- [Woman] The Hive is coming.
Just be prepared.
- With me, today, I've got a delightful panel
of Beyonce and Mr. Knowles-Carter experts.
We're gonna break down everything
that went down in that elevator
and why Beyonce is the smartest business woman alive.
- Amen.
- So, let's take things back.
Our story begins on May 5, 2014,
the night of the Met Gala at The Standard hotel.
It is rumored that, earlier in the night,
Solange had an encounter with
the designer, Rachel Roy.
According to a source that spoke to People magazine,
Solange was provoked.
And according to sources at Us Weekly,
Solange may have been yelling at a group of people
and Roy was in that group.
During the disagreement, the source says
that Beyonce also got in the middle of it.
However, it is unknown what the fight was about.
- Here is my theory.
They dragged them into that elevator
and they were like, this is about to go down,
we need to seclude whatever is about to happen.
- Insider source said when they got in the elevator,
it escalated quickly, the way family tensions can.
Things got further heated when Jay said
something inappropriate to Beyonce and Solange.
This is what caused Solange to snap.
- [Sam] She was like right in there.
- [Tristan] Right in the groin.
- [Andrea] Came in ready.
- [Destinee] Did not let up!
- [Tristan] He's not very good at blocking, either.
- [Girls] No.
- [Sam] Wait, where is Beyonce?
She's just-- - In the corner, down there.
- [Destinee] Right there.
She just stood in front.
- [Sam] She's just like, soaking it in.
- She's like, go sis, go sis. - Absolutely.
- Yup, yup. - Take it, take it.
- [Sam] Oh, my God, that kick.
- Aw, dang. - Whoa!
- She did nothing, until she got forcibly moved.
- Yeah.
- She did nothing until she got forcibly moved.
- [Sam] She's just like, oh, yeah,
you don't step on Givenchy, like--
(girl laughing)
- Solange was like, Mayweather fighting.
- I will say that I don't like the language
that a lot of people use when describing this.
Like, the Solange attack.
- Right.
- It's like, I don't think it's--
- That's an attack.
- He was prepared.
So, is it an attack?
- Yeah.
- It's not like it came out of nowhere.
- Still an attack.
- I don't know what other kind of word you would use.
- Defense.
- What was she defending?
- Her sister's honor.
(group laughing)
I'm sorry, if somebody were to be cheatin' on my sister
the way Jay was cheatin' on B...
- [Sam] Right.
- Don't gotta spit, though.
- No, but, you know, ehh.
- I wanna talk about how collected she was
the entire time it was happening.
- [Sam] Doesn't lift a finger,
except to protect her dress.
- [Destinee] Priorities.
- [Sam] Yeah!
- [Andrea] I think she's the type of person
who saves it for the house.
- [Destinee] Oh, yeah, good tongue-lashing.
(group laughing)
- TMZ acquires this footage.
At the time, this was a tabloid spectacle.
10 days after the incident,
the three of them released a shared statement
about what happened.
Jay and Solange each assume their share
of responsibility for what has occurred.
- Yeah, she fought him, don't worry about it.
- [Sam] The summer following the elevator incident
Beyonce and Jay are on this massive stadium tour.
The couple is plagued by rumors
that their marriage is in crisis mode
and they're barreling towards a divorce.
That year, Beyonce was also seen
house hunting alone in Manhattan.
It's crazy to like go on tour with your spouse
while you're like potentially, imminently breaking up.
- Here is the thing with Beyonce.
She will not let you know anything that is going on
until she is ready for you to know.
You can speculate all you want.
We can be like, oh, yeah, they're going through a divorce
and she's like, we're going on tour together.
- [Sam] Yeah, just the thought of them separating
is seismic.
- I think they're considered American royalty.
- Oh, yeah. - Yeah.
- Oh, yeah.
- Once you get to that contract, boo boo,
there's no getting out.
- It's like it's as much business
as it is personal at that point.
- Oh, yeah.
- In 2016, Beyonce dropped her album, Lemonade,
which included many thematic references to infidelity,
which many suspected may be based
on Beyonce and Jay-Z's relationship.
Though, at the time, it was largely unconfirmed.
The album featured a song called Sorry.
The music video featured an introduction saying,
Ashes to ashes, dust to sidechicks.
At the end of the song, Beyonce concludes by saying,
He better call Becky with the good hair.
The night the album dropped,
designer Rachel Roy posted a picture on her Instagram
with the caption, 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.
If you hashtag a picture no drama queens,
you're asking for drama, I'm sorry.
- Woo, so much tea!
- Beyonce's fans attacked Roy
- Attacked. - On social media--
- That's a real world attack, bitch.
- That's an attack.
- That is a multi-layered, that is a war, girl.
- [Sam] Rachel Ray from the Food Network...
- Anybody named Rachael was gettin' it from The Hive.
- I love how messy The Hive can be.
They're like... - Oh, don't come for it.
- I'm being very PC about this because--
(Andrea laughs)
- You didn't have to put no hashtag.
