On Jay Z, 4:44, and the Importance of Remaining Legible

Aliya Nealy
Aug 25, 2017 · 5 min read

As a Sociology and African-American Studies major in college, one question came up often both in and out of class: how do you take all these classes but still remain legible? Meaning how do we hold these high level academic terms, ideas, and theories while also remaining easy to understand — for people who haven’t had access to learning the same academic concepts. How do we take this academia and make it accessible to our own communities? How do we do it in a way that encourages both understanding and implementation?

They are questions that I’ve continued to ponder as I think through what doing the work means and how to apply my Sociology and African-American Studies degrees in effective ways outside of academia. But the questions rang in my ear more recently as I started thinking about why I love Jay Z’s 4:44 album so damn much.


I’ll get the most blasphemous part out of the way now: I was not excited about 4:44 when I found out it was on the way. At. All. Honestly, I didn’t listen to 4:44 until about two weeks after it came out (though that was partly due to not having Tidal). I love Jay Z but after Watch the Throne and Magna Carta Holy Grail I was not very encouraged about future projects from him. People regard both of those projects very highly but to me, it was full of references to art, culture, and a lifestyle I’ve never bought, seen, or experienced. With Watch the Throne and MCHG, Jay made the transition that had been slowly building in his music since Blueprint 3. He had ascended completely to God-level and left the rest of us on the ground looking up.


Jay Z has almost always been phenomenal at remaining legible, hence his undefeated run and wild success in hip-hop. However, as he’s reached new levels of success and wealth, I’ve struggled to understand him and begun to realize just how high up the challenge of being easily undertsood extends.

So much so that with this in mind, it makes more sense why mumble rap and trap music are so popular. These sub-genres are both aspirational and legible. We can see these rappers that have made it out of good, bad, and indiffernt situations to a much better place and are talking about levels of wealth we all may not have but they relate it to things we still understand. I may not know the experience of having $50,000 to throw in a strip club but I understand throwing money in a strip club.

I wasn’t excited about 4:44 because I realized Jay Z was struggling with the same thing that my classmates and I had (and continue to). You should absolutely enjoy what you’ve learned and earned. Should Jay Z not buy a Basquiat, just because some listeners can’t fathom personally owning one? No, he should absolutely buy expensive art, and do all of the other things that his lifetime of hustling and hard work now afford him.

Going into 4:44, my concern was: we’ve gotten the Jay Z that was hustling and dealing and the Jay that has new money and can afford private tours in the Louvre and is personal friends with the former leader of the free world but when do we get the Jay Z that can truly reflect on his wealth and talk to his younger self and us with the broad and unique wisdom he has now?

Legendary producer, No I.D., said it best:

“I helped push him by saying, “Hey, this is what you said, this is what we know. And I don’t think people need to hear it. I think people need to hear what they don’t know.” Meaning: You wanted a Picasso, but why? You’re with Beyoncé, but what is that really like? What’s the pressure? What’s the responsibility? What’s the ups and downs? I wanted him to not be over people’s heads.”

4:44 is the Jay album we always wanted but never knew how much we needed. It’s all of the things we always wanted Jay to say and things we had no idea we‘d ever hear from him. The true value of this album is it is Jay Z, former drug dealer, near-billionaire hip-hop mogul and brilliant businessman, coming down from God level to eye level with the intent of bringing as many people, as are ready, back to Olympus with him.


Remaining legible is not an optional end result, it is a necessity for people of color to create change in our own communities. We must do the work of taking the knowledge and wisdom we gain, be it in school or life, and breaking it down to circulate within our communities and amongst our people.

We need Jay to tell us about the $2 million dollar building he should have bought so we can think about that $50,000 house we’ve been eyeing that will be worth $500,000 in the next five years, and not miss the boat. We need Jay to tell us there’s nothing Al Sharpton and Bill Cosby can tell him, so we can think about the pedestal we put black male cultural figures on and why we put them there. We need Jay and his 40 years in hip-hop to say people tried to play Tupac for wearing a nose ring in the 90’s so we should cut the younger generation some slack as they navigate the spaces of self-expression and gender fluidity.

When we focus on being understandable to our people we can reach so many more, even if the nuances and specifics are things that not every person can relate to yet.

Griots, or oral storytellers in African culture, did just that. They took high level concepts on how the world works and turned them into fables and tales that are so relatable, we continue to share them and easily pass them down generations later, such as the tortoise and the hare to the ant and the grasshopper.

Jay Z is cementing his place as a hip-hop griot by giving us his 40+ years of knowledge and wisdom in a honest, flawed, relatable and enjoyable story that we can understand and relate to. He’s spun his almost unbelieveable personal tale into an iconic story that can live on beyond him and wisdom that can continue to be passed down for generations. With 4:44, Jay Z has found his balance between his enjoying his magnanimous success/wealth and true legibility, and we’re all better for having it.

)

Aliya Nealy

Written by

Strategist. Motivator. Black Feminist. Somwehere radiating light… and probably being extra.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade