You're right. I really preferred your inaugural performance to hers. Because you were selected to give one. Because you're really talented and not just some goon with a llama profile picture savoring the bitter taste of the proverbial haterade in lieu of celebrating the fact that two nobodies: one, a bulldog-faced kid from the Bedford-Stuyvesant projects, the other, the daughter of a Texan medical equipment salesman, managed to become prominent in their respective artistic fields, change the cultural landscape, and find eachother —all in a way that seems to say, "and you might too, if you try."

I don't really listen to Beyonce's music. I prefer many rappers to Jay-Z. But when I weigh their missteps against their contributions, their virtues against their shortcomings, I have to leave them at a net positive.