off. People think he might have
cheated with her. Well, doesn't Rachel kind of
implicate herself later on? Do you have that in your notes?
Yeah, so later on in the future, Beyoncé has her Lemonade album
where she talks about infidelity, talking about Herman
cheating on her. And there's a lyric about Becky
with the good hair, being the woman that the man is with.
And Rachel posted a picture on Instagram of her and her friends
like having a good time, partying and the caption says
good hair, don't care, but we will take good lighting for
selfies or self truths. Always live in the light
hashtag. No drama Queens.
No Queens. Rachel, why would you implicate
yourself like that girl you know?
They just like. Not said anything and like let
people believe that you were unjustly attached to this.
Right. I don't know why she did that.
I love. But there's probably more to the
story. Like maybe she, I don't know,
like maybe she thought that like they had no relation or
something. Like, maybe Jay lied to her.
Like we don't. Really know?
Yeah, but hey, like, don't shade Beyoncé like.
You. Cheated with her?
Man, no drama Queens. Like, hey, I think you're
allowed to be dramatic if your husband cheated with someone.
But I love if you have time, Wendy Williams.
Look this up afterwards, her recapping of the elevator thing,
what she thinks happened is so funny.
Like it's like so. Long like you're.
Not going to do this with my sister here.
You're not going to do it like she like it's so funny and like
animated and I think it is what happened.
Said something inappropriate and she said not like not today.
I'm I'm done with this. I still remember this is back
when I used to watch SNL like every week, week.
I love Saturday Night Live. I remember they had a skit that
was someone's, I think, I think they still do this.
It was like someone saying what happened in the elevator and it
was that there was a spider on Jay-Z and that Solandra's trying
to get it off of him. And I still always think about
that. She was like, get it, get it,
kick it, kick it. Solange, I love you, Solange.
It's just that she was kicking a spider.
That's so funny. Yeah, seems like it was more
intense. But that is like an interesting
thing that we haven't really explored before.
Like not just getting cheated on, but if someone you love is
cheated on, that is an even different thing.
And I feel like if you're in a relationship and you get cheated
on, I feel like it's almost easier to forgive because
there's all these other things at play and like, you love them.
Like, yes, makes you willing to stick it out and forgive them,
but if someone you love gets cheated on, it's hard to repair
that relationship with that person, whether it's a
brother-in-law or a friend. Because you're not in love with
them. No, no you don't.
Have rose colored glasses. On about them, No, I mean, and
how can you trust? Them again?
Yeah, I feel that. I feel very protective of my
sisters. Yeah.
Luckily I haven't been in a situation like that, but I just
hate to see them hurt or upset, and anytime I hear about someone
being like rude to my sisters or something, I get so mad.
Oh yeah. I mean, like we said, in our
family there was a long ago, even like before we were born,
but there was a cheating scandal and it lived on and on and on,
like in the lore of our family, when people still are not over
it. No, never will be.
No, because that hurts. Like, you're not just betraying
the person you're dating, you're betraying their whole family and
their friends and everyone who loves them, too.
It's very hard to repair that trust.
What's weird is after this, their father, Matthew Knowles,
said that the elevator incident was a scheme for attention.
And. OK, here it is.
He said that they needed something to ignite that tour.
This was to KRBE radio, he said they needed something to ignite
that tour because later on they go on tour.
It's called a Jedi mind trick. The Jedi mind trick fools you a
lot of the time, so things you see sometimes are.
He gestured to, made a gesture like a puff of smoke.
All I know is everybody's talking about it.
Ticket sales went up. Solange's album sales went up to
100%. It is true that all their music,
all the sales went up, but I don't think that that's
something you can, like, fake it.
It just didn't seem like it at all.
I think he's just, yeah, maybe trying to make it seem like
their family isn't dysfunctional and like also it's all on
purpose. I feel like if it was on
purpose, you wouldn't tell us. I know that's so true.
Why would, yeah? Why would you pull back?
Either he's like blowing their cover.
Or. He's just coming up with some
story. Very weird at this point.
I don't think he's not Beyoncé's manager anymore.
He used to be, so he's kind of loose cannon right now.
Yeah, I could see just being like, OK, like one of my
daughter's is getting physical on an elevator.
I need to, yeah, I bet. I mean, maybe it's not like
crazy, but I don't think so. I mean, they have a young child
together too, like you. That's it's kind of
embarrassing. And the the footage was released
by the hotel. I think they sold it to
publication. It wasn't like they released it
themselves. I wonder how many hotels or
place establishments have crazy security.
Footage. It's kind of stressful.
Yeah, well, I mean, usually they're not like celebrities
aren't beating somebody up for the most part.
You know, I have footage of like people making out and stuff in
elevators and it'd be pretty interesting.
It seems kind of legal. I was thinking that, yeah.
