 The song opens with a dialogue between Knowles and Jay @-@ Z , with his verse rap sampling the lyrics , " How you gon ' upgrade me ? What 's higher than number one ? You know I used to beat that block . Now I be 's the block . " In the first verse , Knowles sings , " I hear you be the block but I 'm the lights that keep the streets on " . The chorus samples the lyrics : " You need a real woman in your life , that 's a good look [ ... ] Take care of home and still fly , that 's a good look [ ... ] Let me upgrade you , flip a new page " . In the second verse , according to Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe , Knowles " disturbingly conflates transforming her man into a leader " by providing him with Veblen goods with " what Martin [ Luther King , Jr . ] did for the people " , and after declaring herself the equal of her man offers to " let [ him ] take the lead role " . Describing the lyrics of the second verse as Knowles ' " funnier and more idiosyncratic than ever " , Tim Finney of Pitchfork Media commented that she boasts of the song 's " extreme makeover hard @-@ sell " as she probably knows that she is " the only R & B singer " who could deliver those lines " with a straight face . " Before the song ends , Jay @-@ Z performs another verse @-@ rap where he compares " the rock on his lady ’ s finger to a tumor " . In the third verse , Knowles declares to her love interest that his dynasty will ever remain incomplete without " a chief like [ her ] " . She then delivers the chorus again before switching to her fourth and last verse : " Hermes briefcase , Cartier top clips , silk @-@ lined blazers " and the song ends . 
