Songfacts®:

• Beyoncé and Jay-Z have both had hugely successful careers in their respective pop music fields since the 1990s. Here, the Carters boast that no explanation is required; whoever listens to this song will know all about the power couple.
  
  No need to ask you heard about us
  No need to ask you heard about us
  Already know you know about us
  No need to ask you heard about us
  No need to ask you heard about us
  Watch your mouth when you around us
  
  There is a second meaning as well, relating to the relationship turmoil Bey and Jay experienced that nearly destroyed their marriage. The Carters worked through their marital troubles in the public eye, beginning with Beyoncé's Lemonade album in 2016, followed by Hov's 4:44 the following year.
• Jay interpolates elements of The Notorious B.I.G.'s hit "Juicy" on the post chorus.
  
  If you don't know, now you know, n---a
  
  The Notorious B.I.G was one of Jay Z's closest friends before his death in 1997. Their friendship dates back to when Hova, Busta Rhymes, DMX, and Biggie were all schoolmates in Downtown Brooklyn's George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School. The quartet rap battled each other during lunch breaks.
• Jay-Z starts off his verse by discussing the accusation that surfaced in July 2016 that he has a secret son.
  
  Billie Jean in his prime
  For the thousandth time, the kid ain't mine
  Online they call me "dad," kiddingly
  You're not supposed to take this dad thing literally
  That's too famous, we don't even really do famous
  
  Wanda Satterthwaite told UK newspaper The Sun that she had a one night stand with Shawn Carter at her aunt's apartment in Brooklyn, New York. Just 16-years-old, Wanda fell pregnant and gave birth to Rymir, but didn't know how to contact the then unknown rapper. Wanda's live-in boyfriend Robert Graves was originally listed on the birth certificate, but was legally removed in 2011 after a DNA test proved he was not the father.
  
  Aspiring rapper Rymir Satterthwaite first came forward with his claims that he is Jay-Z's son in July 2016.
• The song was produced by Drake's in-house producer Boi-1da and New Jersey beatmaker Illmind along with Vinylz and Jahaan Sweet. Illmind told Complex UK the story of the instrumentation:
  
  "As far as the track goes, that was just another collaboration. A melody that I put together, and Boi-1da heard the melody and made a beat out of it. Then he brought in the homies Vinylz and Jahaan Sweet to do some keys and some more work on it. And that was it. It was just another collaboration among many. And then he told me it was going to be on the Jay-Z and Beyoncé album. I was like, OK, s--t. He made sure that we kept it under wraps."