Solange Knowles: Jay-Z’s100th Problem? (Not Really)
- belle
- 11 months ago
- featured-post, Newest
- 10 Comments
Jay-Z, Beyonce’ & Solange exit The Standard hotel after the “elevator incident”.
Remember three years ago when Beyoncé revealed her pregnancy from the stage of the 2011 MTV Music Video Awards? It set a then-record for Twitter with 8,868 tweets per second. If my personal social media timelines from yesterday are any indication, I’m going to guess the recent Carter-Knowles melee tops that.
Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Yesterday TMZ—which, with stories about Donald Sterling and Columbus Short, has been on a roll with breaking news lately—released video footage that showed Solange Knowles, younger sister to pop superstar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter,wailing on her sister’s husband, rapper Jay Z, like she was some sort of “Mortal Kombat” character. On what had to be the longest elevator ride ever, Solange went off on her brother-in-law, slapping and punching and even kicking him multiple times. Ever-present bodyguard to the Carters Julius De Boer got a run for his money as he repeatedly attempted to restrain Solange.
So many people are talking about this video as if it’s the most scandalous event ever, but really it’s just an embarrassing family matter made public, and it shows cracks in the facade of Jay Z and Beyoncé’s picture-perfect life—sort of. The Carters didn’t do anything wrong here; Solange did.
As disappointing as it is to see a person lose control that way, she’s getting a huge pass from many viewers. Not because she has a history of physically going off—though, given her sister’s and brother-in-law’s unshocked reactions, she may. It’s just that Solange has always been the fired-up, keep-it-real one in the Knowles clan. Because of her personal “brand” of sorts, her antics aren’t so far-fetched, and the assumption is that Jay Z must have done something to “make” her flip on him, even if no mature adult thinks an assault was the best way to handle being angry.
Jay Z and Beyoncé are entirely in the clear here. Despite being assaulted, Jay Z only defends his person and leaves the literal heavy lifting to the bodyguard. He’s receiving some social media roasting about his “100th problem” (Solange), but his brand as a mature, urban sophisticate remains intact, and he won’t be losing any endorsements.
Beyoncé is unscathed as well, even if her reaction to her sister going ballistic on her husband is just … strange. She mostly just stands there doing just about nothing. I certainly didn’t expect her to fight her sister, but it isn’t until the third time Solange kicks Jay Z that Beyoncé stands between them. And even then, she still looks unbothered, taking the time to fiddle with her dress as she acts like a human shield.
It’s a weird, if noble, reaction, but I guess that’s about what can be expected from a woman who has been on the receiving end of a long-running joke about her being a robot. (The rumors are officially confirmed.) No, but seriously, how many times does your sister attack your husband and you react like it’s nothing?
We’ll never know.
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About Author
Affectionately known as "Belle”, Demetria L. Lucas is the author of two books— A Belle in Brooklyn and Don't Waste Your Pretty; the creator of the award-winning personal blog ABelleInBrooklyn.com; and the founder of Coached By Belle, a boutique life-coaching service, where Demetria helps clients solve their dating dilemmas and build healthy relationships. Demetria is also a contributing editor for The Root, where she pens two weekly columns, and is a contributing writer for the websites of The Grio, XO Jane, Essence, Clutch, Vibe Vixen and Uptown. She was also the star of Bravo TV's docu-drama series, "Blood Sweat & Heels"
I think it’s more to this story than Radom outbursts from Solange… The Carter’s have an image to secure so Beyonce’s reaction was expected… But something happened that we have no clue about && it was written all over Jay-Z face as his wife even added her two cents.! But who am I… Lol.!
So many messy family stories in the news lately. Bey and Jay, Stirling and his wife and his side piece, Sherri Shepard’s shocking divorce, Tori and Dean putting their business in the street. Man! I used to LOVE to see the “behind the scenes” scoop of what was happening in these peoples lives. Now it all just looks sad.
I guess its true that not only won’t money buy you happiness, it will reveal to you all of the other things that money can’t buy. (drama free relatives, fidelity or happy relationships).
I’m wishing them all the best and frankly I wish I didn’t know about any of it!
I completely agree. Everyone is saying “Jay-z said or did something” or “We don’t know the whole story.” We don’t have to know the whole story. We know if Jay-z had been provoked to hit her back, we wouldn’t even be talking about a sister/brother squabble. We would be signing petitions to get him arrested. And I am sorry, but family or not, no woman will ever feel comfortable enough raising her foot and hitting my husband. You have a problem with him, you have a problem with me. This wasn’t just an exchange of words. She was attacking that man. No, Beyonce didn’t have to hit Solange or anything, but at least look at her and say hold up, that’s my man you hitting. And Beyonce’s demeanor let’s me know she couldn’t care less. Even if for some odd reason Solange was defending Beyonce against something he said, that is between married people. Beyonce been with that man for 15 years and can’t stand up for herself (if he did in fact do anything)? It was very telling of the marriage.
I like how Beyonce’s getting scorned even though it was her sister that acted a fool. There was no audio in that video and people are only using their preconceived notions to determine what happened. We don’t know what was said in the elevator. Or before they got on. Or when they got home. So to admonish Beyonce is just strange to me. We don’t know her like that. She may have reacted like that because they were about to get off the elevator and didn’t want photographers seeing them argue as the doors opened. OR her reaction was because she’s seen Solange act like this several times before. Not just towards her husband but in general. We don’t know. She did try to get between them and she did say something to Jay Z so she really didn’t just stand there. And I would bet money that if Beyonce went off (verbally or physically) on Solange in that elevator people would say she was wrong.
Everyone has emotions and different ways of dealing with things. That Beyonce doesn’t want to share those thoughts or moments with the public is perfectly understandable.
Beyonce’s reaction gives the conclusion that either she wanted this to happen, or she’s use to it happening. I don’t know a woman that would allow her husband to get attacked by another woman and she doesn’t move a muscle. If you watch the video from the very beginning, Beyonce gets on the elevator first, then Solange followed by Jay. What is disturbing is the fact that when Jay walked into the elevator, Solange instantly jumps in Jay’s face and Beyonce stood there like nothing was happening. She didn’t try to stop anything. Thats her sister, and she shouldn’t allowed Solange to get in his personal space, and hit him. Beyonce’s job as a wife and sister was to prevent that from happening period, not wait until the security guard does something. We can’t hear if she said anything, but her body language explains it. She stood there like a robot. Solange’s actions prove that she had some anger building up about something and she couldn’t take it anymore. To have the nerve to attempt to fight a man with a gown and heels on, isn’t normal especially with her sisters husband. She turned “hood” about something that made her flip. I believe she was defending Beyonce is some kind of way. I don’t feel like it was about him doing something to Solange. Beyonce stood there like she was ok with her sister’s actions, because if she wasn’t we would’ve seen “Sasha Fierce” along with neck rolling and finger pointing in Solange’s face. Solange went for him 3 times and the most Beyonce did was stand in front of Solange and remove Jay’s hand off her leg. Maybe this is normal for Solange. She possibly could have anger issues and their use to her attacking people like that. I feel that we will never know the truth. Soon Solange will make a statement and she will go into rehab. Solange will get her interviews discussing her anger/alcohol/drug problems like they all do. Just like her teen pregnancy, marriange and divorce this, will be swept up under the rug and forgotten. We will see pictures of her and Jay smiling for the camera’s again. All this will do is make Solange more famous than what she was..blah…blah…blah! Its unfortunate that we had to witness some “truth” about this private family. They say all things done in the dark comes to the light. I feel that one day in the future Solange will write a tell all about the whole empire. Queen Bey’s thrown isn’t perfect and its ok that it isn’t. I’m just glad that we didn’t see Jay knock Solange out.
Nobody knows what happened or what Beyonce was saying on that elevator. It’s unfair to call her a robot or say she that did nothing. We just don’t know that, and furthermore, we don’t have a right to know it. Praying for peace in their family.
I will assume that you didn’t watch the full video. Beyonce didn’t react like a wife or a sister during this altercation. She stood there like a stranger witnessing something from a distance. When her sister jumped in his face, thats when Beyonce should’ve jumped in between them, to help seperate them. Not after the hitting and kicking began. So the body guard had to control the elevator and solange while the 4th person stood there and watched. A real woman would not worry about her dress, or other people witnessing anything, but worry about someone getting seriously hurt. If her dress is more important than her husband and sister fighting than thats a problem. In reality her sister jumped in his face because its obviously allowed. I don’t blame Beyonce, I’m just upset at her for standing there will her husband is getting beaten by her sister. Something doesn’t add up. It’s not really our business to know why this happened and at this point I don’t care why. It shouldn’t have been acceptable for Beyonce to stand in a corner and watch. Thats her family and it shouldn’t be the securities job to handle family issues. She can get off her high horse to mediate a situation between husband and sister. To top it off she jumped in the car with the one in a rage and didn’t tend to her husband. We see who her alliance is really with.
I wonder if Beyonce would have done more if she wasn’t wearing a beaded, seemingly delicate gown. I mean, that’s what the bodyguard is for, no? But seriously, we are all speculating that he did something because most of us would never cross the line and attack our sibling’s spouse. Unless they did something…bad, really bad. However, Solange is a loose cannon, so anything is possible. Only time will tell.
I agree this just shows a family having a Really bad moment. We hold these celebs in such a high regard but they are just people like anyone else. It is unfortunate that Solange is throwing blows at her sisters husband and more sad that her sister clearly is not trying to mediate this situation. We will never know what really happened and really it is none of our business. I just hope that they can work things out as a family. Keep God at the forefront of your lives and he will fix whatever is broken and this I know to be true.
I think what is most sad, the fact that I have yet to hear anyone point out how wrong Solange was to get violent w Jigga! I, for one, am tired of women getting a pass for their violent behavior! People need to grow up, get over themselves, STOP THE VIOLENCE within our culture and do better! Yes this most certainly is a family matter, but it is also a matter of violence!
No tea, no shade, no cuts or digs…just saying!