Hannibal Burress Tells The Story Of Being Scolded By JAY-Z Because Of This Photo (Video)

Over the years, a photo of Vic Mensa, Chance The Rapper, JAY-Z and Beyoncé has taken on a few different lives. The original picture surfaced in on June 6, 2016, as the celebs gathered at Jay’s 40/40 club, in celebration of Vic’s 23rd birthday. A little more than a year prior, Mensa had signed to Jay’s Roc Nation, so the presence of Bey and Jay at his party was not altogether surprising. Similarly, Vic and Chance were friends who had collaborated on music for years, as fellow Chicagoans. In fact, while in his band Kids These Days, Vic had given Chance some of his earliest opportunities to perform before larger audiences.

When Vic posted the photo on Instagram a few days later, however, he superimposed a black silhouette that completely covered Chance, with a caption that read “Birthday with friends. Jordan year!!” The move created widespread speculation that there was a rift between the two, giving the pic its second life. Neither MC ever went on the record acknowledging any discord and, in August, they appeared on stage together during Chance’s set at Lollapalooza in Chicago.

Now, Hannibal Burress gives his rendition of what happened during that night when the photo was taken and, according to him, if anyone had problems at the time the photo was taken, it was him and JAY-Z. As Burress recounts the awkward set of events that led up to the photo being taken, in an episode of TBS’ animated series, “Storyville,” he says when Jay and Bey entered the room, “The whole vibe changed. People went crazy.”

As a native of the Chicago metropolitan area, Burress was friends with both Vic and Chance, and, as he saw the 4 of them gather for a photograph, he sought to seize the moment for his own snapshot. “At one point, they start posing for a picture,” Hannibal says. “All four of them posing–Chance, JAY-Z, Beyoncé and Vic. A guy’s taking a picture. I’m like ‘This is a great time to take a picture,’ and JAY-Z’s pointing at me and says ‘Be cool.'” Taken aback by Jay’s gruff brushback, Burress gives further context for his own behavior. “I would never just pull out my phone and take a picture of people just chilling. They’re taking a picture. Why not just pull out my phone and I get the picture?”

Burress was clearly agitated by the moment and, while he wanted to react to Jay, given the setting, he thought better of it. Instead, he just took the flick. So…according to him, another picture is out there that  gives the image an alternate life, except, in Burress’ pic, he’s got an angry Beyoncé pointing at him.