Beyoncé Reveals Backstory of Jay-Z’s Locs and New Look

After switching up his look years ago in honor of his and Beyoncé’s oldest child, 14-year-old Blue Ivy Carter, Jay-Z recently made another dramatic hair transformation.

On May 30, the rap superstar surprised fans when he headlined the Roots Picnic in Philadelphia. Following years of sporting lengthy dreadlocks, Jay-Z appeared on stage rocking a full afro. In a YouTube video shared on the account for Cécred, Beyoncé’s hair care line, the singer revealed the significance behind her husband’s latest ‘do and his hair journey over about the last decade.

In between clips of Jay-Z touring Philadelphia and watching a stylist or his wife comb out his locs, Beyoncé explained in a voiceover that her husband wanted to change his hair to celebrate the legacy of his father, Adnis Reeves, because his favorite sports team was from the City of Brotherly Love.

“His dad used to rock a fro, so he wanted to rock a fro in his honor,” she shared.

The superstar added that it wasn’t the first time Jay-Z used his hair to convey a powerful message. She said that her husband had been wearing locs for over eight years to boost Blue Ivy’s confidence.

“I thought it was always beautiful that the real reason Jay grew out his hair was to show Blue that her hair was like his hair,” Beyoncé shared.

The clip then cut to footage of a young Blue Ivy with short and curly hair, smiling and posing in the “Formation” music video and other projects.

“Let me rewind and tell you some backstory. Our daughter was about five, and she wasn’t feeling very confident about her hair at that time,” Beyoncé recalled. “When she told her father that, it inspired Jay to grow out his hair.”

She continued, “We really wanted her to love and embrace every inch of her gorgeous curls.”

Beyoncé said no one predicted how long Jay-Z’s hair would grow. “Who would’ve thunk all of this healthy hair could grow beyond that low-cut Caesar with the deep waves?” she asked, referencing the lyrics to the Destiny’s Child song “Soldier.”

The “Alien Superstar” singer said that her daughter realized at 5 years old that she had the same hair texture as her father. So after eight years of growth, Beyoncé didn’t want her husband to get rid of his locs.

“I was pretty obsessed with Jay’s locks. Honestly, I didn’t really want him to cut them. It’s a lot of memories stored in locs,” she noted, comparing the style to “antennas.”

“Hair grows, people grow, so the transformation can be emotional,” she explained before the rest of the video showed the six-day removal process and an extra day of detangling that led to his afro.

“And on show day, his fro was beautiful, from start to finish,” she proudly concluded. “He is forever ‘The Blueprint.’”

She also titled the video “The Blueprint,” after the rapper’s successful and influential sixth studio album.