4:44, It’s Time To Grow Up
Race, Black Equity, and Growth
JAY-Z just delivered his most introspective project to date. 4:44 is on the same deep level with “You must love me” which is one of my personal favorites because of how deep he goes, and he even references that incident on this album. By now 4:44 has gone platinum, mostly because of a genius deal that gauranteed a quick platinum plaque. Due to the exclusivity of this project there’s a lot of people who didn’t initially have access to it, and it’s become a running joke on twitter that it’s platinum when many people haven’t heard it. Since so many haven’t had the time to sit with the album what they know about it is limited to snippets and what others say. The album’s overall impact and meaning are at the mercy of the people on twitter, and all these people know about the album is that Jay cheated on Beyoncé. This is undoubtably a huge deal and is entirely relevant, but it’s not the entirety of the album and I’m here to let you know that there is an entirely thought out and profoundly impactful album outside of that one song.
Jay Z is dead, and out of his ashes JAY-Z has risen. 4:44 showed that the hyphen and capitalization have made all the difference in the world. Jay Z was stuck in a kid’s fantasy of money and fame, but JAY-Z is a grown man, husband, and father. He now understands that he has to come to terms with the actions of his past self and change his ways to be the man he wants to be. On this album JAY-Z focuses on his family, his community, and his mistakes.
Kill Jay Z
“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”
“Cry Jay Z, we know the pain is real but you can’t help what you never reveal”
On this track Jay understands that he’s made major mistakes that he’s refused to learn from up to this point and he knows he needs to change his ways to be the father he wants to be. When he says he needs to be softer it’s his way of saying that he needs to learn to become more compassionate in order to raise his daughter, and also be an example of what a man should be. The cry Jay Z line is the acknowledgement that the first step to becoming compassionate is being able to express his troubles. Once he can do this and grow, only then can he let go of the persona and “Kill Jay Z”.
The Story of O.J.
“Rich nigga, poor nigga, house nigga, field nigga, still nigga, still nigga”
“Take your drug money and buy the neighborhood that’s how you rinse it”
“I bought every V12 engine wish I could take it back to the beginnin’ I coulda bought a place in dumbo before it was dumbo for like 2 million the same building today is worth 25 million”
“You wanna know what’s more important than throwin’ away money at the strip club? Credit”
This song is directed at young people of color who come into money, specifically young rappers. Jay wants them to learn from his own mistakes in order to make their communities better. He preaches financial stability and strong investments over lavish spending. Most young rappers and the people where they come from can’t see past the here and now, and it’s only amplified when they become multi-millionaires. The philosophy is,“when you die you can’t take it with you”, Jay responds to that by telling them they can give it to their kids and their communities. He uses his own experience as a cautionary tale saying he bought up every car he could when he could’ve been in real estate turning a $23 million profit today. The chorus of the song just adds to this by pointing out that ever since slavery no matter how much you have you’re still black, and so was O.J. With this being the case you might as well help your people and your family, by taking your resources and giving back instead of throwing them away.
Smile
“Mama had four kids, but she’s a lesbian had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian had to hide in the closet, so she medicate society shame and the pain was too much to take cried tears of joy when you fell in love don’t matter if it’s a him or her I just wanna see you smile through the hate Marie Antoinette, baby, let ‘em eat cake”
“Flyin’ paper planes through my projects now the projects on my jet”
“A loss ain’t a loss, it’s a lesson appreciate the pain, it’s a blessin”
“Ours was,”Fuck you, pay me” now it’s,”Fuck payin’ me, I pay you put the rest away for Blue”
Smile is full of repeated examples of growth and strength. The biggest example being when Jay reveals that his mother is a lesbian and has struggled so much with it that she turned to drugs, but after all the pain she finally finds love and was pulled out of that. “Appreciate the pain, it’s a blessin’” is a great line because it completely sums up the song and the idea of the light at the end of the tunnel. He goes from fighting for his money to being in a position where he can put it away and have it work for his daughter.
Caught Their Eyes
“Bruh, I survived readin’ guys like you I’m surprised y’all think y’all can disguise y’all truths I’ve seen eyes wide as they’re about to shoot”
“My crash course was much tougher ‘round friends that kill they friends then hug their friends’ mothers and show up to the funeral, complete with blank stares invisible ink, I had to read things that wasn’t there”
Here Jay compares his surroundings growing up to Juice (Don’t worry there’s no real spoiler) and uses this to say that he has a trained eye for real people. He has this skill from identifying people who could kill or rob him so it’s easy to spot fake people in the music industry who would try to play him, including fake friends.
4:44
“Look, I apologize, often womanize took for my daughter to be born SEE through a woman’s eyes”
“Took me too long for this song I don’t deserve you”
“You mature faster than me, I wasn’t ready so I apologize”
“I still mourn the death and I apologize for all the stillborns ‘cause I wasn’t present, your body wouldn’t accept it”
The title track 4:44. The confession that produced details a lot of people never imagined. Jay admitted to cheating, lying, and causing Beyoncé to lose multiple babies. This song embodies the whole album and is the biggest and strongest example of mistakes he’s made that he attributes to being immature. This is the song that has gripped everyone that listens and it’s what has taken over social media. Jay Z cheated but that’s not news, that’s what Beyoncé’s Lemonade was about. The news is the extent of the cheating and the lose of the unborn children. It’s a heavy song on a heavy album, and it drew the reaction he and Beyoncé knew it would draw.
