Beyoncé and Jay-Z

In 1999, Jay-Z, the king of New York Rap, was looking for an R&B guest to concoct a hit with his protégé/rapper Amil. At this point, Beyoncé was only 18 years old and was part of the group Destiny’s Child, which came into the spotlight at the beginning of 2000 thanks to the hit Say My Name. Amil’s track I Got That was a great opportunity for Beyoncé to appear alone for the first time and possibly launch a solo career. It was this chance encounter that first brought the couple together. Jay-Z was fascinated by Beyoncé’s aura and raw talent. The young woman fell under the charm of one of her role models, who was at the top of his game, preparing the album Blueprint which would send American Rap into a new era. It was in this moment that the couple’s DNA was created, fusing career development with creative emulation. It was love at first sight but Beyoncé’s father (who was also the manager of Destiny’s Child) disapproved of their romance because of the large age gap and a jam-packed timetable. This wasn’t the right moment…

They’d have to wait until 2002 for their first collaboration on the album Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse by Jay-Z with the evocative track ’03 Bonnie & Clyde. In the form of a forbidden ballad that sampled from 2Pac’s iconic Me & My Girlfriend, the secret couple played with the boundaries of fiction to stage their cryptic love story, another distinctive trait of their relationship. It was with the explosion of Beyoncé’s career on her first album, Dangerously in Love in 2003, that their synergy would develop with the colossal track Crazy in Love and its steamroller brass. Jay-Z appeared for a triumphal verse, accompanied by fireworks as if to formalise a flourishing relationship, both in fiction and reality. The duo also worked together on another song on the album, the wonderfully complicit and rather flirtatious track That’s How You Like It. By perfectly mixing their modern styles, Jay-Z and Beyoncé created a new space between their two worlds, that of the young diva/future star and that of the rapper from the streets who had become an adored personality at the top of his game. This new status as forbidden and ultra-powerful lovers almost seemed predetermined for Jay-Z, who was slowly bringing his rapping career to a close. His Black Album and the Fade to Black tour that followed in 2003 were supposed to mark the final chapter of a great saga of American Rap (which eventually turned into a break). During this retirement period, he became the director of Def Jam and watched his girlfriend grow with an incredibly successful first tour.