Erykah Badu is squirming about after incurring the wrath of the Beyhive for insinuating that Beyoncé jacked her style for the cover of her upcoming album, act II: Country Cowboy.
Beyoncé seeks to expand her musical empire by adding country music to her repertoire, punctuated by her nude album cover — save for a large red, white, and blue sash with the word “Beyincé” stenciled in large letters.
Erykah Badu does not like it when someone copies her unique style
Badu, who hails from Dallas, is noted for jealously protecting her artistic imprint. As such, Badu believes Beyoncé encroached upon her domain by allegedly “borrowing” her hairstyle, replete with braids and colorful bangs.
Badu reposted the superstar’s album cover post for her 7 million Instagram followers with the simple caption “Hmmm.” The inference is obvious.
Erykah asks Jay-Z to tame the Beyhive
The problem is that Beyoncé boasts an IG following that is more than 45 times the size of Badu’s — or a total of 320 million people. Worse for Badu, the notorious Beyhive are like bloodhounds as they quickly pick up on the subtle shade Badu throws at Beyoncé in the post and immediately pounce on Badu.
The blowback was so fierce that Badu half-jokingly asked Jay-Z to intervene. She wants the rapper to call off the Beyhive who are metaphorically carrying torches through the village to hunt down Badu.
“To Jay Z . Say somethin’ Jay. You gone let this woman and these bees do this to me??” Badu with a laughing emoji.
To Jay Z . Say somethin Jay . You gone let this woman and these bees do this to me ?? 😆 pic.twitter.com/oxNhNgvfWp
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) March 20, 2024
For Beyoncé fans, this is the second such transgression committed by Badu in a year — and, therefore, less forgivable. In the summer of 2023, Badu also charged that Bey copied her big shiny hat game.
“I guess I’m everybody’s stylist,” Badu sarcastically remarked on her IG story.
Beyoncé has never engaged in cyberspace beef with another artist. But her longtime publicist Yvette Schure wrote a clapback at Badu on her Instagram page. The photo carousel showed off a braided Bey through the years and included the caption, “She slays. She slays. Now. Then. Always. #criticswithoutcredentials.”
