Most people would spaz at a shout-out in a Beyoncé track, but Bill Gates is not as well-versed in the Top 40 as the rest of us. The Microsoft founder and tech mogul was recently introduced to Beyoncé’s newest single, “Formation,” and suffice to say, he’s a little baffled about the lyrics.
Beyonce & Bill Gates: The Technology Tycoon Talks “Formation” https://t.co/uRTOROg6Ez
— allhiphopcom (@allhiphopcom) February 24, 2016
In an interview with Wired, Bill Gates revealed that although he has heard the song, it wasn’t until one of his employees pointed out his name being mentioned in the lyrics that he found out about it. What’s even more interesting is his puzzlement as to why Beyoncé would choose to namedrop him in her song.
In the song that started a controversy after Beyoncé performed it at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show, the words go: “I might just be the black Bill Gates in the making, ‘cause I slay / I just might be a black Bill Gates in the making.”
“I just may be a black Bill Gates in the making.” A deeper read of @Beyonce‘s Formation: https://t.co/duZnWfGFaJ pic.twitter.com/4AEi3nH6wF
— q (@cbcradioq) February 13, 2016
“Are you serious? This is kind of a strange set of words here. I’m surprised—I’m not sure she said those words at the Super Bowl, though, did she?” said Gates on learning about the namecheck.
Despite the billionaire’s lukewarm reaction, he still managed to take the shout-out as a compliment. “I guess it’s nice that people consider me successful,” said the Forbes’ No.1 richest billionaire in the world.
Bill Gates thought Beyonce mentioning him in “Formation” was strange https://t.co/gD3hHr09ls pic.twitter.com/9itdPYoOa4
— Global Grind (@GlobalGrind) February 25, 2016
Bill Gates also revealed that he has yet to meet Beyoncé, although he has been acquainted with her equally successful husband, Jay Z.
“I know Jay Z because when I did some humor right when I was retiring from Microsoft—he was nice about participating in that, and did a great job on that,” said Gates.
Now that he is aware of his fame in the pop music industry, Bill Gates ever-so-subtly promoted his company to Beyoncé’s fans.
“I guess I should do a Bing search and see if there are more uses of my name that I don’t know about.”