But I actually sometimes OK, so sometimes in my job I do write
about security cameras and I think it's legal if there's no
audio and there is no audio. Yeah, so.
It is illegal to record somebody speaking without their consent.
Interesting. Yeah.
But you, I feel like in a hotel, even though, yeah, you're not in
your room, you're in the elevator.
Like you would assume that you're in private.
It is weird we haven't seen more videos of people just standing
in the elevator. I know we're just like walking
down the hallway. I don't know.
A few weeks after this elevator incident, Jay and Beyoncé did
not attend Kanye West and Kim Kardashians wedding, which they
were invited to. And I should mention that Jay
and Kanye have been collaborators, like friends,
brothers. They've said for years.
They've been really close. And so it was kind of a big deal
that they didn't go to this in Kanye.
I mean, this was back in the day, you know, this is before
Kanye was the way he is now. And people liked him in the.
I mean, yeah, he always had an ego, but people liked him at
this time. But yeah, Kanye told Charlemagne
the God on The Breakfast Club. He said I was hurt about them
not coming to the wedding. I understand they were going
through through some things, but if it's family or not going to
miss a wedding I. Get it?
But they had a destination wedding like they were getting
married in Italy. I know they're big celebrities,
but if your marriage is on the rocks, do you want to get in a
plane with someone and like, go to it different country with
them? Go to a wedding where there's
going to be cameras and people talking about you.
I could see Jay-Z going by himself.
Maybe, Yeah. I mean, I think that's probably
what he's more mad about. That's the fact that Jay-Z
didn't go. Yeah, but whatever, yeah.
It happens. I mean it.
Happens. I mean, yeah, they go to Italy a
lot. So, like, it doesn't seem like a
great excuse, but. No, but I mean.
I if they were truly, like maybe on the verge of breaking up or
something, I can kind of get it. Two months later, Solange
actually spoke to Lucky magazine and said what's important is
that my family and I are all good.
What we had to say collectively was in the statement that we put
out and we all feel at peace with that.
And so the statement was, it was, it was very PR, it said.
There's been a great deal of speculation about what triggered
that unfortunate incident, but the most important thing is that
our family has worked through it.
Jay and Solange each assume their shared responsibility for
what has occurred. They both acknowledge their role
in this private matter and that has played out, that has played
out in the public. They both have apologized to
each other and we have moved forward as a united family.
The reports of Solange being intoxicated or displaying
erratic behavior throughout the evening are simply false.
At the end of the day, families have problems and we're no
different. We love each other and above
all, we are family. We've put this behind us and we
hope everyone else will do the same.
I feel like if she was drunk like it would make more sense,
but. Yeah, it's.
I feel like every fight I've ever seen, people are drunk
pretty much, So it's understandable.
I've I can't remember the last time I laid my hands on someone
though out of rage it doesn't really.
It's not something that I have. Have you?
Well, probably just my brothers, like growing up when we were
kids, and we definitely would like physically fight, but
that's probably the only time. Right.
Last night Caitlin was saying that she would kill me in a
fight or like totally built, totally beat me and it was kind
of making me want to fight her. But.
Does he All right? Prove it.
Yeah, prove it, Caitlin. Yeah, I think you're going to
say that. I think.
Try it. You guys would like throw
punches sometimes, not with you, but with punches.
Not punches like one of you. One of you would like
accidentally, like, bump into the other one and then suddenly
you know a fight would break. It's true.
Normal.
It's a like it's a normal part of growing up.
Yes, but usually not when you're adults, which is why it's.
It's strange and not with your in laws, that'd be crazy.
But I mean, I think the one like the people.
I think why this resonated with people is because people can't
understand, OK, you cheated on my sister.
I'm pissed. My sister's Beyoncé.
She had birthed your child. Like I know.
You better sleep with one eye open.
Exactly. August 2014, she debuted a remix
of her song Flawless that referenced the elevator
incident. She said.
Of course, sometimes shit goes down when there's a billion
dollars on an elevator, OK? OK, billion dollars.
Is it like about a thing? No.
Is it business related? Maybe that could be just a
diversion. 2017, this is later on skipping ahead.
But he did talk about this. Jay did.
And he said we about Solange. We had one disagreement ever
before and after. We've been cool.
And he said she's like my sister.
I will protect her. That's my sister, not my
sister-in-law period. That.
Is really sweet. It is.
Sweet. That makes me think, like, yeah,
like that's probably why she was so angry, because they were so
close. So she felt very betrayed.
And you said we've always had a great relationship.
I hope that's true. Me too.
But I do think like, what are the odds your one disagreement
is on camera? Right.
And that's a if it is about cheating, like that's a big
disagree. Huge.
It has to be that because what? For what other reason would
Beyoncé just stand there and not do anything?
