A Lyrical Comparison Between Jay-Z’s 4:44 & Beyoncé’s Lemonade

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Beyoncé: Lit and Lemonade

12 min readMay 9, 2022

by Hannah Halloran

At this point, we have all taken an intense look into Lemonade and everything it covers: infidelity, generational trauma, the relationship between Black women and American society and history…the list truly goes on. I thought it would be interesting to now take a deeper look into Jay-Z’s side of the story, his response to Lemonade, the album 4:44. He released the album in June 2017, a little over a year after Beyoncé released Lemonade.

This whole album is a blend of apologies, accountability, and explanation. He showcases his awareness of his faults that caused his wife pain and expresses the worry of how his infidelity could affect his children given how his father’s faults affected him. Jay offers up some explanation to his acts that in my opinion do not come off as excusatory, but as conclusions arrived at from deep reflection of himself and his relationships. This reflection goes into his upbringing as a Black man in America, his family life, the family he created, and the friends he previously surrounded himself with. Along with the album, Jay-Z dropped a handful of music videos as well as behind the scenes footage. One of these inside looks includes a conversation in the studio between him and other men in the industry. Jay discusses how when growing up, he thought he was getting true, usable wisdom from the adults around him, specifically the men in his life. However, while growing up and going through his own trials and tribulations, he came to realize that the people donating their wisdom had what he called, “superhuman strength on 10”, and emotional maturity, (self) awareness, and (emotional) intelligence of zero. He navigates this discovery throughout the album.

Anyone could write a whole thesis on the connections between Lemonade and 4:44, but for now let’s take a look at the album and compare and contrast these two records on a lyrical level.

Kill Jay-Z

For some reason, I’m always surprised when the name of the album is not reigned the title track. In Jay-Z’s case, I think Kill Jay-Z is a great album-starter. Jay basically addresses everything right off the bat: he’s calling himself out for dealing drugs in the past, being friends with the wrong people, and of course the infamous cheating scandal between him and Beyoncé. In an interview with iHeartRadio, Jay-Z specifically describes the song as the killing of his ego.

The song also directly references the 2014 Met Gala, where Beyoncé’s sister, Solange, and Jay-Z got into an altercation in the elevator. He calls himself out for being defensive in that situation and expresses how in hindsight, owning up to his actions would have been a much better route to take.

You egged Solange on / Knowin’ all along, all you had to say you was wrong /

Cry JAY-Z, we know the pain is real / But you can’t heal what you never reveal

Jay-Z continues this conversation with himself and how he needs to be a better person, a better man, for his children.

But you gotta do better, boy, you owe it to Blue / You had no father, you had the armor / But you got a daughter, gotta get softer

One of the things I found most interesting about analyzing 4:44 and Lemonade to each other was the abundance of conversational lyrics between Beyoncé and Jay.

You almost went Eric Benét / Let the baddest girl in the world get away.

This is not only a reference to another infamous celebrity cheating scandal between Eric Benét and Halle Berry, but what some believe to be a direct response / connection to Beyoncé’s lyrics from Hold Up:

Never had the baddest woman in the game up in your sheets

To some this could be a stretch because the term “baddie” has been extremely popularized in pop culture and music in the past decade. To folks analyzing these pieces of work and are familiar with Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s artistic choices, we know most of the time these are calculated choices that lay far from coincidence.

4:44

The next track up for discussion is none other than the title track, 4:44. Through personal discovery and research, this is the anthem for Jay-Z coming to terms with his actions, his wife’s POV of everything as stated in Lemonade, and expressing his hopes for the future. It’s a track filled with apologies and the one Jay-Z feels is one of the best songs he’s ever written. In his opinion, 4:44 felt worthy of being the title track because of how powerful it was for him to create. I found this song particularly interesting because of the multiple direct responses to Lemonade, specifically the track titled Sorry.

In Sorry, Beyoncé is basically stating she is in fact over Jay-Z’s sh*t.

He always got them f–king excuses / I pray to the Lord you reveal what the truth is. / I left a note in the hallway / By the time you read it, I’ll be far away

And in 4:44, Jay-Z expresses how that was a big preoccupant of his mind during the time of limbo between the couple.

I suck at love, I think I need a do-over / I will be emotionally available if I invited you over / I stew over what if you over my s–t

The couple also reference their children multiple times throughout their albums. In Sorry, Beyoncé expresses that regardless of Jay and her rekindling their relationship, she knows her and Blue will be just fine.

