“You can’t heal what you never reveal.”
June 30, 2017 5:55 PM Subscribe
Jay-Z Releases His Personal and Political Album ‘4:44’ on Tidal [The New York Times] “Jay-Z is back, and he is vulnerable. But for now, his secrets are digital exclusive
. This veteran Brooklyn rapper, 47, ended weeks of speculation near midnight on Thursday, releasing “4:44,” his 13th studio album, as a digital exclusive on that streaming service, which he bought in 2015. The album — Jay-Z’s first since “Magna Carta ... Holy Grail” in 2013 — features 10 intensely personal and provocative tracks that, yes, include a few references to the marriage-baring “Lemonade” album by his wife, Beyoncé, and the recent birth of their twins.”
My fav tweet from last night:
posted by Fizz at 6:03 PM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
“Bey gave us Lemonade, Jay gave us Hennessy.”This album is amazing, so good. I signed up for a free month just to listen to it. I'll pick it up elsewhere at some point and have no plans of keeping this streaming service but it was worth the trouble to start a trial account.
posted by Fizz at 6:03 PM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
If you signed up just to listen to this album, I got some bad news for you...
posted by orangutan at 6:04 PM on June 30, 2017
posted by orangutan at 6:04 PM on June 30, 2017
It's playing for free on iheartradio all day, though.
posted by orangutan at 6:05 PM on June 30, 2017
posted by orangutan at 6:05 PM on June 30, 2017
If you signed up just to listen to this album, I got some bad news for you...
That's odd, I was listening to it within 2 minutes. But I am in Canada, so maybe that is why, maybe its a restriction with U.S. accounts.
posted by Fizz at 6:08 PM on June 30, 2017
That's odd, I was listening to it within 2 minutes. But I am in Canada, so maybe that is why, maybe its a restriction with U.S. accounts.
posted by Fizz at 6:08 PM on June 30, 2017
The problem with this record? Not enough hype.
posted by jonmc at 6:14 PM on June 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 6:14 PM on June 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
That being said, I don't see too many people converting away from Spotify to Tidal for just a single album. I was mostly waiting for a proper rip to hit the torrents. I'll pirate and/or wait for it to hit Spotify which may or may not happen.
posted by Fizz at 6:15 PM on June 30, 2017
posted by Fizz at 6:15 PM on June 30, 2017
Answer: Not as a whole, but there is one line that is really fucking sketchy.
The local station was playing a lot of songs off of this, including that one. Man, that line is a fucking clunker.
posted by codacorolla at 7:04 PM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
The local station was playing a lot of songs off of this, including that one. Man, that line is a fucking clunker.
posted by codacorolla at 7:04 PM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
I know v little about Jay-Z and briefly considered resubscribing to Tidal to hear it, but after reading about that anti-Semitic lyric...no thanks, I'll wait. I stopped my subscription after the weird Schumer parody of Formation. I'm happy on Spotify, hah.
posted by one teak forest at 8:06 PM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by one teak forest at 8:06 PM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Answer: Not as a whole, but there is one line that is really fucking sketchy.
Yeeeeah that's a real awkward sort of tribute, isn't it?
posted by atoxyl at 9:00 PM on June 30, 2017
Yeeeeah that's a real awkward sort of tribute, isn't it?
posted by atoxyl at 9:00 PM on June 30, 2017
Jay Electronica definitely wrote part of this record (and probably That Line, too).
posted by raihan_ at 9:04 PM on June 30, 2017
posted by raihan_ at 9:04 PM on June 30, 2017
I think there's a lot to be written about the history of Jews in and around black music but that's not a great look these days.
posted by atoxyl at 9:04 PM on June 30, 2017
posted by atoxyl at 9:04 PM on June 30, 2017
I didn't need blatant and disgusting anti-Semitism to keep me from downloading the newest Jay-Z opus; I'd had enough after the whole "bitches vs. sistas" thing.
posted by xyzzy at 9:32 PM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by xyzzy at 9:32 PM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'm not a big fan of Jay-Z, but the song on the new album that interests me is the duet with his mother, where she comes out of the closet after a lifetime of hiding her identity. Business Insider, Pink News, pretty much anywhere you would get entertainment news.