I know. So things seem pretty low keyed
for like the next year. I mean, things are happening,
but I didn't think there's anything to really put in the
timeline here. But in April 2015, he did post
on his Instagram private footage of their them exchanging their
vows. He's now been deleted.
He he deleted everything. He I don't even know if he has
an Instagram right now. He always does that.
Like he starts up his account, posts something and then deletes
the whole thing. But he had a video of their vows
during his opening night of their On the Run tour, which is
their joint tour. So despite all these rumours and
everything, it seems like things are still going good.
I mean, they're touring together, they're showing this
video of their vows, they're making it work.
I don't know. But he's at least putting it out
to the public that, like, we're still strong, you know?
Kind of smart to tour together, like if your marriage is not
doing so well and one person might have problems with
infidelity, like OK, we have to go and.
Tie on you? Yeah, the whole.
Time. Yeah, 2016 March 2nd, there is a
song by Fat Joe and Remy Ma that is remix of the song All the Way
Up featuring Jay-Z and on the track He raps.
You know you made it when The Factor Marriage made It is worth
Millions. Lemonade is a popular drink and
still is. Oh which Lemonade hasn't
actually come out yet the album, but he's clearly referencing the
album that's about to come out and I thought that that phrasing
was weird. Lemonade is a popular drink, and
still is, but apparently that that line is from a gang star
song from 1992. OK, well, because then a month
later, her album Lemonade comes out.
OK, huge. I wasn't this.
Also surprise a surprise drop. Am I wrong?
Yes, this was a big deal. And this was a big turning point
in Beyoncé's career. I mean, it was a lot more
political than before. This was her really embracing
her blackness, like her family's past, her upbringing in the
South. But there's also a lot of themes
about betrayal, anger, and forgiveness, which people can
assume is about Jay-Z. And there's a lot of lyrics
about Jay cheating. Some of the lyrics are things
like, OK, I just have like a bunch of phrases here.
I have what a wicked way to treat the girl who loves you.
You can taste the dishonesty. It's all over your breath.
Tonight I regret the night I put a ring.
I put that ring on and I was just wondering, what does Jay
think about this? Yeah.
It's just very interesting to me and how as a couple do they
navigate this, because usually when people write angry songs
about somebody, they're not together anymore.
It's just so interesting that they're still together.
It's so crazy when you hear some of the songs on that album and
like the female rage that you feel and like even one song,
she's of what's this? Oh my God.
I'm not going to get the lyrics right, but it's like I kind of
want to look up the lyrics. Yeah, yeah.
Go ahead. Let's imagine for a moment that
you never made a name for yourself or master wealth.
They had you labeled as a king, Never made it out the cage still
out there moving in them streets.
Never had the baddest woman in the game up in your sheets.
Would they be down to ride? No.
They used to hide from you, lie to you, But y'all know we were
made for each other. So I find you and hold you down.
It's like saying basically you wouldn't even be able to cheat
if you weren't with me and you weren't the big, like as big of
a star that you are. And I made you even bigger than
you are crazy. But like, I needed to be said,
maybe for him it's like, well, this album kind of saved our
marriage because she, like, needed to get this out and it
was therapeutic. Maybe, yeah, I because I was
wondering, like, what does he think about this?
And Vanity Fair did have an article titled What Does Jay-Z
Think of Lemonade? And in the article, I mean, they
just pulled together a lot of quotes from other places, but it
said Jay was involved in the creation of Lemonade and knew
every song BAE was going to release.
A source close to the couple tells E He knew the lyrics, he
knew the implications, he had to approve the songs before
release. Jay is all about
self-expression, so he gets it. Beyoncé shares music before it's
released with Jay so he can listen and share his thoughts.
When it comes to music, they're very in it together and
supportive of each other's craft.
Yeah, I mean according to this, I'm sorry.
According to the same person, Jay-Z also saw a personal upside
to the album. Jay is very smart businessman.
Bottom line is they're both really smart and they both saw
dollar signs. Oh yeah, that makes sense.
I mean, like, you're gonna say I could see them both as artists
being like we can separate our relationship and our personal
feelings with like the art that we're creating.
Maybe that was healing for them to separate their story in that
way and then like, it helps them move past it like they OK, well
we went through this like really shitty thing, but now we have
this really artistic and also true lucrative project that we
got from it, so it's worth it in the long run.
I do think that that would suck for him to get hate from the
beehive of as they call himself. But I don't think that people
that listen to Jay-Z and like his music would really care.
I don't think that it would affect his career.
I don't think so, in my opinion. I almost think this is weird.
I don't know. I was almost thinking like about
the stabbing story. Like, I think I hope it isn't
like a bad generalization, but it's like in a lot of rap songs
in that industry, in that scene, it's like kind of an
understandment that men cheat and it's talked about in a lot
of songs. And he does talk about it too.
And like, I don't know if he, I think it was a risk, but I don't
think that he thought that was going to like tank his.