Family Feud
“My wife in the crib feedin’ the kids liquid gold we in a whole different mode kid that used to pinch bricks can’t be pigeonholed”
“Oh, we gon’ reach a billi’ first I told my wife that spiritual shit really work”
“You’d rather be old rich me or new you?”
“What’s better than a billionaire? Two ‘specially if they’re from the same hue as you”
“I’ll be damned if I drink some Belvedere while Puff got CÎROC”
This song is for anyone that thinks that Jay fell off. He feels that he’s worked so hard for the insane amount of money that he has that he’ll forever be on, that being the case he’s taking it upon himself to support his people and put them on. He uses Diddy and CÎROC as an example of him supporting a Black-owned business. Even though the song is a lot of bragging he also shows that he has expanded his goals to helping others get to where he is. Jay has shown evidence of that recently by putting out the Kalief Browder documentary, as well as bailing out fathers from jail on Father’s Day.
Bam
“Once upon a time in the projects Shawn was in flight mode, I bought a Pyrex
I was in fight mode”“Sometimes you need your ego, gotta remind these fools Who they effin’ with, and we got FN’s too Before we had A&R’s, we had AR’s too We the only ones really movin’ like y’all say y’all do We still movin’ like y’all niggas say y’all did”
“Got the heart of a giant, don’t you ever forget Don’t you never forget, Jigga got this shit poppin’ I pulled out the pot when we was outta options”
Jay is here, and he knows who he is. It sounds like he feels the need to remind everyone who seems to have forgotten who runs this sport, and it sounds like he’s not even breaking a sweat. He’s reminding everyone (specifically rappers) that he’s from the same streets they are, and not only is he from there but he ran them. He’s letting them know that he was wearing platinum chains before he was rapping. Just because Jay made it doesn’t mean he’s fallen off.
Moonlight
“We stuck in La La Land Even when we win, we gon’ lose Y’all got the same fuckin’ flows I don’t know who is who We got the same fuckin’ watch She don’t got time to choose We stuck in La La Land We got the same fuckin’ moves”
“Fake Dracos all in the videos We sure we shoot ’em in my city though
I don’t post no threats on the Internet I just pose a threat, blame Lenny S for that I don’t be on the ‘Gram goin’ ham Givin’ information to the pork, that’s all spam Please don’t talk about guns That you ain’t never gon’ use Y’all always tell on y’all self I’m just so fuckin’ confused”“Y’all niggas still signin’ deals? Still? After all they done stole, for real? After what they done to our Lauryn Hill? And y’all niggas is ‘posed to be trill? That’s real talk when you behind on your taxes And you pawned all your chains And they run off with your masters And took it to Beverly Hills”
This song is another shot at almost everyone in the rap game. It’s not meant to be disrespectful, it’s from a place of love for those in the culture and the culture of hip-hop itself. Jay wants improvement and creativity, he reprsents the generation before this who some people feel are haters but it’s usually out of love. This song is basically Jay doing what Joe Budden was doing when he was screaming at Lil Yachty for not being informed on his current deal. It’s not because he hated Yachty but because he doesn't want so see another successful kid get robbed by his label again. I’m not saying the old heads are always right but they usually mean well.
Marcy Me
“Back when ratchet was a ratchet and a vixen was a vixen And Jam Master Jay was alive I was mixin’ Cookin’ coke in the kitchen Back when Rodman was a Piston Mike was losin’ to Isiah, but he soon would get his sixth one
Gave birth to my verbal imagination”“Back when Pam was on Martin Yeah, that’s where it all started
When Denzel was blottin’ carpet, I’ll pack a… nine millimeter When Slick Rick made “Mona Lisa” When Lisa Bonet was Beyoncé of her day, I had divas, y’all Think I just popped up in this bitch like a fetus? Nah”
Jay is reminiscing on what his life used to be and how the times have changed. It shows the contrast between what his life used to be and what it is now. He’s acknowledged that the world has changed and so has he. Rodman became a Bull, Isiah retired, and Jay is worth hundreds of millions with a wife and three kids. The song goes back to the time before Jay was a made man, when he wanted to be like Jordan.
Legacy
“Daddy, what’s a will?”
“the rest to B for whatever she wants to do She might start an institute She might put poor kids through school”
“My stake in Roc Nation should go to you Leave a piece for your siblings to give to their children too TIDAL, the champagne, D’USSÉ, I’d like to see
A nice peace-fund ideas from people who look like we We gon’ start a society within a society That’s major, just like the Negro League”“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”
This song is obviously overshadowed by the title track, but it’s the most important track on the whole project. Jay wants the Carter family to be an example to the black community. He’s aware of the lack of generational wealth in the community and the cycle of trauma that causes, and he want’s to teach his people to break it. He wants them to invest in themselves and build themselves. He knows that all powerful and great families started somewhere. He wants his to start with him and Beyoncé, giving his kids a solid foundation to build wealth and gain the means to help boost their community.
