Jay Z Just Cock-Blocked Beyoncé’s Latest “Drop”
Around 5 PM yesterday I checked my Facebook just in case anyone had requested to be my boyfriend. Between the usual slew of BuzzFeed quizzes, mobile uploads and Twitter aggregations, however, sparkled a shiny new Beyoncé x Nicki Minaj video. Only one random person had posted it, which seemed strange — by now my feed should have been flooded with them, no? And so I fell victim to the same naïve trap too many of us frequent commenters on Oprah and Connie Britton’s Instagrams have assumed before: I thought I was “first.”
A word to the wise: on the Internet, you are rarely “first.”
As soon as I went to write about it the Internet had already taken off to the races. This was American Pharoah versus every digital platform, neck and neck with the same end goal of high SEO. Content jockeys balanced atop their own fingers that clicked faster than galloping hooves. Who would hit publish first?
I re-watched the video twice to see if I had an angle. I grew anxious; “Breaking: Beyoncé Surprises Internet” sounds less appealing once there’s an addendum: “Again.”
To Bey and Nicki’s credit, Monday’s a hard day to drop anything that isn’t your cellphone, and this one in particular did not comply with the Beehive’s Non-compete: Kendall Jenner broke the news of Balmain for H&M, and Taylor Swift released her feature film the night before.
(It also starred the entire world.)
Still, something was there. Beyoncé. Nicki. Kiddy pool. I got it! Then just as quickly as I had typed my first sentence — I found my angle, I spell-checked Nicki’s name — Elizabeth informed me that the video had been taken down.
It reappeared later in the form of a 30-second teaser. Meanwhile, the full video for “Feeling Myself” was confined to Jay Z’s music streaming website, Tidal.
Which I do not have a subscription to.
The Internet is supposed to be a democratizing force. After all, that’s what it did for fashion. It’s made global news a local focus and allowed cat fans to unite under the same fur-covered umbrella. It’s supposed to create communities, not divide them.
Perhaps we’ve gotten spoiled. We accept that we can’t download music without paying for it, but with the Internet as our millennial radio we’ve grown accustomed to streaming for free. YouTube has made music videos open for consumption that were once up a time only accessible via MTV. You don’t need a subscription to read NY Mag online, and Style.com brings fashion week to your living room.
What Jay Z has done is cock blocked us. “Feeling Myself” was about to be my anthem. It could have been our anthem. The new “Pretty Girl Rock,” you know?
Jay Z, not cool, man. Not cool.
Update!!! We were able to embed this via Style.com thanks to you guys below, so, a little less mad.
Original image via Tidal // “Feeling Myself” by Nicki Minaj featuring Beyoncé