Career. Yeah, I mean, I it's so
unfortunate. We've covered.
We've talked about this on the podcast many times.
Like, I think in a lot of male dominated spaces like rap, like
rock'n'roll, like sports, it is the norm and socially acceptable
to cheat. And it's almost like, I bet
maybe embarrassing if you are faithful among like in front of
your peers or your boys, because like everybody is just cheating
and like it's expected of you. I do wonder about, like the
extent to things went, because I do wonder, is that really the
only woman he cheated with? I bet not.
And then sometimes I do wonder, do they have some kind of
understanding? Yeah.
Because why? Maybe she is just, maybe she has
just completely forgiven him and they just completely moved past
it. And it's beautiful and glorious
and it was hard and everything, but like, I just, I mean, maybe
I'm just putting them too high on a pedestal, but I just find
it so hard to believe that, like these huge stars that she would
put up with that. And you know what I mean?
Like, I just wonder. Well, like that sucks.
It's a it's a conspiracy if they if they could have.
Standing like unless, like you're saying.
I mean like an open relationship.
Yeah, like if she cheats with other people too.
Not cheats, but like that's yeah, that's just a speculation
but some people do think it could be possible.
But I don't know. It's just an idea, but it it's
just hard to wrap my head around that like he could, he would do
that to Beyoncé. I know, You know, yeah,
literally. Like, she, like, she said, I
think, isn't there also a song where she's like, why don't you
see me? Everybody else does.
Like everybody else loves her. Like, why are you treating her
this way? I bet.
I almost wonder, though if, like, there's part of him that
feels inferior, like, because, you know, Obama said he's not as
popular as his wife, Everybody loves his wife.
And I think that can make some men very insecure, and what
might give them a temporary ego boost would be getting attention
from someone who is less famous, who they can easily cheat with.
Yeah, yeah, I think that for sure happens.
You know, he could be even, like, subconsciously trying to,
like, prove that. Like, yeah, I deserve to be with
the most beautiful, powerful woman on the world.
And, like, she is lucky to be with me because people want me
to, you know what I mean? Like, trying to justify it.
But like, a month after this album dropped, despite all the,
like, rage and betrayal and everything in the album, she
performed in Miami. And before he started the song
Halo, she said she dedicated to my beautiful husband.
I love you so much. And he was in the audience
watching, so they seem OK. And what I thought was
interesting is one of the most scathing songs in the album
called Love Drought. It appears to be about Jay.
But her Co writer, actually the the rapper Ingrid, came forward
and said that she wrote the lyrics and that it wasn't about
Jay-Z at all. The thing about that though is I
feel like it is still a choice to include the song on the
album. And so even if you didn't write
it, it might be like, well, these lyrics resonated with me.
That's true. You know the implication.
It will still have and so. It was interesting though,
because she said that the lyrics were not about Beyoncé directly,
but about Beyoncé's team. I guess to the lyrics of the
song are 10 times out of nine, I know you're lying, but nine
times out of 10, I know you're trying.
So I'm trying to be fair. Trying to be there and to care.
And you've caught up in your permanent emotions.
All the loving I've been giving goes unnoticed.
It's just floating in the air. Looky there.
Aren't you aware you're my lifeline?
Are you trying to kill me? If I wasn't there, would you
still feel me like on my worst day Or am I not thirsty enough?
I don't care about the lights or the beams.
Spend my life in the dark for the sake of you and me.
Only way to go is up. Skin thick, too tough.
So the lyrics, I guess I just was interesting that it was
inspired about her frustration with the label because I guess
Beyoncé's teams said that Beyoncé, they lied to her and
said she wasn't listening to any new music, like she wasn't
taking any songs from writers at the moment.
But then found out that four days later found out that she
was and she had been working with Beyoncé and she just felt
frustrated that they were like her life, lying like her work
and they were lying to her. And I don't know.
It's just it it's interesting to me that, like, connected to the
production of the music. But yeah, it's true.
Like why would Beyoncé choose to put that song on the album?
She definitely wanted people to think it was about Jay-Z, so.
But the other thing I remember at the time, people pushing back
on the idea that it was autobiographical or about Jay-Z
and saying, like, wow, this album is meant to be a
representation of, like, the black female experience that
Beyoncé is embodying and like, she's betraying.
Like things that black women go through.
And her Her dad cheated on her mom.
Yeah. Exactly.
It's like a very universal thing.
Yeah. I mean, I think.
I think Jizzy did cheat. I'm not saying he.
Didn't I like? She's definitely drawing on
personal experience. Yeah.
But I'm not saying he didn't at all.
But I'm just saying that it might not be as like line for
line. Yeah, you know.
Autobiographical, I agree. And like that's amazing.
Lemonade, such a great album because like it really did speak
to somebody. Like it was bigger than Beyoncé.
