The album itself bookends a monumental June 2017 for Shawn Carter: Kevin Durant, a flagship client of his Roc Nation Sports agency, captured his first NBA championship, and JAY himself was inducted, with a speech from President Barack Obama, into the Songwriters Hall of Fame - the first rapper to be so honored. His business ventures have helped redefine the image of what long-term success looks like in America’s most influential and most critiqued music culture. Little was he aware the same would happen to him a year later.īefore the release of 4:44, a legit critique of JAY himself was, What could he possibly have to talk about that would be beneficial to rap in 2017? He’s one of the wealthiest men on the planet, with a portfolio that shows no signs of slowing. “Wow,” was the only word a stunned JAY-Z could mutter as he watched Bryant further ascend toward immortality. But still, the game had to be inspirational. JAY certainly didn’t need a great album to call it a career on - in the same way Bryant didn’t need a historic game to cement his stature among basketball’s all-time greats. But on that spring 2016 night in downtown Los Angeles, JAY witnessed a peer, one of the few in America who understands what it’s like to be that famous for that long, walk away from the game he changed in that manner. and Michael Jordan, to carve their own places in history. Both JAY and Bryant escaped the shadows of their larger-than-life predecessors, The Notorious B.I.G.
A day later, the Charlotte Hornets drafted a 17-year-old Bryant, only to send him to Los Angeles in return for Vlade Divac. Reasonable Doubt, the corner-boy manifesto and classic hip-hop debut, arrived on June 25, 1996. But it spared JAY-Z.īryant and JAY, despite nine years separating them, came into the public’s eye together. Rap was never given the chance to heal from those wounds - Biggie, Tupac - it helped create. With his wife, Beyoncé, and his sister-in-law, Solange, using their last albums for their most personal work, it’s no surprise 4:44 unmasks itself as JAY at his emotional and creative zenith. The desire has been for him to curb the flaunting of luxuries and come with the real on what it’s like to be one of the most successful people in the world - and also one of its most haunted.īut the writing had been on the wall. It’s the project fans and critics have clamored for, for years: the authentic Jay Z. Off the rip, though, this is the greatest rapper of all time stripping himself down to essentials. Yet, where 4:44 will land in the rankings of JAY-Z’s catalog is a question better left for time. But in the end it is JAY’s inward glimpse of himself - the man he was, the man he’s become, the man he grew to partially hate - that separates this album from his previous bodies of work.
Without No I.D.’s soulful backdrops (inspired by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Nina Simone, Kool & The Gang and more), 4:44 might lack the emotional connection it not only thrives on but quite literally survives on. No I.D.’s music is more than just “beats,” or instrumentals. Ernest “No I.D.” Wilson, who produced JAY’s 2009 “ Run This Town” and “ Death of Autotune,” as well as 2007’s “ Success,” among others, is the album’s lone producer, and he is irreplaceable. The 10-track 4:44 is the most emotionally taxing project of JAY’s ( he’s back to all caps) career. But for one night, the music universe revolved around JAY-Z, the sport’s finest elder statesman, with the release of his 13th studio album, 4:44.
“Kanye had a real difficult time last year and is still coming out of it, so to hit him like that wasn‘t cool.These moments don’t happen. With the next bars addressing “crazy behavior,” Kim reportedly called the line a “low blow” considering Kanye’s mental state during his infamous rant. “She thinks it was a low blow to diss Kanye and throw around words like ‘insane’ after all he’s been through,” the source added. “She gets very protective of her husband, like a mama bear,” the source said. “You walkin’ around like you invincible/ You dropped outta school, you lost your principles/I know people backstab you, I felt bad too/But this ‘f**k everybody’ attitude ain’t natural/But you ain’t a saint, this ain’t kumbaye/But you got hurt because you did cool by ‘Ye/You gave him 20 million without blinkin’/He gave you 20 minutes on stage, f**k was he thinkin’? Sources close to the reality star turned businesswoman tell Hollywood Lifeon Saturday (July 1), isn’t happy about JAY’s subliminals at Kanye on his latest album, 4:44. JAY addresses his broken friendship with Kanye in a passive way throughout the album but goes the direct route on the album’s opener, “Kill Jay Z.” JAY-Z’s Subliminals Towards Kanye West On ‘4:44? Are Pretty Heartbreaking