Jay-Z on Blue Ivy’s Performances on Beyoncé Tours: ‘She Fought for It’

Jay-Z commended his oldest child with wife Beyoncé, Blue Ivy Carter, for taking the stage on her mother’s last two tours.

The 25-time Grammy winner spoke with GQ’s Frazier Tharpe in a new cover story about his life and career. Around the fifteen-minute mark of the video below, Hov reflected on fourteen-year-old Blue being the highlight of Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour and Cowboy Carter Tour, which were held in 2023 and 2025, respectively. Blue Ivy also performed during the 2024 Thanksgiving NFL Halftime Show, which was dubbed the “Beyoncé Bowl.”

COMPLEX SHOP: Shop the brands you love, anytime and anywhere. Uncover what’s next. Buy. Collect. Obsess.

“That was amazing. On the first tour there was a lot of conversation around her first performance, and she worked really hard to get to that point, but she still wasn’t going for it,” Jay-Z recalled.

“She still was going through the motions. And then she just started fighting back,” he continued. “I saw her fight maybe for the first time in her life—like, not everything is just given to her and everything is easy. She fought for it. She’s almost on every number. I had to take her off some, like, “Man, you can’t be on that stage when she’s singing ‘Six-inch heels…’; are you crazy?”

The 56-year-old also acknowledged that Blue Ivy is a “crazy pianist” when she isn’t dancing, but refuses to let her parents book her a piano instructor. Jay-Z and Beyoncé also have two younger children, eight-year-old twins Sir and Rumi. The latter also made a cameo on select dates of the Cowboy Carter Tour while her mother sang “Protector.”

“She doesn’t want it to be a job. But she has perfect pitch. If she hears a song, she’ll be like “Play it again” and then she’ll teach herself,” Hov added about Blue. “That’s just talent, she doesn’t work at that.”

“She worked at this, and it makes me proud that she fought for something that she really wanted to do. I don’t think we’re going to be able to get her off that stage now,” she concluded.

Jay-Z will be making his long-anticipated return to the stage this summer, beginning with a headlining set at Roots Picnic in May, and a three-night residency at Yankee Stadium in July. On July 10 and July 11, the Roc Nation founder will dedicate performances to the thirtieth anniversary of Reasonable Doubt, the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Blueprint, followed by “Extra Innings” on July 12.