That's I do think it should have won album of the year that year.
Yeah. As Adele.
My friend Brittany shout out. I always talk about her.
She actually made CD copies of that album and gave them to all
of us are friends because she just thought that everybody
needed to hear it and she wanted to make sure that everybody
heard it. So I still have ACD with like a
homemade cover from Britney. So thank you.
Fiance attended the Met Gala shortly after all of this solo,
after releasing Lemonades. People were kind of like, oh,
what's going on? She's by herself.
But then she had that like tribute to him at her concert,
so they seem OK And then October 2016 he performed at the final
show of Beyoncé's tour. And then also in October, they
dressed up as Barbie and Ken for Halloween.
Oh, but ahead of their time. Yeah, they were ahead of their
time. I don't know if I have time to
include this, but just like more of Kanye just feeling the
Illuminati fire that at his show in 2016, he on stage started
like ranting about Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
And OK, maybe I'll just read it, he said.
Like, you know, I'm going to keep it real with you.
Beyoncé. I was hurt because I heard you
said you wouldn't perform unless you won Video of the Year over
me and over Hotline Bling, in my opinion.
Now don't go dissing Beyoncé. She's great.
Taylor Swift is great. We're all great people, we're
all equal. But sometimes we'd be playing
the politics too much to forget who we are just to win.
Fuck winning. Fuck looking cool.
Fuck being cool.
Fuck all that bra. And then he says Jay-Z.
Call me bra. You still ain't called me.
Jay-Z Call me. I know you got killers.
Please don't sound them at my head.
Just call me, talk, talk to me like a man.
Oh, Kanye, he's. He does say that stuff about so
many people, though. He I think he was like accusing
Kris Jenner of stuff recently. Yeah.
And this was around the time that he was, like, having
hallucinations and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
So it's complicated. But this definitely did fuel the
fires even more that people are like, Oh my God, Jay-Z, he's
like. Illuminati.
He's had people killed. Yeah.
But I mean, I'm sure Kanye knows that people say that about him.
So he's like, this is going to get?
Attention. Yeah, so it seems like they're
not friends anymore. No, they probably got so annoyed
by him, I'm guessing. I know it's.
Probably hard to be friends with.
I know. I just thought that was
interesting. I wanted to mention it, but
yeah, they were busy. They had a lot going on.
They probably don't have time to, like, really care about
this. And they moved to LA to they
previously had been living primarily in New York, but they
moved to LA. They enrolled Blue Ivy in a
private school there, a school recommended by Gwyneth Paltrow.
Wow, They're really good friends.
Yeah, they are. And in December, Beyoncé threw
Jay a surprise birthday party. And Kelly Rowland was there too,
from Destiny's Child. And then 2017, it's announced
that Beyoncé's expecting twins. I'm sorry, I know this is going
along. We're almost at the end and I
feel like this. Could we just be speculating?
But I feel like to avoid the accusations again about the fake
pregnancy, she posted this beautiful photo of herself
holding her bare belly, and she has this pale green veil over
herself and she's surrounded by flowers.
It's a very beautiful picture, but she's clearly showing like,
yes, I'm pregnant. Yeah, here's my stomach.
And there were a couple other like photo shoots of her, like
clearly showing her stomach. So.
I remember where I was. It's interesting.
When I saw this, I was in class. Yeah, pulled up the Instagram
first picture. My jaw dropped.
I was like, Oh my God, so it's real this?
Time that was that, yeah. The picture was a big deal.
Twins. That's crazy that she's someone
who has given birth to twins because that's a pretty
dangerous pregnancy. I mean, I know a lot of people
do it, but like, yeah, I'm a twin, but like, oh, that takes a
lot out of you. I mean, I don't know for sure.
I was on the different end of it, so.
But took a lot out of you being born.
Well, I, you know, like a lot of times when you have twins, like
they're premature. They probably have to spend a
lot of time in the NICU and. That's a lot and.
It's crazy. She really does it all.
She does. And yeah, they were born in
June. Rumi and Sir.
I feel like we've talked about Sir on the podcast before.
Or was it off the mic? What a.
Strange name. Pretty ridiculous name, Sir.
Like imagine his teacher in class being like.
Sir. Sit down Sir.
Sir, Sir, listen up like. That's not we were joking about.
Imagine if someone was named Ma'am, Ma'am, Ma'am, Ma'am.
Ma'am. Very formal.
I don't like it. I hope he's going to.
Be a serious dude, Sir. I like roomy though.
Roomies. Cute.
Maybe it was spelled like SUR Sir and it was after like big
Sir or something. But Sir like Sir Carter it's
just or like it's like Mr. Sir Carter.
It's not a name and it's not cute.
It's not like. No, you need.
A name that's very serious. Adulthood and for childhood.
Yeah, roomy's cute though. Yeah, that is cute.
