Beyonce tweeted out a throwback picture of Jay-Z along with a few of her own song lyrics to congratulate her husband after Magna Carta Holy Grail went platinum. Meanwhile, the couple’s vacation to Cuba earlier this year has created a push for a new bill that has been appropriately dubbed the “Jay-Z, Beyonce Bill.”
As we all anticipated Jay-Z’s new album, the New York native constantly dropped the phrase “new rules,” which was even featured on the television commercial for his album.
While many of the clips give us a glimpse of the “new rules” he was referring to, the real set of new rules came when the Recording Industry Association of America counted HOV’s Samsung deal as a part of his record sales – giving his album platinum status before it even hit shelves.
With that kind of accomplishment, it seems like everyone in the music industry needs to bow down to the Tom Ford rapper. And his wife couldn’t agree more.
Baddie Bey posted an old graduation photo of Jay-Z with the words “Bow Down” written across the bottom. The caption simply read, “Platinum #MagnaCarta.”
The exclusive Samsung deal makes “Magna Carta Holy Grail” Jay-Z’s 12th studio album to go platinum, which is an achievement most other rappers only dream about.
Not everyone is willing to count the Samsung deal as a part of the record sales, however. Billboard still isn’t giving HOV any listing based on the number of apps downloaded from Samsung for free.
“Our role as the chart of record is to set the rules, and hopefully even raise the level of play,” Billboard’s editorial director Bill Werde explained in an open letter. “It is in this spirit that I say it wasn’t as simple as you might think to turn down Jay-Z when he requested that we count the million albums that Samsung ‘bought’ as part of a much larger brand partnership, to give away to Samsung customers.”
He went on to say that he has faith in the album and he’s sure it will rocket to the top of the charts now that it has finally hit shelves, but reiterated that the free downloads won’t mean a thing to the Billboard charts.
Regardless of the record sales, the new album along with Beyonce’s “Mrs. Carter” world tour mean that the power couple’s names and images are literally everywhere.
But it was their vacation to Cuba that now has earned them a spot in the House of Representatives.
Looks like HOV is creating more “new rules” than even he imagined he would.
The House Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill that has been nicknamed the “Jay-Z, Beyonce Bill.”
The bill contains revisions to America’s policy on tourism to Cuba and will not limit all travel to academic purposes only.
It also states that anyone who wants to go to Cuba for study will need to be enrolled in an accredited degree program before they can get approval for travel.
Questions arose after Bey and Jay took to Cuba for their wedding anniversary and claimed the trip was “educational.”
Based on their itinerary, there was enough evidence to suggest that the trip did actually hold much educational value, but that wasn’t enough to appease some House members.
“I think that if we’re going to say that we have this policy in place that relates to travel in Cuba that it ought to be enforced and that becomes a grey area where they’re probably not following the guidelines,” subcommittee Chairman Ander Crenshaw explained.
Jay-Z responded to political fallout with the song “Open Letter,” where he rapped, “I’m in Cuba, I love Cubans / This Communist talk is so confusing / When it’s from China, the very mic that I’m using.”
The line pretty much slammed politicians for making a big deal about travel to Cuba while the U.S. conducts business with China – a country that has arguably worse human rights issues than Cuba. Yet Americans are permitted to travel to China freely.
