Ye & The Game Spark Controversy with ‘Tina,’ A Track Dedicated to Beyoncé’s Mom
Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and The Game have once again teamed up—this time for an unexpected track titled “Tina,” a full-fledged tribute to Tina Knowles, Beyoncé’s mother.
What initially seemed like a social media stunt quickly turned into a full-scale music release. Ye first posted a screenshot of The Game sliding into Tina’s DMs with a banana emoji, followed by a clip of her appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show, captioning it: “Game finna slide.” Fans assumed the rappers were simply trolling, but they were actually building hype for an actual song—and eventually, a full music video.
From DM to Music Video: The Evolution of ‘Tina’
On the track, The Game raps:
“I see my Destiny’s Child / DMing was stressing me out / Nervous, my stomach in knots / So I took a couple of shots.”
The song incorporates a snippet from Knowles’ talk show appearance and even references Tina Turner’s hit, “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” Ye later shared footage of Game recording his verse in the studio, before revealing a highly stylized music video featuring the duo wearing balaclavas and high-visibility jackets.
A Bigger Project in the Works?
As the video concludes, a masked narrator delivers a monologue breaking down the song’s unexpected journey:
“The Game slid into Tina Knowles’ DMs. Everyone was going crazy, saying, ‘What are you doing?’ Then five minutes later, an Instagram post turned into a song. Then a song turned into a music video. Then the music video became the foundation for a whole album. And before we knew it—The Documentary 3.”
While “Tina” has yet to hit streaming platforms, its connection to The Documentary 3 remains uncertain due to Ye’s ongoing sample clearance battles.
Neither Beyoncé nor Tina Knowles has responded to the track at the time of writing.