Yeah, adorable. I wonder what later on.
They got that roomy. Yeah, I don't know.
Probably could have looked into it, but I didn't.
Later on Jay-Z that year, he released his 13th album.
So much for retiring and 4:44. As I've said, four is their
number. And he does talk about his past
infidelities on the album. He says I apologize.
Our love was one for the ages and I contained us.
And if my children knew, I don't even know what I would do.
If they ain't look at me the same.
I would probably die with all the shame.
They probably will find out. Oh it's for sure.
All out there and it's in your song.
You're just. I.
Think that, like at least he's owning up to it, I guess.
That does really stick with children, one parent being
unfaithful to the other. It sucks.
And then I feel like kids grow up thinking, like, will that
happen to me or will I do the same thing?
Yeah, hopefully they don't hear it until they're older.
Yeah. In 2017, he did an interview for
New York Times with Dean Baquet, and I won't read the whole
thing, but he just, he talked about infidelity and he he
really brought it up. I feel like Dean wasn't even,
like, pressing him. He he was just pretty like open
about it and about making the music and how it was cathartic
for them. And yeah, I might just, I might
just skip it because it's getting wrong.
But he he was just very forthcoming about it.
And I feel like nowadays it seems like at least when I was
just going through all the news articles over the years, it
seems like he was talking about their lives.
Yeah, more than her. Like he was opening up a lot
more frequently than She really doesn't talk about her personal
life anymore. It's just kind of like in the
music, she doesn't really sit down and talk about things very
often anymore. Yeah, he in 2018 did an
interview for CNN with Fan Jones, and he once again talked
about cheating and said that the best apology has changed
behavior and that the other side is beautiful, at least for us,
and said that the twins were great.
He said we're in a beautiful time now because they're seven
months and they can't move. They just COO, they just COO and
you don't have to wait, wait, wait.
You know, they're not running around yet.
We just get to enjoy these couple of months until they
start running and then it's over.
Would you mind if I go to the bathroom again?
Oh yeah, go ahead. I'll be right back.
Maybe I will too. OK, all right.
I'm back. Oh.
My gosh, what? Sorry, this is so.
Long. No.
It's honestly like shorter than some of our other episodes.
Wasn't John Mayer and Taylor Swift and Taylor Swift and Joe
Owen like 3 hours? I think I I don't know if they
were officially 3 hours, but they were closed.
Yeah, but I I only have a page and a half left.
No, honestly, I think. It's, it's.
Shorter than I expected. Anyway, September they went to
Sardinia to celebrate Beyoncé's 36th birthday.
In an Instagram post is a very natural picture of her and Jay
outside. And you know, natural light
looked very normal with a birthday cake.
And in the post she revealed that they had renewed their
vows. So, OK, they're serious about
staying together. And you know, next step,
renewal, all of that. And a month later, they released
a joint album by the Carters. They called it called Everything
Is Love. I feel like this album wasn't
that huge. I didn't really hear about it.
Yeah, you know, it wasn't lemonade level, but there were
some lyrics that gave some insight into the relationship on
the song. Nice, she said.
Last name going to be here forever.
On the song heard about us, they said we're the ones y'all
worried about. We good, we good.
Keep us out of your mouth. If you don't know, now you know,
OK. And Beyoncé, also on the album,
said, yeah, you fucked up the first stone.
We had to get remarried. You did some things to me, boy.
You did some things to me. But love is deeper than your
pain. And I believe you can change.
Baby. The ups and downs are worth it.
Long way to go. But we'll work it.
We're flawed but we're still perfect for each other.
Sometimes I thought. I thought we'd never see the
light. Went through hell with heaven on
our side. The this speech ain't always no
been no paradise. But nightmares only last one
night. Very positive.
Yeah. I mean, I hope so.
I do think, like, if they went through all of that together and
then they're both so public about it and he's so forthcoming
about how he's messed up, that does instill some trust that
like, OK, if he like were to fuck up again after they go
through all of that, I I just say no.
It seems like there's probably like more stopping him now
because he like, understands the consequences more.
But does he, like she did, forgive him, so I'm not sure.
I know Sometimes I do feel, like cynical.
Like, is this just like the story they're telling?
Us. Yeah, I know.
I don't know. But that's the story they're
telling us that it seems like they're strong and they've moved
on and they've renewed their vows.
And it does seem like they're always together, like always
working together that like there's less.
Opportunities to cheat. That's true.
They are always together. They do prioritize their
relationship and like made their true.
Male. They're they're definitely not
one of those couples. It's like we rarely see each
other. Oh yeah, they are together a
lot. So that that's true, Yeah.
And then 2019, they're touring together again and Yep, they
their net worth surpasses a billion.
In 2021, there were were they two stories that came out about
Beyoncé having been with other men and they might not be true.
One of them is pretty innocent, actually.
