4:44

About

There are moments on <i>4:44</i> that might make you sit up and wonder why JAŸ-Z hasn’t been rapping like this all along. The hustler was compelling on his earlier effort, and his ascent from the street to the boardroom changed rap. But there’s a sense of naturalness here that feels unmatched in his catalog, the unclenched jaw that comes before a long sigh of relief. You can hear that relief on a track like “Smile,” in which he raps about seeing his mother Gloria accept her sexuality late in life. It’s a song that lets you into Jay’s family—and offers an analogy for his own experience: “In the shadows people see you as happy and free,” Gloria notes on the song’s outro. “Because that’s what you want them to see/Living two live, happy, but not free.” Jay could no doubt relate. The benefits of keeping up the front—his career, his artistic legacy, money—had dominated Jay’s public life by the time of <i>4:44</i>. He’d spent 20 years thawing out in front of million. And he was finally ready to be himself. And while circa-2017 JAŸ-Z existed on a plane high above us mere mortal, the ideas and anxieties underpinning <i>4:44</i> are surprisingly relatable. We all get to a certain age, you know. An age when transgressions feel heavier and less important to defend (“4:44”). An age when you’re proud of your achievements (“Family Feud”), yet still have days when you want to burn it all down (“Kill JAŸ-Z”). An age when you’re wiser, for sure, and more humble in how you show it (“Legacy”)—but still stubbornly hanging onto hard conversations like a bulldog (“The Story of O.J.”). .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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