Jay Z dropped his 13th album at midnight and EVERYONE is dissecting and speculating over the lyrics. It’s many things and we’ve broken down what he said about cheating on his wife Beyonce and 6 other shocking things we learned. Get it all inside…
Jay Z has the Internet on fire this morning after dropping his 13th studio album, 4:44 at midnight. Now, everyone is talking about the LP, serving up their own interpretations of lyrics Hov put into his songs.
The title track, "4:44," is likely the most talked about track. The reason? It’s seemingly his response to his wife Beyonce’s LEMONADE album. On the track, Hov appears to come clean about his infidelity and it's essentially a 4-minute and 44-second apology to his wife.
He rapped:
Look, 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…
Like the men before me, I cut off my nose to spite my face
I never wanted another woman to know
Something about me that you didn’t know
I promised I cried I couldn’t hold
I suck at love, I think I need a do-over
I will be emotionally available if I invited you over
I stew over what if you over my sh-t?…
And if my children knew, I don’t even know what I would do
If they ain’t look at me the same
I would prolly die with all the shame
You did what with who?
What good is a ménage à trois when you have a soulmate?
You risked that for Blue?
Damn Hov.
Here are 6 shocking things we learned from 4:44:
1. The Hip Hop mogul also had some words for Kanye West. We all remember when Ye went on a rant aimed at Mr. & Mrs. Carter where he spilled hurt tea about business deals, Blue Ivy and North West never playing together and how the Carters never came to visit after his wife's Paris robbery. He addressed Ye’s antics on the first track of his new album, “Kill Jay Z” rapping:
You walkin’ around like you invincible
You dropped outta school, you lost your principles
I know people backstab you, I feel bad too
But this “f-ck everybody” attitude ain’t natural
But you ain’t the same, 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-ck was he thinkin’?
“F-ck wrong with everybody?” is what you sayin’
But if everybody’s crazy, you’re the one that’s insane
Crazy how life works, you got a knot in your chest
Imagine how a knife hurts
2. On “Kill Jay Z” he also addressed that elevator fight that went down with Solange.
You egged Solange on
Knowin’ all along, all you had to say you was wrong
Yikes. With Ye currently working on a new album, we wonder if he'll respond on a track.
3. On that same track, the NYC rapper opened up about how Bey was on the verge of leaving him, comparing their situation to Eric Benet and Halle Berry’s uncoupling.
You almost went Eric Benét
Let the baddest girl in the world get away
I don’t even know what else to say
Nigga, never go Eric Benét
I don’t even know what you woulda done
In the future, other niggas playin’ football with your son
Either Eric Benet was up skimming through the tracks at midnight, or someone tipped him off about the lyrics because he responded to Hov on Twitter:
4. On the track “Smile,” Jay opened up about his mom’s sexuality where he revealed his mother, Gloria Carter, is a lesbian.
Mama had four kids, but she’s a lesbian
Had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian
Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate
Society shame and the pain was too much to take
Cried tears of joy when you fell in love
Don’t matter to me if it’s a him or her
I just wanna see you smile through all the hate
Marie Antoinette, baby, let ’em eat cake.
5. The Brooklyn bred rapper also touched on the drama surrounding Roc Nation and the estate of the late musical icon Prince. You’ll recall, The Purple One pulled all of his music from other streaming services except TIDAL. After his death Prince’s estate sued Roc Nation for copyright infringement of TIDAL’s streaming rights.
On “Caught Their Eyes,” Hov responded directly to L. Londell McMillan, the estate’s special music industry adviser.
I sat down with Prince, eye to eye
He told me his wishes before he died
Now, Londell McMillan, he must be color blind
They only see green from them purple eyes
They eyes hide, they eyes high
My eyes wide shut to all the lies
These industry n-ggas, they always been fishy
But ain’t no Biggie, no lazy eye, huh
This guy had “Slave” on his face
You think he wanted the masters with his masters?
You greedy bastards sold tickets to walk through his house
I’m surprised you ain’t auction off the casket
Damn! Tell' em why you mad!
6. We also noticed there was online chatter about Jay Z firing a shot at the Kardashian Klan, but apparently that’s fake news.
The line, “My wife a queen not a Kardashian" has been making rounds on social media with fans gagging at the fact he called out the Kardashians on the “4:44” track. But, it’s not true. If you listen to the track, he never makes mention of the Kardashians.
4:44 was released via TIDAL at midnight and Sprint users were gifted a special 6-month free trial to TIDAL to rock out to the new musical offering. If you don’t have Sprint or TIDAL, there’s another way you can listen to the LP.
iHeartMedia and Roc Nation teamed up to world premiere an exclusive one-of-a-kind historic radio launch of JAY-Z’s album, 4:44. Beginning today at 12:01 a.m. ET June 30th, iHeartMedia, in conjunction with TIDAL X Sprint, will world premiere the full album with an exclusive 35-minute Album. The album will continue to play across iHeartMedia’s Urban and Rhythm formats until 12:01 a.m. ET July 1, featuring never-before-heard audio from JAY-Z about the album.
Below is the full track listing and snippets of each track:
So, what are your thoughts on Jay Z's very candid 4:44 LP?
Photos: FameFlynet/TIDAL