Me and my baby, we gon’ be alright / We gon’ live a good life

And again in 4:44, Jay-Z mentions his fears of his children happening upon the information surrounding his affair.

And if my children knew, I don’t even know what I would do / if they ain’t look at me the same / I would prolly die with all the shame.

Listeners also catch a glimpse of Bey and Jay’s personal POVs in the immediate aftermath of the affair where Jay-Z is trying to reach her and Beyoncé could not be more unapologetic for hitting decline.

From Sorry,

He trying to roll me up, I ain’t picking up. / Now you want to say you’re sorry / Now you want to call me crying

And from 4:44,

We talked for hours when you were on tour / Please pick up the phone, pick up the phone.

I appreciate Beyoncé’s play on the actual meaning behind her song, Sorry. The song is mostly about how she is unapologetically unapologetic, but also touches on her frustration with Jay-Z for being sorry after his actions, and not sorry enough to have never done them in the first place.

Beyond all the conversational exchanges, there are many lyrics from Jay-Z apologizing to Beyoncé throughout the song.

Took for my child to be born to see through a woman’s eyes

Took too long for this song, i don’t deserve you

You matured faster than me / I wasn’t ready / so I apologize

I apologize for all the stillborns / cause i wasn’t present your body wouldn’t accept it

I apologize / our love was one for the ages and / I contained us of / all this ratchet shit

I never wanted another woman to know something about me that you didn’t know / I promise I cried

In these lyrics, Jay-Z covers the majority of the couples’ problems ranging from infidelity to infertility. He also apologizes to all the women he’s hurt in his life, not just Beyoncé.

Family Feud

Family Feud is one of my personal favorites off 4:44. The song features vocals from Beyoncé, and she & Blue are also featured in the music video for the song. One of the most interesting parts of the music video is when Jay-Z is rapping the lyrics in what seems to be a church confessional while Beyoncé listens and ad-libbs lyrics on the other side.

Stills from Jay-Z’s Family Feud music video

The reason this track is one of my favorites is because this is the point in the album where Bey and Jay seem to come back together in an agreement to move forward. Jay’s moment of rekindling is very different from Beyoncé’s in Lemonade. In Lemonade, their reunion is very stripped down and emotional, whereas Jay-Z’s perspective is way more celebratory and strong.

My wife in the crib feedin’ the kids liquid gold

I told my wife the spiritual shit really work

Nobody wins when the family feuds

What’s better than one billionaire? Two (two) / ‘Specially if they’re from the same hue as you

Family Feud is also the track from 4:44 that references Beyoncé’s iconic “Becky with the good hair” line in her song, Sorry.

Sorry: “He better call Becky with the good hair.”

Family Feud: Yeah, I’ll f–k up a good thing if you let me / let me alone, Becky! / a man who don’t take care of his family can’t be rich.”

This leads to a very important question that has been theorized by millions:

WHO IS BECKY?

There are multiple theories; however, the most agreed upon one believes Becky to be well-known fashion designer, Rachel Roy.

The supporting evidence to this theory stems from this Instagram post shared by Rachel Roy captioned, “Good hair don’t care.”

*The photo shared by Rachel Roy to Instagram with the caption, “Good hair don’t care”*

The truth is, it goes beyond this Instagram post. Back in May 2014 at the Met Gala (yes, the same Met Gala where the infamous elevator altercation between Beyoncé’s sister, Solange, and Jay-Z occurred), Solange was allegedly seen yelling at Rachel Roy. The two were once friends and even attended the Met Gala together two years prior. The fact this was the night of the elevator debacle, Rachel and Solange were once friends, and Rachel captioned a photo, “Good hair don’t care,” has left the internet convinced that Becky has to be Rachel Roy.

Another theory regarding Becky’s true identity was reported by ET Canada stating Becky is actually the woman Beyoncé’s father had an affair (and another child) with. Personally, I lean more towards theory #1 because of Jay-Z’s reference in his song, Family Feud. Off the bat it doesn’t make sense to me why Jay-Z would be referencing the woman Beyoncé’s father cheated on her mother with; however, since Beyoncé makes multiple comparisons between Jay-Z and her father in Lemonade, it’s plausible.

Legacy

Legacy is another great track from 4:44. Jay-Z is talking about exactly what the title leads you to believe, his legacy. The song explains how his legacy incorporates the legacy of his family, the Carters, and how they helped him to the best of their ability, how he worked his way up from where they left off, and how he hopes he’s set his children up.