posted by bile and syntax at 9:36 PM on June 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by bile and syntax at 9:36 PM on June 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
Don't have Tidal, so haven't listened to the whole thing, but did catch a leak of "The Story of O.J.," which is really the best Jay-Z has sounded in years. The first impressions thread on the album in /r/hiphopheads also seems to be very positive, and while they often are, people are genuinely surprised that Jay-Z has put something this high quality given that his last well-regarded solo album was damn near a decade ago (American Gangster was 2007).
Jay-Z was probably the rapper that really got me into rap, with Blueprint and The Black Album being two albums that I go back to regularly both as entire albums and playlist singles. I'm super pumped to be able to hear something good from Jay-Z again.
In regards to the anti-semitic bit, which I'm guessing is referring to the line about owning land in "The Story of O.J."? Yeah, it's definitely problematic. I think the essence of what he's saying is that as someone who grew up poor, the idea is that you get rich by having a really high income which is true to the extent that a high income can pull you out of poverty and into upper middle-class. As I've grown older and interacted with some truly wealthy people, I've learned that a high income can't compare with owning a lot of assets. That's when you start talking about things like inheritance planning and generational wealth. He could have framed it much better by making the line focus on wealth than ethnicity.
It's already been a pretty good year for the genre, I've heavily enjoyed both Kendrick's DAMN and Vince's Big Fish Theory. I'm pumped about having yet another contender amongst strong competition for AOTY!
posted by C^3 at 10:06 PM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
Jay-Z was probably the rapper that really got me into rap, with Blueprint and The Black Album being two albums that I go back to regularly both as entire albums and playlist singles. I'm super pumped to be able to hear something good from Jay-Z again.
In regards to the anti-semitic bit, which I'm guessing is referring to the line about owning land in "The Story of O.J."? Yeah, it's definitely problematic. I think the essence of what he's saying is that as someone who grew up poor, the idea is that you get rich by having a really high income which is true to the extent that a high income can pull you out of poverty and into upper middle-class. As I've grown older and interacted with some truly wealthy people, I've learned that a high income can't compare with owning a lot of assets. That's when you start talking about things like inheritance planning and generational wealth. He could have framed it much better by making the line focus on wealth than ethnicity.
It's already been a pretty good year for the genre, I've heavily enjoyed both Kendrick's DAMN and Vince's Big Fish Theory. I'm pumped about having yet another contender amongst strong competition for AOTY!
posted by C^3 at 10:06 PM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
my side of tumblr/fandom is just pissed off at the confirmation (??) of recurring infidelity tbh
posted by cendawanita at 11:06 PM on June 30, 2017
posted by cendawanita at 11:06 PM on June 30, 2017
Further insights about the problematic line. (Twitter thread.) Also, meme.
posted by pxe2000 at 3:17 AM on July 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by pxe2000 at 3:17 AM on July 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
My opinion isn't great because I've never really been a fan of his outside of "Threatz". Some of the lines there are great. So I listened to 4:44. The music has moments, but it seems like a waste of time to listen to. I wasn't impressed before, I'm not impressed now. I just feel like if you have a bunch of tools at your disposal, you should have something innovative or at least dynamic to listen to. You're not going to just grab some Nina Simone samples and blow my mind, Hov. If it's just his public apology to Bey with some other stuff tossed in, that's fine I guess. And if that line troubled you, I got some bad news for you about a lot of good hip hop. It's as problematic as any single person is.
posted by cashman at 2:09 PM on July 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by cashman at 2:09 PM on July 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
So far I'm thinking he still doesn't know how lucky he is to have Beyonce. Still so much to learn, he's only just begun.
posted by harriet vane at 5:53 AM on July 2, 2017
posted by harriet vane at 5:53 AM on July 2, 2017
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Answer: Not as a whole, but there is one line that is really fucking sketchy.
posted by maxsparber at 6:00 PM on June 30, 2017 [4 favorites]