At midnight last night, Jay-Z dropped his long-awaited album “4:44” on Tidal and fans are convinced it’s as an apology to Beyonce — and a response to her 2016 release “Lemonade,” which was all about Beyonce processing and overcoming Jay-Z’s alleged infidelity during their marriage.
People aren’t crazy to think so: On the title track, he actually says the words “I apologize.”
“I suck at love, I think I need a do-over / I would be emotionally available if I invited you over,” he raps. (Is that a teenage boy talking?)
On “Family Feud,” which Beyonce co-wrote and sings background vocals on, he even brings up “Becky with the good hair,” Jay-Z’s alleged mistress whom Beyonce references on the song “Sorry” from “Lemonade.”
“Let me alone, Becky!/A man who don’t take care of his family can’t be rich.”
On the album’s first track, “Kill Jay Z,” the rapper references the infamous elevator throwdown with Solange during the 2014 Met Gala after party at the Standard Hotel:
“You egged Solange on, knowin’ all along all you had to say you was wrong / You almost went Eric Benét, let the baddest girl in the world get away.”
He veers away from family drama, directing some straight talk/tough love to Kanye, with the lines “I know people backstab you, I feel bad too/But this f— everybody attitude ain’t natural…But if everybody’s crazy, you’re the one that’s insane.” He also gets political on “The Story of OJ,” which he told IHeartRadio is about “we as a culture, having a plan, how we’re gonna push this forward. We all make money and then we all lose money, as artists especially. But how, when you have some type of success, to transform that into something bigger.” It samples Nina Simone’s “Four Women” and is paired with an animated black and white video on Tidal that examines racial stereotypes throughout history.
The release comes just a week after the couple gave birth to twins. In the title track, he evokes them as a reason why he’s come to his senses: “I apologize often womanize/Took for my child to be born/See through a woman’s eyes/Took for these natural twins to believe in miracles/Took me too long for this song/I don’t deserve you.”
We don’t know how much any of it is genuine or just about the $$$, but he’s right about that last bit.
