Beyonce Part 1 -

One night, after being dropped by Elektra Records, the four girls sat on the curb outside the studio. The streetlights buzzed. Kelly was crying. LaTavia was silent. LeToya kicked a pebble.

A young girl in the front row, Kelly, dropped her doll. Another girl, LaTavia, felt a chill run up her spine. They didn't know it yet, but in that moment, the hierarchy of their generation was being established. beyonce part 1

She didn't smile. She just walked off the stage, sat down next to her little sister, Solange, and asked, "Can we get ice cream now?" One night, after being dropped by Elektra Records,

Then she got in the car, put her headphones on, and pressed play on a new beat. LaTavia was silent

Beyoncé looked at the sky. No stars. Just the orange haze of Houston light pollution.

She pulled out a notebook from her bag—a ratty, spiral-bound thing with a broken cover. Inside were lyrics. Hundreds of them. Songs she wrote while standing in the mirror. Songs about love she hadn't felt yet. Songs about power she was only beginning to understand.

The crowd was just family and a few elderly parishioners—but to Beyoncé, it was the Superdome. She closed her eyes, remembering the way her grandmother, Miss Hattie, had taught her to breathe. "From the belly, baby," she would whisper. "Let God push it out."