Page 53 - Provoke Magazine Vol2

Following the mishap, the world in which Beyoncé fans lived in grew quiet. We waited 2 years and on April 23rd, 2016 we awoke to a surprise visual album; Lemonade. That album spewed sour truths as any lemon would. When you are committed to your love and what it stands for and all that you have invested, you become an alchemist. You mix all that you have, good and bad, to make something new, something better, something sweet to drink and I don’t think anything else could have been more profound, raw and truthful. I cried many times as she told her story of the Family Feud. The album encouraged so much healing. I felt renewed and understood as I remembered my past lover, playing her al- bum, caught up in my own form of Déjà Vu. She took us on a journey of the pain that was lived for generations. She shared remedies from her grandmother, transgressions of her father and jabs at her wayward husband. In all this pain and rage she managed to give the world a punchline, “Becky, with the good hair.” In his follow up album, 4:44, Jay even tells the “Becky” to “let him alone.”
Jay – Z, the bad boy, bowed to his Queen in front of the world as he followed up with an album, admitting he was wrong, speaking on the things he hadn’t addressed in his life and what it led to in their home. It was his reconcilia- tion masterpiece, expressing shortcomings, talking about abandoning the inconsiderate and deceitful ways he held to. “What would my kids think if they knew?” he questions on one of the tracks. As one of the most hailed rappers with a documented history of as many drug sales as album sales, each going platinum, this man is a force to be reckoned. He
isn’t just a retired dealer, he is legitimately a self-made busi- ness mogul. Frankly, there isn’t anyone else in Hollywood that he could stand by and it make sense. I don’t think wifey had to beg for this album, I believe love won and Jay wrote his apology and expressed himself in ways other black men stopped to take notice of. It sparked a conversation amongst them on what it looked to grow away from the survival tac- tics that are instilled in them. The rejection of and disregard to love, even when they know it is there. It was a beautiful thing to see these stars be vulnerable. Granted we had to pay to get access to these stories, I think we would all feel better if we learned to express our truths and capitalize from our pain.
In 2014, the couple publicly faced a humiliating scandal. In 2016 we received Beyoncé’s story, followed by Jay’s admission and personal reproach the very next year. In 2018 we were blessed with a full collaborative album by the 2 as a unit. In a 4 year span, we saw a happy and healed power couple bounce back; happily singing we know you Hear About Us, but watch your mouth. I don’t have the space to write the book that I could on the couple and the Blueprint they have made as in- dividuals. I do hope I have made you believe that true love can change even the toughest of hearts. Love can heal a man and a nation. Everything Is Love, Mr. & Mrs. Carter, thank you for fighting back with just that. The world needs more of it.
Take your little lemons, make Lemonade... Andrea Pernell
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