It’s a hard knock life.
Jay-Z defended 14-year-old Blue Ivy, who will be joining her mother Beyoncé on her Renaissance and Cowboy Carter tours, insisting his daughter doesn’t have “everything she’s given.”
The teenage rapper “fought” to be part of “almost every number,” the 56-year-old rapper told GQ in a rare interview published Tuesday.
“That was amazing,” the Grammy winner exclaimed, recounting how Blue “battled” to improve her dancing skills after they had “a lot of conversations about her first performance.”
“She was still suffering, and she started fighting back. I probably saw her fight for the first time in her life, and the thing is, not everything is easy,” he recalled.
Jay-Z added that he was especially “proud” that she “fought for what she really wanted to do,” as his and Beyoncé’s firstborn inherited their musical skills effortlessly.
He revealed that he doesn’t think Blue will “get off that stage right now”, but that he has “perfect pitch” and is “self-taught” to sing.
“Blue is a crazy pianist, but they won’t let him get a teacher,” he pointed out. “She doesn’t want it to become a job.”
Beyoncé said in a December 2023 concert video that she initially refused her daughter’s request to go on stage.
The New York Times said in a review at the time that Blue was “disappointed” and upset about reading harsh comments online about his “lackluster” performance.
The “Love on Top” singer said, “I was thrilled that he decided not to quit, but to practice even harder for his future activities.”
Blue has collaborated with her parents on projects over the years and won a Grammy Award in 2021 for her work on “Brown Skin Girl.”
Beyoncé and Jay-Z are also parents to 8-year-old twins Sir and Rumi, and the record company executive praised their fatherhood elsewhere in the cover story.
“It gives meaning to everything, everything,” he said. “I fly across the country, do what I have to do, and get back on the plane that night.
“I love taking my kids to school, I love dropping them off and picking them up,” he added.
