“Let me tell you who she’s talking about, can I tell you who she’s talking about? She’s talking about you,” Bey’s father told E! News. “You put that in context for you personally. She’s talking about you and everybody that is you, that’s who she’s talking about.”
During a separate interview with WatchLOUD, Knowles also opened up about “Daddy Lessons,” a song that some believe is about him.
“I can only speculate like everyone else,” he said. “And I think the genius in this body of work that Beyoncé has done is she has us all speculating and she has us all letting our minds expand on her words and the expansion of them.
“My kids, they take a lot from me and I always come from an intellectual place,” he added. “Like intellectually, not emotionally, and most people come from an emotional place and it’s unfortunate. But I’m sure that…when I listen to ‘Daddy Lessons’—and Beyoncé wrote me a song on her first album called ‘Daddy’ [as well]—but when I hear this song [‘Daddy Lessons’] I’m sure that some of that, hopefully, I inspired her. But am I sure? No.”
Knowles actually appears in the one-hour LEMONADE film, which premiered on HBO. At one point, he is seen jumping on a bed while seemingly playing with his granddaughter Blue Ivy. However, it is rumored that he and his daughter have been at odds for years. When asked to comment on their relationship, he remained coy.
“I think if one would look at the HBO special then you’d see what everybody else saw,” he explained. “They saw me talking to Beyoncé when she was a young child and challenging her, even then, to understand where she was coming from and critical thinking, but you also seen me diving on the bed and playing with Blue Ivy so that kinda answers your question right there. I choose to let the press say whatever they want and let people say whatever they want. It’s nobody’s business how much I see my daughter or my grandkids, that’s something personal that I care not to share.”
LEMONADE features Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, James Blake, and Jack White, with production by Diplo, Jack White, Hit-Boy, Boots, Mike Dean, Just Blaze, and Mike WiLL Made-It. It is now available through TIDAL, iTunes, and Amazon. Physical copies are set to drop May 6.