Solange’s slap heard around the world, which was aimed at her brother-in-law JAY-Z for allegedly cheating on Beyoncé, went down at The Standard’s Le Bain nightclub in 2014. Interestingly enough, the address of that building is 444 West 13th Street, the same sequence of numbers used to christen JAY-Z’s latest album.
TMZ exposed the melee between JAY and Bey’s little sister in the elevator after they had left a Met Gala afterparty. Many speculated Solange was defending Beyoncé because he was reportedly engaging in some kind of inappropriate activity with Dame Dash’s ex-wife Rachel Roy.
These were all rumors back then. The only proof anyone had was the ass whooping JAY took in the elevator, while Queen Bey looked on and their bodyguard Julius refereed.
As fans began to theorize about what happened between The Carters that night, the parties involved were busy putting the incident into song for our listening pleasure.
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In April 2016, Beyoncé released LEMONADEand fueled rumors that JAY-Z had cheated with a certain “Becky-with-the-good-hair” type. Then, Solange came through with her sonically impressiveA Seat At The Table in late September 2016. Finally, JAY-Z confirmed it all with 4:44 in June 2017 (and we got a dope freestyle from Blue Ivy).
In a comments he made to iHeartRadio, JAY-Z revealed that 4:44 represents the time he woke up and wrote the project’s title track, which included an indication that he did, in fact, cheat on Queen Bey.
So, it all comes full circle. Instead of continuing to let a famed gossip rag earn ad dollars off a private family fight, they all consequently released albums. Now, they will be the main ones getting the bag from performing songs about the infamous event instead of the media reporting about it.
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LEMONADE earned Beyoncé a Peabody Award, two Grammy Awards, nine Grammy nominations (three of them for “Formation”), four Primetime Emmy Award nominations, 11 2016 MTV Video Music Award nominations, and sold over two million copies worldwide. It was also certified platinum in June 2016, just two months after its release.
A Seat At The Table, which includes songs like “Cranes In The Sky” and “Don’t Touch My Hair,” earned Solange an #1 album on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums charts. “Cranes in the Sky” became Solo’s first Grammy nomination and win for Best R&B Performance.
JAY-Z’s album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 upon its release, boasting 262,000 album equivalent units sold (174,000 of them in pure album sales). Seven out of the 10 tracks hit the R&B/Hip Hop Single Sales chart. 4:44 was released just in time to be considered for the 2018 Grammy Awards nominations, so there’s a possibility Hov could score a gramophone for his musical confession.
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JAY won a Best Album Grammy for 1998’s Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life, which was the first and last for him. Perhaps 4:44 will change that.
