Damn It Jay-Z

As a die hard fan of both Beyonce and Rihanna it occurred to me as I was listening to Talk That Talk how much their careers have mirrored each others. Now I blame Jay-Z for this. Not that either of this powerful women shouldn't take inspiration from each other, but they are two radically different people. But, when Jay-Z was launching Rihanna's career he saw his chance to copy some of the things that Beyonce had done from the beginning. But, even after Rihanna had proved herself with Good Girl, Gone Bad the Carter Administration still decided to meddle.

Let's just start with their make-up. At the start of both their careers. These women were glossed up to the hilt, almost to the point of mockery. Just take their album covers for Dangerously In Love and Music of the Sun (Terrible even by teen standards).  

They've both had their major hits with collaborations with Jay-Z. Both “Crazy in Love” and “Umbrella” were game changers for both women. Both were incredibly successful. And, of course there were others “Run This Town”,"Talk That Talk", "Upgrade You", “Drunk in Love”, and “On The Run” 

Now, I might be over estimating Jay-Z's involvement on both of these women, it may have been more of a subconscious uncoupling more then anything. But, certainly when Beyonce said “Hey, boo. Want to rap on Drunk in Love for me.” He could have been like, “Bae. Rihanna did a song called Drunk on Love three years ago.” The titles are surprisingly similar. But, that doesn't prove that they've been checking each other over the past ten years. There's more.

Buy "Drunk In Love"

Buy "Drunk On Love"

You remember “What's My Name?” yes? Did you know Beyonce also did a song with Drake on her self titled release called “Mine”? Or that my girl Ester Dean is a frequent collaborator for Rihanna, and that she also contributed to Beyonce's 4.

Buy "What's My Name"

Buy "Mine"

Visually they both had practically topless album covers on Unapologetic and the standard version of 4. Truthfully they've both been sexuallizing themselves since their start. Rihanna started her switch over to grown woman around the time she was doing “S&M” and “Only Girl (In The World)”, while Beyonce started more during her I Am... Sasha Fierce phase. Of course they've both kept pushing the boundaries of that in their videos with “Partition” and “Pour it Up” respectively. That being said. I'm here for both of these videos. More then here actually. I live for them.

Buy "Partition"

Buy "Pour It Up"

Even, their personal lives have started having things in common. Chris Brown hit Rihanna. Solange hit Jay-Z. Not quite the same thing, but physical violence in their personal lives either way. I don't know if you agree with my assessment, but that's none of my business. I just think it's very interesting.