Jay-Z - 4:44 ALBUM REVIEW

-
Shawn Carter doesn’t need an introduction by any means. He’s one of the most legendary rappers of all time, one of the most influential music figures ever, and is currently married to one of the biggest musicians on the planet, Beyoncé. In 2016, his relationship with Beyoncé was put on full blast with her masterpiece of a visual album Lemonade, a one-of-a-kind album that defined a decade’s generation’s worth of pop culture milestones. But the content was what turned heads in the pop culture world: She was accusing Jay-Z, her husband, of cheating on her. Jay-Z stayed silent for the most part on this side, but he eventually returned with 4:44, an album that was completely different compared to his past releases. From the media’s standpoint, this was Jay-Z’s Lemonade. How did Jay-Z’s thirteenth studio album come to be? Is it good? Is it bad? Well, let me tell you.

Of course, 4:44 is a hip-hop record. 4:44 could be considered a jazz rap album or a conscious rap album as well. It’s definitely an East Coast rap album, though. 4:44 is Jay-Z’s most personal album yet, talking about his family life and black culture and how it has been affecting him. Contrary to popular belief, 4:44 isn’t a Lemonade response, but it’s a reaction. The title track is a full-on, devastating apology to Beyoncé and the kids that they have together. “Smile” is a gospel-sampling track that’s almost a love letter to his mother Gloria, who pops up for a spoken word passage at the end of the track. “Caught Their Eyes” with Frank Ocean is also a highlight, with its choppy Nina Simone sample and references to Prince. The production on 4:44 was all done by one person, and that is No I.D., and the production throughout the record is so minimalist and raw that is puts a highlight on Jay-Z’s lyrics so you have to focus on them.

This isn’t exactly a problem with 4:44, but if you’re going into this album looking for songs to turn up to or to hear songs that will be played in clubs, this isn’t that album. This isn’t the Jay-Z that’s braggadocious and is making hit after hit, and that’s the appeal of 4:44. This record is for the people that are interested in Jay-Z the person and what legacy he’ll leave when he’s eventually gone. This is the Jay-Z album that rewards hardcore Jay-Z fans, and while I’m not a hardcore Jay-Z fan, this album has left me stunned.

4:44 is Jay-Z’s best album in a long time, and arguable, maybe of his career. This is a side of Jay-Z that we’ve never seen before: raw, unfiltered, and somewhat humble. No I.D.’s mesmerizing production choices have put Jay-Z in a new light during the Lemonade incident. If I’m being honest, I thought that he was going to retire from making music, until he made EVERYTHING IS LOVE album with Beyoncé and also appeared on nearly every track on Jay Electronica’s debut album A Written Testimony. 4:44 isn’t a generation-defining album, but damn, it sure is amazing.


8/10


Stream 4:44 here

Spotify

Apple Music

(4:44 isn’t on YouTube Music)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lil Yachty - Let’s Start Here. ALBUM REVIEW

-
Image
I gotta keep holding to my promises about reviewing. I always love it when an artist takes a risk with their material. Whether or not it works out, I usually admire the risk and appreciate the fact that any artist can do something out of their comfort zone. Either way, the artist in question today is Lil Yachty, a rapper that has basically become a joke the longer his career’s gone on. However, going into a new genre out of left field isn’t totally new to rap. Childish Gambino jumping into the world of neo-soul with Awaken, My Love! , along with later projects from Mac Miller and Tyler, the Creator having more jazz influences, have proven that turning to a new genre for new ideas has worked out pretty well. Yachty, however, has turned to psychedelic rock in the vein of Tame Impala for this new album, Let’s Start Here. to mark the new chapter of his career. Let’s get into it. Having stuck around with Yachty during the rough patches, I can easily say that Let’s Start Here. is his best ...
Read more

Kendrick Lamar - GNX ALBUM REVIEW

-
Image
Woah, a new review? After this long? Yeah, sure. Why not? I got some plans in the works to keep this active in some form, and I’ll show off some more details in the post after this! What timing for an album to end up bringing this little site back, even if it’s just for a little bit of time. The last post on here was last June, and a lot has happened in my life since then, whether it’s in music or my personal life. Arguably, the biggest moment in music of the year was the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, which exploded just before this summer with “Like That,” a song off of the first of two Future and Metro Boomin’ albums from this year, WE DON’T TRUST YOU . I don’t need to go into just how massive this beef was (and in still is in some ways), but if you need one major takeaway, I’ll say this: One of the biggest hits of the year, regardless of genre, essentially boiled down to Kendrick calling Drake a pedophile for four-and-a-half minutes. “Not Like Us,” a song where one of the m...
Read more

Porter Robinson - Nurture ALBUM REVIEW

-
Image
I wanna just lay in a field of grass, but I’m allergic to pollen :( I’ve always had a very strange relationship with electronic music. The bad music I’ve heard in the genre has been some of the worst music I’ve ever heard, and the good stuff is some of the greatest music I’ve ever heard. For some context, we have artists like The Chainsmokers on one end, and Daft Punk on the other. There are some subgenres in here too that work. Electropop is one of them, being an obvious fusion of pop and electronic music. In the little community of the AOTY website, the users there have been hyped as hell for this Porter Robinson album, Nurture . It’s apparently his first in seven years, and I’ve only heard one single from it, titled “Musician.” While it wasn’t the best electropop song I’ve heard, it’s certainly an interesting sound that I think can work pretty well. So, with how anticipated it is in the AOTY community, I figured I should take a listen and see what all the fuss is about. Let’s get in...
Read more