On one level, Dangerously in Love – previously recorded by Destiny’s Child – is a decent, standard-issue R&B ballad, nothing like as distinctive as Beyoncé’s greatest songs. Photograph: Kevin Winter/BET/Getty Images for BET 27. The live version on Homecoming amps things up even further, stirring Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir into the mix.Īt the 2016 BET awards in Los Angeles. Don’t Hurt Yourself (2016)ĭon’t Hurt Yourself’s co-author Jack White compared Beyoncé’s voice to that of Betty Davis, and there’s a definite hint of Davis’s raging rock/funk hybrid about Lemonade’s most aggressive track. Beneath its heartbroken lyrics about a failed relationship lurks a subtle, sad excoriation of what would now be called male privilege, the lyrics smartly switching between exploring the topic and suggesting how it might be altered.

It’s lovely: a great song, beautifully sung, with Beyoncé admirably uncowed by the presence of a soul titan.Īs acoustic-guitar-driven, powerfully sung mainstream R&B power ballads go, If I Were a Boy is an impressively original example of type. The Closer I Get to You (feat Luther Vandross) (2003)Īs far removed as you can get from the innovations of the Beyoncé album or Lemonade, The Closer I Get to You is a slick cover of a 1977 Roberta Flack-Donny Hathaway duet, with Luther Vandross filling the Hathaway role.

Jay Z and his mother, Gloria Carter, established the Shawn Carter Foundation in 2003 to help individuals facing socio-economic hardships and empower youth and communities in need through a scholarship fund, college tours, study abroad experiences, counseling initiatives, and giveback programs.30.

Did you know? The Recording Academy New York Chapter honored Jay Z, Mariah Carey, Yoko Ono and John Lennon, and film composer Howard Shore as 2005 recipients of The Recording Academy Honors.

Former President Barack Obama named Jay Z as one of his favorite rappers along with Kendrick Lamar, Chance The Rapper and Drake.

He made his GRAMMY performance debut at the 48th GRAMMY Awards in 2006 when he teamed with Linkin Park and Paul McCartney for a medley of 'Numb/Encore' and 'Yesterday.' Currently tied with Kanye West, Jay Z holds the distinction of rapper with the most GRAMMY wins in history.

Jay Z took home his first GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for Vol.

1 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the Top 20 mainstream hit, 'Can I Get A.

In 1998 Jay Z released his breakthrough album, Vol.'A poet's mission is to make words do more work than they normally do, to make them work on more than one level.'

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