How one man’s faulty life choices turned into a work of art conveying acceptance, and forgiveness.
By Chris Tiner | Editor-in-Chief
East Coast, lavish-style rapping is what Jay-Z has become notorious for. As the simple, salmon/peach color to the cover of this album reads, “This Is His 13th Studio Album”, 4:44 is a testament to the Jay-Z that everyone knows and fell in love with. The project features frequent Jay collaborators, Frank Ocean, his wife Beyoncé, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, and even some new ones such as his mother, Gloria Carter. Starting the album, Kill Jay Z is a return to Shawn Carter wanting to kill off his alter ego that people are familiar with due to it being associated with various bad things in his past such as drug dealing, gun violence, and adultery as most recently.
Relief, and acceptance, are all topics covered on the track Smile featuring the mother of Jay-Z, Gloria Carter. “Cried tears of joy when you fell in love, don’t matter to me if it’s a him or her” Jay reflects on growing up watching his closeted mother go through marriage struggles with his father who would end up passing away in 2003. Gloria ends the song with a quote from herself “Love who you love because life isn’t guaranteed, smile”. This was Gloria coming out as a lesbian woman and then would go on to introduce her partner to the world in the coming weeks.
The title track 4:44 samples Hannah Williams & The Affirmation’s track Late Nights & Heartbreak and is a discussion of all of Jay’s mishaps, and controversies, such as the most recent, being accused of cheating on his spouse, Beyoncé. The jump from track 5, 4:44 to track 6 Family Feud sees Jay feature his spouse Beyoncé for the first time on the album. The track Family Feud reaffirms their relationship and how “nobody wins when the family feuds” and “what’s better than one billionaire, two; especially if they from the same hue as you”.
Track 7 Bam features Damian Marley, the son of famous Jamaican singer and Guitarist Bob Marley. Marley brings a touch to the track that we have not heard Jay rap on production-like. What was a new introspective, emotion-touching side of the project from Jay-Z up to this point quickly turned back into the old Jay-Z we know of starting the song with, “Shawn was on that gospel shit, I was on the total fuckin’ opposite” letting us know we were now listening to HOV, not Shawn Carter anymore.
For those who know of Jay, his background hailing from the streets of Brooklyn, New York is no surprise. The track Marcy Me brings the listener back into Jay’s life growing up in public housing Marcy projects. “Live from Bedford Stuyvesant; the livest one representing BK to the fullest”. Marcy Projects is located in Bedford Stuyvesant, with HOV letting us know where he is rapping from and representing Brooklyn proudly.
“Daddy, what’s a will?” Five-year-old daughter of Jay-Z, and Beyoncé, Blue Ivy Carter says to begin the 10th and final track of the album, Legacy. “The rest to B (Blue) for whatever she wants to do she might start an institute, she might put poor kids in school.” The parents of Blue want what is best for her and want her to strive for black excellence and go above and beyond for her future. Jay solidifies this with lyrics such as, “Legacy, legacy, legacy, legacy, black excellence baby, you gon’ let ‘em see”. The track serves as Jay’s verbal will explaining to his young daughter how he wants his and his wife’s billion-dollar fortunes to be spent in their afterlife, dedicating it to their families, their children, and generations to come. “My stake in Roc Nation should go to you, leave a piece for your siblings and their children too”.
Despite, or perhaps thanks to the short nature of this album, it tells the anything-but-ordinary story of Jay’s life. Ten tracks, 36 minutes, simple cover art, and a short title, the intention was to keep this album short, but regardless, important. No filler tracks as it tells the story of his life up to this point including all of his faults and personality that he has gained over the years, including switching between his ego in Jay-Z, and his personal family man, father, and businessman self in Shawn Carter.