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Giorgis: The title track is resplendent, but I can see myself keeping “Bam” on repeat for a lot of the summer too.įennessey: The radical transparency of “4:44” is bracing - “not meant to cry and die alone in these mansions” is Rebecca -level melodrama.
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Gruttadaro: No - the pointless, bland Samsung commercial Magna Carta Holy Grail still exists - but at least this album might potentially serve as a blueprint (pun intended) for how to successfully be old and be a rapper at the same time.
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If he’d jumped ship on Tidal we’d be at full redemption. This is obviously a huge musical improvement, if only because it’s way better than the words “cell phone Tidal album.” But public-persona-wise, I think I liked him better when he was sorry and quiet? Luckerson: There’s no redeeming Magna Carta Holy Grail, which took “I’m a business, man” to its horrifying extreme, but 4:44 proves that Hov has rekindled his ability to turn his ruthlessly capitalist spirit into compelling music.ĭobbins: I was fine with corny Jay, and “sitting in the back of the ‘Reformation’ video looking duly shamed, but saying nothing” Jay was something of a revelation as far as contrition and public performance go. If Magna Carta Holy Grail was a corporately funded fiasco, 4:44 is a corporately funded apologia. Sometimes it has felt as if he’s purposefully made ill-advised albums to leave open the possibility of a comeback narrative. Jay sees himself in the mold of a Sinatra, an artist who transcends trend and era. 1 on the Billboard charts after a long break in 1966 with Strangers in the Night - it was his last album with arranger Nelson Riddle, and confirmed a kind of comeback for Ol’ Blue Eyes.
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4:44 is cool, Jay let’s quit while we’re ahead (for real this time).įennessey: If anything, it shows that Jay Z is likely going to be able to do what he always wanted to do: Be a credible, beloved artist well into his 40s and maybe even his 50s. Giorgis: Yes, but not so much so that I want another album after it. Does this redeem late-period (and/or post-40) Jay? Mayo thought he could take Michael Jordan because MJ was old and it turned out MJ was just resting up?Ģ. Victor Luckerson : A deeply unknowable persona mines personal anguish in a revelatory way? Might as well call this Lemonade 2: The Gift and the Curse.ĭonnie Kwak : Heart no longer cold as assassins.
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Matt James : Jay’s very public infidelity has fueled a resurgence in authenticity and purpose. Jonathan Tjarks : Rap for guys trying to manage their investment portfolios. Sean Fennessey : If Lemonade obviated Jay’s ability to age gracefully, 4:44 has at least allowed him to do so peacefully.Īmanda Dobbins : Therapy is real! (Also, this sounds great.) Hannah Giorgis : I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying this delightfully produced black capitalist manifesto. What is your tweet-length review of ‘ 4:44’? Here, Ringer staffers run through the highs and lows, ponder our own comparative broke-ness, and try to figure out if Hov is more family man than rapper in 2017. Jay’s 13th studio album, 4:44, released Friday, delves into the 47-year-old rapper’s own personal experiences of marriage and family life - with plenty of nods to his wealth along the way. His daughter Blue is no longer a toddler, and Beyoncé recently gave birth to a set of twin siblings - just over a year after releasing Lemonade, a visual album that spawned approximately a million infidelity memes. A lot has happened in the time since Jay-Z dropped his last (notably bad) album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, in 2013.