Generational wealth, that’s the key / My parents ain’t have shit, so that shift started with me / My mom took her money, she bought me bonds /That was the sweetest thing of all time, uh

The song starts off with Blue Ivy Carter asking, “Daddy, what’s a will?” and then transitions into Jay-Z rapping about the details of his will. He expresses his desire for any money to spread across his remaining family members (sisters, cousins, etc) and then mentions Beyoncé:

Eric, the rest to B for whatever she wants to do

She might start an institute, she might put poor kids through school

Adnis

Adnis is the name of Jay-Z’s father and this song is a letter to him. As Beyoncé and Jay-Z have both talked about, part of successfully healing their relationship was healing their generational trauma. Jay-Z has publicly talked about how healing the relationship between him and his father and releasing resentments is one of the factors that allowed him to be in a stable, successful relationship with Beyoncé. The resentment felt towards his father has to do with him abandoning Jay-Z and the rest of their family when Jay was about 12. Before this album, Jay-Z details how this affected him and the ways he understands this situation unfolding in his autobiography / biography, Decoded, released in November 2010.

“He didn’t announce he was leaving. I found out what really happened. His brother had gotten killed. Life in urban areas, he got stabbed. It really sent him in to a spiral, and he could go out and look for the guy. My mom would tell him, you have a family here, you can’t go out there. He couldn’t deal with that pain … My dad swore revenge and became obsessed with hunting down Uncle Ray’s killer. The tragedy — compounded by the injustice — drove him crazy, sent him to the bottle, and ultimately became a factor in the unraveling of my parents’ marriage. As a kid, I didn’t know all this. I had no idea that it was the death of his brother that undid my dad. When I found this out I realized that yeah, of course every father that bounced had a reason. I didn’t excuse him for leaving his kids, but I started to understand.”

A snippet of this song was shared to social media the same day Beyoncé announced the birth of their twins, which ironically was on Father’s Day.

*Click the link below to watch the music video for Adnis*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_jUUKaT9M0&ab_channel=JayZVEVO

MaNyfaCedGod

The last track on the album is the final song we’ll be walking through. It is yet another track heavily reflecting on Jay and Beyoncé’s relationship and how they have managed to conquer their struggles as a couple. The song also addresses similar ideas to Kill Jay Z. Kill Jay Z is mainly about the death of Jay-Z’s ego, and MaNyfaCedGod dives into just how many versions there were to get rid of.

This paragraph of lyrics from the song shown below covers an array of topics. Jay-Z takes a moment to celebrate him and Beyoncé’s triumph through the cheating scandal and accompanying rumors, the success of their On the Run tour that earned the couple $100 million, and the blessing of their twins.

Look at all we been through since last August

Skating through the rumors like, “Aw, shit!”

Still came back, fucked up the red carpet

Shows how big your heart is

On the Run, we took a hundred together

More than the money, it was the fact that we done it together

Uh, healing in real time

Song Cry to Resentment, that was real crying

Bonnie and Clyde things, we hold it down

Had we surrendered then, that’d be the real crime

Got through it, got blessed times two with it

He also once again expresses how distraught he would have been if him and Beyoncé had not been able to persevere and the relief he feels since they have:

Woulda broke me down had you got away

It woulda broke me up, you took my child away

I’m glad we found a way

As well as a look into the couple’s potential coping mechanisms:

Sexin’ the pain away

Vacay the pain away

Drinking the pain away

Smoking the pain away

He even includes an almost direct quote from Beyoncé’s song, Yoncé:

Yoncé, all on this mouth like liquor

The small difference between Beyoncé’s original lyric and Jay’s take is that Beyoncé says, “Yoncé all on his mouth like liquor,” and Jay says, “…all on this mouth like liquor.”

Final Thoughts

Beyoncé and Jay-Z are two incredibly talented artists who have been in the industry for the majority of their adult lives. Despite this fact, people were still so shocked when they decided to publicly dispute and heal through their art. To me, it would have been so weird for Beyoncé and Jay-Z to just simply work it out in couple’s therapy. I’m not saying couple’s therapy wasn’t involved, but I think it makes perfect sense that they told their stories and perspectives in the way they both know how: through music. On top of that, it was a genius marketing move for the both of them. The drama of Jay-Z’s affair was carried on in the tabloids for years due to the releases of their albums. As the nosier people became about what happened between the two moguls, the more attention their albums received and were listened to. They simultaneously fixed their marriage, had two more kids, and had two number one albums. All the more power to ‘em!