Excuse Me Miss: 5 Divas Who Benefitted From A Jay-Z Verse
Rihanna featuring Jay-Z, “Umbrella” (2007) Some drastic changes happened to Rihanna in 2007. She was still surfing the wave of her previous Caribbean riddims, but nothing major was happening. Then Jay-Z entered her life. After declaring Rihanna the “Black Madonna” and inviting her to join the 2.0 of his Roc regime, he turned the Bajan beauty’s life around. “Umbrella” was the catalyst. Penned by The-Dream, “Umbrella” became Rihanna’s call to action. She chopped off all of her hair and Jay-Z officially named her the “good girl gone bad” (also the title of her breakout album) as he opened his verse on the hit single. The song/video ultimately set the stage for what would be the second chapter of Rihanna’s career. Everyone knew that RiRi had star potential; she just didn’t know how to express it properly. Jay-Z did, and Rihanna’s life was changed.
