Beyoncé rapped facts on the remix to “Savage” when she said, “man I got this s–t from Tina,” and her mother made sure to remind people of that while attending the 2021 Billboard Awards.
After presenting the Change Maker Award to Houston rapper Trae The Truth, Tina Knowles-Lawson made her way to a press junket where the origin of her “Bootylicious” daughter’s name became the topic of discussion.
“I just read that Beyoncé, her name is actually derived from your maiden name,” said a reporter to Knowles-Lawson. Her response was both savage and comical.
“I thought everybody knew that!” she said. “I’m the original Beyoncé.” The grandmother of four added that not getting credit for being the O.G. is nothing new.
“You know it’s funny because on my passport obviously, Beyoncé is on there because it’s on my birth certificate, and people say ‘Oh how did you change your name to her name?’ And I’m like, that’s my name, she got my name! I had it first.”
The 67-year-old’s fans found the moment equally as comical after catching snippets on social media.
“He clearly ain’t in the hive. 😂🐝”
“Let em know, ain’t no Beyonce without Mama… Put some respect on Mama Tina name.”
Last year Knowles-Lawson explained that she and her brother Skip were the only ones in the family to spell their last name as Beyoncé, while the rest of the family spells it Beyince. As it turns out, the difference in spelling boiled down to a mistake — one that Knowles-Lawson implored her mother to rectify.
“So I said, ‘Well, why didn’t you argue and make them correct it?” explained the mother of two on the “In My Head with Heather Thomson” podcast.
“And she [Knowles-Lawson’s mother] said, ‘I did one time, the first time, and I was told be happy that you’re getting a birth certificate,’ ” she said. “Because at one time Black people didn’t get birth certificates.” Decades later and the chart-topping singer has arguably added the word respect to the family name.
