It’s Friday night in the Knowles-Carter household and Beyonce has had an amazing week.

Her new perfume Heat is the number #1 selling fragrance and she just took home 6 Grammy’s, a first for any woman ever.  She’s at home sleeping in his T-shirt when in walks Jay-Z who just came back from sitting courtside, Knicks and Nets giving him high-5’s. After this amazingly successful week for his loving wife all he has to say is: “You just won 6 Grammy’s, you smell good, now what about that baby you promised me in Dangerously In Love?”

I don’t think it’s meant to be, be

Cause she loves her work more than she does me -Jay-Z, Lost Ones

For the past 2 years we’ve been reading about Jay-Z being damn near 40 and wanting to have legitimate seeds with his wife whom he’s been with since 2002. You can do the research since there’s plenty out there but Jay-Z has been pretty upfront about wanting a child. Beyonce’ has been equally honest about wanting to wait until she feels ready.

This issue is indicative of how society views single vs. married women and the pressures we face trying to live up to the various contradictions of what we’re told a woman is.

They want us to be a freak in the streets and a lady in public. They want us to be the baddest bitch, a 5 star chick if you will. They want us to shake it for them while calling them daddy (the implications of this is enough for a month of Friday Love Notes). They want us to be ready to have sex at the drop of a hat.  But then they want us to be independent, but not too independent because they want us to be able to pause our career when they are ready for kids. AND they want us to smile while doing it.  God forbid you portray yourself as an “Angry Black Woman” you might be single forever!

So in retaliation sometimes women feel the need to be better than any man at what they do.  I sometimes  feel this way and my coworker tells me I have Penis Envy.
What I don’t understand is why everyone feels that she should take a break. Is it her fault that she is a top notch professional?  While some people wake up and decide to be a singer one day, Beyonce has been training for this since elementary school. This is not just her career, it is part of who she is that makes her happy.

I ain’t trying to start no mess but there’s something on my chest/ that I need to get off/ cause you turning me off /your vision cloudy if you think you the best, you can dance/ you can sing / but need to move it to the left, to the left/She need to go have some babies/She need to sit down she fake/them other chicks ain’t even worth my time to talk about- Keri

Ok, I definitely understand R&B singers wanting her to take a break, not much eating has been going on for them since Beyonce ditched Destiny’s Children for a solo career. She has been unstoppable, lending her name to Pepsi, L’Oreal and American Express among others. But there is power in numbers.

Jay-Z and Beyonce earned $122 million together between June 2008 and June 2009, more than any other couple — married or unmarried — in entertainment. The list makers at Forbes are at it again, this time determining Hollywood’s top-earning couple. Beyonce and Jay-Z beat out the competition not only by churning out hit songs but also by attaching their names to Budweiser, American Express and a host of other brands. In this relationship, the wife out-earned the husband, $87 million-$35 million. – Billboard

From the start this has seemed to be an unlikely coupling. Their age difference and the dissimilarity in backgrounds being the most obvious contrariety. The media had a field day trying to figure out if they were dating or friends. The question that was on everyone’s lips was what she see’s in Jay-Z?   Despite all the speculation and naysayers, they made it to the altar and talks are rampant of Jay-Z encouraging her to take a break to have babies. I wonder if this is Jay-Z’s way of catching up to her because in their household, B is the top earner. I doubt that is the case but the question needs to be asked.

“She said she was gonna take a break, take a break bitch.”-Chelsea Lately

The above quote is from her response video to Beyonce’s twitter stans which you can view after the jump.

Beyonce’ did say she was going to take a break in 2010 but AFTER she’s fulfilled her obligations.

Still, Beyoncé doesn’t expect her sabbatical from the music business to be easy, or even necessarily successful. “It will be the hardest thing in the world for me to make myself not do an album and shoot a video and turn it in and say, ‘I’m ready!’ I already have all these melodies and ideas in my head. I have to tell myself, ‘Sit down! Sit down!’ “

She already has planned a reprieve from her reprieve, in fact: Two weeks of concert dates are scheduled in South America and the Caribbean in February to accommodate additional demand from the I Am … trek.

She’ll also launch a signature fragrance that month, Beyoncé Heat, with Coty – USA Today

The question is, should a woman put her career on hold to have babies?

It’s not as if she can’t do both. Beyonce is a strong and focused woman who would probably be wonderful at anything she does. Jay-Z married someone who is over 10 years younger than him at the pinnacle of her career. If she decides that she is going to take a break to have babies, I don’t think she could have chosen a better time. She’s accomplished all but one of her goals, to win an Oscar. Perhaps the maturity and dimension gained from being a mother will be exactly what she needs to be a more realistic actress.

Beyonce is just a woman like every other woman, why should she put her career on hold to have a child if she is happy with the way things are right now in her life. She’s still young, she’s not even 30. Yet in societies views of a woman, once we’ve hit 25, if we’re single everyone wants to know: “When are we going to settle down.” smh. Fall back Babushka Lady. Then, when we find a man who wants our 26-27 year old ass, it’s: “When are you going to have babies?” I told you, take  a break bitch.

As women we must ask ourselves what is it we really want and what are we trying to prove? Is it possible to balance love, marriage, children and career without anything slipping? Absolutely not, the fear is that while you are away from your job wiping up poo, someone younger, brighter and more “with the times” might take that vacant spot.  If you’ve made your mark on the world or at least shot your arrow in the sky, you should feel proud to take a break to give life to someone who could learn from you. It’s not about giving up your dreams it’s just a change in perspective. Especially if you want to thank him for putting a ring on it! Ladies if you are married you have to compromise for the relationship, don’t confuse independence for selfishness.

I don’t think it’s meant to be, be
Cause she loves her work more than she does me
And honestly, at twenty-three
I would probably love my work more than I did she
So B, ain’t we
It’s me, and her
‘Cause what she prefers over me, is work
And that’s, where we, differ
So I have to give her
Free, time, even if it hurts

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