The producer, Benny Blanco was on the Zane Lowe show, and he
told a story about how he once accidentally kissed Bey Beyoncé
on the lips when he meant to kiss her goodbye on the cheek,
and that Jay-Z was right there and he was terrified.
He says that no one noticed. No one said anything.
No. Yeah, she's not cheating with
him. No, he's.
I thought that was just funny. Yeah.
Then there's this other story, and this is actually has kind of
a trail to it. There's a lot of stories about
her having something with the rapper Sean Paul.
But it might have been like so long ago, like back in the
beginning of their relationship when they maybe weren't even
official or I don't know. But they did do a song together,
baby boy. And Sean Paul was on a radio
show when he talked about, he claimed that Jay wasn't
comfortable with his collaboration with Beyoncé on
Baby Boy because he didn't like them spending time together.
And he's clarified. And he said it was a radio show
here in Jamaica. And I get this regularly.
I don't know what it is people are like.
So tell me. And it gets to that part in the
interview where they're like, what happened with you and
Beyoncé? Nothing really happened.
The hit song was dope. And then he went on to mean what
he meant by nothing really happened.
And he said, you know some of them made-up their own mind that
that's the whatever. Sometimes with interviews you
can say I'd rather not speak about it.
And then people think something was going on.
So I was trying to defend it like, hey, Nah, but weird things
did happen. Yeah, because that's probably
why there were rumors. But people leave out.
That's probably the rumors part. And the weird he then he he got
he like created a mess because then people were like, what do
you mean by weird things happen And there was like something
about the music or whatever. So I don't really know what was
going on with that. I don't think he's.
For attention, Yeah, it seems like it.
I I agree. I don't know why.
Like at around this time it was like within the same month both
of these stories came out. But I think people are probably
just trying to. Yeah.
Stir up controversy, You know, probably nothing happened. 2022
Beyoncé released her Renaissance album, which is very much like a
club dance, more like electronic type album.
And I mean, I don't really go to clubs, so I haven't heard it as
much. But people have talked about how
like at the club they'll just play this whole album straight
through and how you never see that.
And it's it's it's been such a monumental album.
And she did not win album of the year again at the Grammys.
And Jay-Z was really upset about that.
Yeah. And was kind of like speaking
about it. And I just got to say, this
might be controversial, but I just don't care.
Yeah. Because Beyoncé has won 32
Grammys. She's won every, like more
Grammys than anybody else. Yeah, she's never won album. 32
But who cares? But so many people have never
won a single Grammy. Bob Marley never won a Grammy.
Jimi Hendrix never won a Grammy ABBA Queen.
I made a list. The Who?
The Beach Boys, The Beatles only won seven Grammys.
Like I just don't. Care also sounds like, I just
like don't care about the Grammys in general.
I think it's like I think it's like cringe when some
celebrities like Taylor Swift and people are obsessed with the
Grammys. Like, OK, it's just whatever
Music is popular, and it's entirely subjective.
It's not it's it's even like worse than the Oscars.
Like it's like. It oh, it's way worse.
It has not a lot of merit in my opinion.
I mean, at least the Oscars, they, I feel like it is legit
because they do reward movies that no one's really seen.
Yeah. So I think that people are
actually voting for what they think is best in their industry.
But yeah, I mean, she has 32. I do.
It just seems poor taste of him to keep talking.
I don't know. I do think that.
And also I feel like Beyoncé probably doesn't want him to.
Like, I feel she doesn't really like when people are like
advocating for her on her behalf.
And yeah, I agree, like kind of undermining other people.
But I mean, I do think Renaissance probably should have
beat Harry's house. Harry Styles, I do feel like I
actually don't listen to Renaissance that often.
There's a couple songs on there that I like.
But like you said, it sounds like it was huge in clubs and
like the concert. Well, actually it's, they're not
judging it off the concert. So I don't know, it's tough.
I think it did have a bigger impact.
Probably than Harry Styles album.
Same with lemonade. Even though Adele's album people
really like, but I don't know, I think for Jay-Z he was like
speaking to the Grammys generally don't reward like
black artists or more hip hop artists as much.
The album of the year for. Album of the year specifically.
But yeah, like you said, Beyoncé has so many Grammys that it just
kind of seemed almost like he was embarrassing her a little
bit by talking about that on stage.
Yeah, like she was looking at her.
She was like like, OK, yeah. I I.
It is interesting that he said some of you don't belong in the
category I I like looking at the whole list.
I was like, who is he talking about?
Oh, who do? You think?
I don't know. Like maybe boy genius.
You guys know I love Phoebe Bridger's music.
I and I I like all three of those are I I do like boy Genius
like their EPA lot. But I agree.
Yeah, I agree. If that's I don't think they
should have been nominated for best.
I didn't think that album was like.
Maybe Miley Cyrus for endless summer vacation.