You coulda just said selfie and we'd a got it.
- Yes!
- We'd a got it.
- [Sam] Let's talk about "Lemonade,"
the work of art, itself.
- [Destinee] Right there with the Sistine Chapel.
- [Tristan] Ooh!
(Destinee laughs)
- [Tristan] Very good album.
Thank you, Jay-Z, for--
- Thank you, Beyonce.
- Giving her the opportunity - For...
- To make such an important piece of art.
- Making such a wonderful piece and creation on your own,
on your own, womanly merits.
- I'm sure that album, including myself, helped people.
You know?
And like really helped them digest
what they were going through
and loving yourself and having respect for yourself.
Those are all...
Everything tied back to that night.
- [Tristan] Yeah.
- That famous incident.
- [Destinee] "Lemonade" was definitely like,
this is what it's like to be cheated on.
- [Sam] Right.
- [Destinee] And that was put into an artistic piece.
- Well, and it's crazy, because one of the biggest knocks
against Beyonce is that she's too self-constructed
and too poised, too stated, whatever.
- She just channels it differently.
- Alternatively, I think that it's interesting
to talk about, could she have released this album,
had that incident not happened?
- [Tristan] I think, without the TMZ video,
"Lemonade" isn't as strong.
We wouldn't know about her battling back
from being cheated on by someone that she loves.
- You are absolutely right,
because we wouldn't have had that context.
- Jay-Z's album "4:44" was released on June 30, 2017.
He referenced the elevator fight in his album
in the song, "Kill Jay-Z."
To quote, "You egged Solange on
Knowin' all along,
All you had to say you was wrong."
When asked by Dean Baquet,
the executive editor of the New York Times,
if it was difficult for Beyonce and Jay-Z to decide
to create emotionally vulnerable albums, Jay responded,
"We were using our art almost like a therapy session.
"And we started making music together."
- Hers coming out first allowed us to see
women empowerment before we saw a man trying
to rewrite his wrong.
- There is also a theory,
originally posted by Stephen Ossola on Twitter,
that Jay named his album "4:44" partially because
the address of The Standard hotel in New York City.
The secondary address of the hotel,
where patrons can take an elevator straight to
the rooftop bar, is 444 West 13th Street.
However, Jay had previously told iHeartRadio,
"I woke up, literally, at 4:44 in the morning, 4:44 AM,
"to write this song.
"So it became the title of the album and everything."
In the New York Times interview,
Jay-Z also admitted to his infidelity.
- He admitted, Tristan.
- Yeah, we know Jay-Z cheated.
- You was over here like, maybe, allegedly.
- I was making a joke, I was making a joke.
Please, don't come after me.
We know he cheated.
"4:44" was amazing.
It offered someone, who we've never seen vulnerable before,
tell their truths, tell their mistakes,
their shortcomings.
So, this has allowed us to deconstruct toxic masculinity
in the black community, as well.
On top of seeing someone openly talk about
how they had to repair themselves
for their wife, after cheating.
- He's still human, you know. - Right.
- He clearly regretted what he went through
and he showed us.
- I'm not your breadwinner, I'm not your meal ticket.
I need to earn you back.
'Cause you are Beyonce.
- Which, all men should say about their women.
- Which all men should say. - You are Beyonce.
- That is true, all men should say that about their women.
- And we don't wanna see the joint album?
- No, thank you!
- Which Beyonce feature has he not been great on, though?
- I'm not saying he's not great,
it's just not my style.
- Alright, alright.
- Sit down.
- That's the one part I can defend, is the music.
I can't defend the cheating, so.
(group laughs)
- So, this summer, we're getting "On the Run: Two."
- I got tickets.
- After this conversation, I think I want tickets.
- Also, Beyonce drops at tax season every year,
what is this about?
- She's like, I know y'all hoes got money now.
(laughing)
Here's another tour.
Here's another album.
- So, they're going back on tour.
Them staying together,
what does that say about 'Yonce and, to some extent Jay-z's,
business-sense about how they handled the entire thing?
- I'm sure that they have the thinking
that we've been through so much together,
why are we gonna throw it away, now?
- Years. - Like, we have built this
really deep love for each other.
- Who do you see Jay-Z with, if not Beyonce?
And I think they very much feel the same way,
who else could I be with?
- There is nobody else.
- Yeah.
- Where do you go after that?
- Yeah.
The thought of someone trying to step-parent Blue...
- Blue runs that house, she would not allow it.
(laughing) She'd be like, yeah, okay, "Mom."
What if this has been like, a 10-year plan, right?
They were like, we're gonna drop this elevator fight,
make some bomb ass break-up albums,
and then come back with a tour of us getting together.
And they planned it over like a 10-year period.
- It's like the Avengers.
They were like, we're gonna do 22 movies--
- Exactly.
- They're all-- - Exactly!
- The Beyonce, Jay-Z, Solange expanded universe.
- [Andrea] Right.
- [Desiree] Exactly.
- [Andrea] Bitch, transport me there, girl,
I would live in it.
(slow horn music)