NEW YORK, USA — Love, joy, and acceptance took center stage over the weekend as Gloria Carter, the mother of hip-hop mogul Jay-Z, married her long-time girlfriend Roxanne Wilshire in an intimate and star-studded ceremony in Tribeca, New York City.
The star-studded streets of Tribeca were aglow on the night of Sunday, July 2, 2023 as celebrities including Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, Tina Knowles-Lawson, Tyler Perry, and Robin Roberts were spotted attending a high-profile wedding, with sources confirming that the celebrations extended into the early hours of the morning.
But amidst the glittering event, the reflections on Jay-Z’s emotional track “Smile” from his 2017 album 4:44, in which he pays tribute to his mother, Gloria Carter, have re-emerged as a poignant reminder of love, acceptance, and the freedom to be one’s true self.
“Mama had four kids, but she’s a lesbian/Had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian/Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate/Society shame and the pain was too much to take,” Jay-Z rapped in “Smile.”
the carter-knowles family attending gloria carter’s (jay z’s mom) wedding in manhattan 🥹🤍 pic.twitter.com/gN19J3pXgP
— ADAM (@yoncesavagew) July 3, 2023
Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, opened up about the profound emotional experience of his mother coming out as a lesbian in an interview with David Letterman on the Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.
“Imagine having to live your life as someone else and you think you’re protecting your kids,” Jay-Z shared with Letterman. “For her to sit in front of me and tell me ‘I think I love someone,’ I really cried…I cried because I was so happy for her that she was free.”
“Smile” was inspired by a candid conversation between Jay-Z and his mother. Gloria Carter revealed that she had composed a poem while flying to Los Angeles to see her son, which he then recorded over the phone and included in the track.
“I was sitting there and I was telling him one day. I just finally started telling him who I was. Besides your mother, this is the person that I am, you know? This is the life that I lived,” Gloria Carter recounted during her 2017 appearance on the D’Usse Friday podcast. “So my son started actually, like, tearing because he was like, ‘That had to be a horrible life, ma.’ I was like, ‘My life was never horrible. It was just different.’ So that made him want to do a song about it.”
2019 Jay-Z and Beyoncé received the Vanguard Award at the GLAAD Media Awards. Jay-Z took the opportunity to thank his mother for allowing him to share her story through his music.
Beyoncé dedicated the award to her late Uncle Johnny, who made her prom dress and introduced her to house music, a driving inspiration behind her Grammy-winning album Renaissance.
As New York’s Tribeca district dazzles with the glamour of last night’s wedding, Jay-Z’s heartfelt tribute to his mother serves as a stirring testament to the power of love and the courage to embrace one’s identity openly.
The celebration of love – both romantic and familial – illuminates the city that never sleeps.
In an age craving authenticity and connection, Jay-Z and his mother remind us of the transformative power of love and acceptance. Their shared courage continues to resonate, echoing through the starlit streets of New York.
