R&B HIP-HOP POWER PLAYERS 2019

Pamon, who's wearing a white T-shirt beneath a navy blue suit offset by a red-white-and-blue stripe on the sleeves and pant legs, relaxes into the chair and resumes speaking about his boss and their company - that would be Beyoncé, "В," as Pamon, 49, often calls her, and Parkwood Entertainment - and the milestones of the 12 or so preceding months that have earned them Billboard's 2019 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players Executives of the Year honors. Operating at a leak-proof level of nondisclosure the federal government can only envy, it has steamrolled traditional industry thought patterns, unveiling artistic breakthroughs as top-secret surprises, beginning with the 2013 visual album Beyoncé, which sold 617,000 downloads in just three days, giving her the best first-week results of her career, and spawned the Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 hit "Drunk in Love," featuring JAY-Z. First of all, I don't even consider those things as losses. First of all, it has become part or Beyoncé's brand to surprise and delight.