Maybe. I don't know.
Better hope he's not talking about Lana Del Rey.
I don't think so. No, probably not.
Talking about Taylor Swift. Maybe.
Could be probably. Not how do I see the list.
How do I find the list of albums?
I just like to have Album of the Year 2024 nominees.
Sizza for SOS Olivia Rodrigo Guts.
How many? How many albums are in the
category? Let.
Me see if. Some of you shouldn't be in the
category. Oh my God, that.
Was ballsy. He said that there was 123-4568
people nominated or 8 artists nominated.
It was Jon Baptiste, World Music Radio, The Record Boy Genius,
Endless Summer Vacation, Miley Cyrus.
Did you know there's a tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.
Lana Del Rey, The Age of Pleasure, Janelle Monáe Guts.
Olivia Rodrigo Midnight's Taylor Swift SOS Scissor who does not
belong in the category. It's so subjective.
Anyway, yeah. Then there was recently an
article. I just thought it was
interesting that Jay-Z revealed that Blue Ivy's name was
originally going to be Brooklyn. And he said that was the name we
had in theory. But when we got the little
sonograms, you know, they're super small.
And we were calling her Blueberry.
It was just a nickname for nine months we were like, look at
little Blueberry. And then we just took the Berry
off and called her Blue. Oh, that's cute.
I mean, I do still think it is very odd that his ex was named
Blue, but maybe he wasn't even thinking about that.
I know. I don't think they were that
serious. Yeah.
Sorry to Blue Cattrall. I think her name was.
That is cute. Maybe he wasn't.
I do think of Blues clues like it is really a cute.
It is, I think. I think blue is a good one.
It's creative, but it's still cute.
And it it sounds like a name. Yeah, works.
But yeah, that's actually like the end of my timeline.
I mean, Beyoncé's going country, Jay-Z doing his business stuff,
but they're still together. They're still pretty solid.
They're older now. I mean, he's 54.
Mom. Yeah, I hope.
They seem, I think they seem good.
Right now, they do seem very united.
Yes. Is that one of your words?
They do it's, it's strong. Strong, yeah.
They seem like a strong power couple, like they've weathered
the storm and that they're stronger for what they've gone
through. At least that's what they want
us to believe. I would have a very hard time if
someone had cheated on me ever, ever trusting them ever again,
because I feel like that is traumatizing, But it is.
I'm happy for them. Don't often see people work
through that. Yeah, I think this show this is,
it's definitely. An exception, and I feel like
the art is like what helped them get through it, that they could
like remove themselves from it, create something and then.
Yeah. Put that out there.
And she just seems really strong and like she does have her mind
looking forward. And she is very ambitious.
And I think not just about her career but also about her
marriage and about her family. And I think that she just
doesn't give up. And yeah, but I think I hope
that he really has. And he's talked about like he's
been to therapy and so it seems like he has been doing the work.
Yeah. So hopefully that's true.
I mean, that would suck to lose Beyoncé after everything, so I
wish I'm nothing but the best. But if they broke up, I would
definitely pick. Her.
Me too. Me too.
He definitely had some eyebrow raising moments throughout this
story. Yeah.
Should we say Odd they stay Together 5050?
Oh, which is? Yeah, pretty high for a
celebrity couple, I'll say. Yeah, I'll say 60.
Yeah, just because it's been so long.
And plus, I do have a billion dollars.
Like, that would be a messy divorce.
Yeah. You do wonder in those
situations, like I guess you were saying, like if they could
have an agreement, like you get to a point where you're so
powerful. It's just.
You're just like Better Together.
It's almost like a royal couple. They seem that way.
I mean, they are just people at the end of the day, but it
sometimes just seems that way. Things might things might be
different for people like that. I don't know.
I'm sure. Anyway, that's that's Fiance and
Jay-Z. Thank you for listening.
Thank you, Kelly, for I've always seen this episode.
This was so entertaining and I know it was a long one and you
were nervous, but it was so engaging throughout the whole
episode. It was great and it'll be a
great episode. You were a great listener and
host. So can you tease our next
episode? Next episode.
I would be very surprised if somebody guessed this, but I
wanted to do something more historic.
It's kind of been a while and I was really feeling the Wild West
maybe. I think I was influenced by
several things, but maybe slightly influenced by Beyoncé's
song. So this episode is a couple from
the old Wild West, Old West, and you may have heard of one of
these people. I think one of these people they
named drop giddy up them in The Parent Trap.
Oh Yep, you heard it. That's our hint.
That's it, I think. A major hint.
That's something. Like, I just, like, did it all
right. I don't even remember that part.
Yeah, I think they don't. But I think it's going to be
fun. It's going to be a good vibe.
So thank you guys for listening. Yeah.
And we will get back together next week.
Bye. Is your heart filled with pain?
Shall I come back again? Tell me, dear.