Kill Jay Z

 The first track on Sean Carter’s newest album is a pleasant surprise. On every single album before 4:44, Jay Z never opened up this much about his emotions. In fact, he never opened up about his emotions at all! Jay Z was very disheartened when reflecting on himself. He goes over his numerous mistakes in his past, for instance, his infidelity, selling drugs to people he loved, and even shooting his brother! These past mistakes are a big topic in this album because Jay feels “You can’t heal what you never revealed”. He explains to himself about the importance of change and bettering his life, not just for him, but for his children and wife. Jay also opens up about his fear that other men will raise his kids because of his past infidelity.

The Story of O.J.

No I.D., a producer from Chicago, shows off his talents on this track. No I.D. produced the entirety of 4:44 which makes the album what it is. No I.D. samples Nina Simone’s “Four Women” and turns the Jazz single into an amazing boom bap beat for Jay to rap on. Jay ignores the mistakes he expressed on the previous track and focuses on a subject that he usually raps about, money. Jay Z tells the listener the importance of investing and shows how he became rap’s first self-made billionaire. The significance of community is thoroughly conveyed throughout the track. Sean Carter cites the famous O.J. quote, “I’m not black, I’m O.J.” and then responds with an awkward ok. By using the quote in his lyrics Jay is showing that if you don’t accept that you are a part of the community and help them out, then you won’t benefit from the community like the help O.J. needed from the black community. Jay Z shows off his lyrical ability a lot in this track but the greatest bar is “Y’all on the gram, holding money to your ear/There's a disconnect, we don’t call that money over here!’ which is one of my favorite double entendres in music. This is honestly one of my favorite songs on the album.

Smile

  Smile is all about opening up and finding your true self. He shows how his mom hid in the darkness because she was scared of people knowing she was a lesbian. In one of my favorite bars Jay says “Momma had four kids, but she's a lesbian/Had to pretend so long that she's a thespian” This line is relatable to me because my mom is bi-sexual and also has four kids, which is probably why I like the song so much. Sean shows how he cried of happiness when he found out, which again shows how much he has changed and how he is more emotional making his music more relatable.

Caught Their Eyes

 This song features Frank Ocean who really contributes to the song. Frank makes a really catchy hook and rides the incredible beat by No I.D. Jay Z again tells about the struggles he had to go through to get where he is today, like witnessing his friends killing their friends and then hugging their friend's mother at the funeral. This song is one of the weaker points on the album. Compared to any other track on here it just doesn't hold up, but if you give the song to anyone else it would be a great track. I feel like Jay set the bar on the first few songs and this one didn’t even meet the bar. Thankfully, the next track far surpasses it.

4:44

  The title track is by far the best and my personal favorite off the album. No I.D. makes the most extraordinary and alluring beat I have ever heard. Jay Z comes through with the subject matter everybody has been waiting for since 2016 when Beyoncé dropped her album “Lemonade” which told the world about Jay Z cheating on her with “Becky with the good hair”. Jay Z openly apologizes to Beyoncé. This is a very important track in Jay’s discography because again Jay rarely spoke on his emotions especially if they were about women. Sean says he wants a do-over. He goes into much more detail about his fear of Beyonce being over him and how he wouldn’t play as big of a role in his children’s lives. He is anxious about his children finding out about how he treated their mother and worries how they will treat him. In the end, Jay delivers and goes above everyone’s expectations.

Family Feud

 Beyoncé is featured singing her heart out. Jay Z pushes everything aside and decides he is going to show the world why he is one of the best rappers of all time. Jay is hitting punchline after punchline, his setups are punchlines, he even has a couple of double entendres. He also brings the topic of the new generation of rappers into the picture. Even though Jay goes further into detail about this subject later, the brief period he does speak on it is by itself insane. He explains how being the greatest rapper right now isn't even an honorable achievement. He thanks his wife for helping him become spiritual. Sean comedically touches on “Becky with the good hair”. It sounds like a terrible time and place to make jokes about the women you cheated on your wife with but, it somehow works. All around this a great song especially with the beat production No I.D. never fails to deliver.

Bam

 Sister Nancy’s reggae song “Bam Bam” is beautifully chopped by No I.D. and creates an upbeat song for Jay to mess with. Jay focuses on his nostalgic sound that many people love and has fun with it. In this track Hov is laid back but also aggressive at the same time which creates an usual but soothing sound. Jay constantly boasts about the hard times he had to overcome and honestly doesn't really take this song seriously, he just raps! Which is a nice break from this very serious album. Even when he is having fun he is still creating mesmerizing bars and running the world.

Moonlight

 As a young kid one of my favorite rap groups were the Fugees. My favorite song by them, Fu-Gee-La, is sampled in this song all about young rappers. Hov questions the new rappers actions and why they are still signing deals even though they witnessed the negative affects the deals had on the rap game. He begs the new age to stop posting their crimes on the internet. Jay laughs at the image of them telling on themselves in their songs. He shows how passionate he is about rap and tells them to stop being fake to get more media attention because it isn’t worth it. Sean laughs because all the younger raps have the same flows, share the same bars, and have the same girls. To him they are all the same and that's the main point he tries to get across throughout this half comedy half serious song.

Marcy Me

  Sean Carter has been foreshadowing his hard times as a kid the entire album and he finally goes into more detail. “I’m from Marcy Houses, where the boys die by the thousands’. Jay takes us back to when he had to sell drugs just to be able to bring food home to his siblings. He says that even though he was the youngest, he still provided for his family and basically carried them all on his shoulders. Sean says it's only possible to truly know ourselves at the present moment by quoting Hamlet. Sean actually quotes Hamlet twice. This song is a celebration of surviving the projects and what he really had to go through.

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