The star dropped the 12-song offering on Tidal, the struggling streaming music service owned by her husband Jay Z and a bunch other stars.
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Joining us with more is Salamishah Tillet, a scholar and professor on black women performers at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Quite frankly, I wish that Beyoncé held off on this whole album until Prince…until the entire weekend kind of blew over”, Williams argued during Monday’s episode of The Wendy Williams Show. On “Don’t Hurt Yourself”, she becomes angriest about his betrayal, singing “Who the f-ck do you think are ya?/You aren’t married to no average b-tch, boy” with vocal effects that create a shrieking quality.
The cheating rumors have swirled since that security camera footage surfaced in May 2014, showing Solange Knowles, Beyonce’s sister, physically attacking Jay Z in an elevator while Beyonce stood by. Fans on social media believe that the R&B mom is referring to fashion designer Rachel Roy whose been rumored to be the mistress in Jay Z’s alleged extramarital affair. “They watch this and are moved by the message and in many instances can understand and feel her pain so I don’t know for sure he cheated on her. I do know no matter what, open honesty or brilliant marketing it, has touched a chord and will sell like insane”, he said.
She was violent at times; there were moments highlighting infamous pop culture moments highlighting the importance of African-American women, as well as the moment where we have images of the mothers who lost their sons after being killed by police officers.
“Beyonce [five years ago] was unrecognizable from the militant activist we see now”. Beyond sharing revealing, if still largely figurative, lyrics, Beyoncé may never reveal the specifics behind her songs.
He finished off the piece by saying he preferred what he knew as the “old Beyonce”, one he said seemed more focused on showcasing her talent-and not her race. But we are quite sure that the R&B superstar won’t be upset if that happens.
And she features someone like Nina Simone in this.
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JEFFREY BROWN: Salamishah Tillet, thank you very much.
