I am not a rap person. Believe me, there is nothing I love more than a good Rock album— maybe family— but that's not the point. I'm also not a JAY-Z person, I mean, who would cheat on Beyoncé? However, when I delved into his new album, "4:44", I was pretty impressed.

Believe me, I don't support JAY-Z and all he's done, but you have to respect him for the artistry that went into his lyrics. Except for some of the lyrics that were problematic. Side note: this review would be much too long if I did every song on the album, so, using Genius Lyrics, I found the 3 most popular songs and have chosen to review them. So, let's get into it!

1. "Kill Jay Z"

This is the 1st song on the album, and he's off to a strong start. I gotta say, this song from a lyrical perspective, seems like a confession. He admits to past wrongs like including shooting his brother, selling drugs, and stabbing Lance Rivera. This is a very personal song, but weirdly I didn't feel uncomfortable.

He's been facing a lot of bad press lately and I think this is an interesting way of speaking up for himself, showing his side, and apologizing. Some of the scandals he had already mentioned previously, but hey, it's his life, and things like stabbing and shooting don't just leave you after you pump one song out. I gotta hand it to him on this one.

I also like the idea behind the song. JAY-Z has changed his name many times over the years, but most recently he has been using JAY-Z. So the song using "Jay Z" is in itself a form of rebirth. The artist has said that the song is a killing of his ego, so it makes sense that he would use his old name, and adopt a new one in its place. Also there's a clever verse which goes from ego to Eggo to egged (on):

"Let go your ego over your right shoulder

Your left is sayin', "Finish your breakfast!"

You egged Solange on
Knowin' all along, all you had to say you was wrong"

As a whole, I'm impressed with this song. I give it a resounding thumbs up, something I wasn't expecting to do considering all of the bad reviews I've heard of this album! Moving on...

2. "The Story of O.J."

The title of this song is misleading. It is the 2nd track on the album and when I saw it I was almost sure it would be a defense of O.J., but I was wrong. This is instead an analysis of the separation between Black people in America, stemming from slavery. He uses O.J. because of a comment he made, saying, "I'm not black, I'm O.J." while on trial.

JAY-Z admonishes those who would ditch their background in the face of fame. One shouldn't have to deny who they are to be taken seriously, especially when it comes to race relations. JAY-Z is pointing out that celebrities denying their blackness doesn't actually help the situation for others, or even the celebrities themselves.

Background isn't something you should have to deny or hide, and the hiding itself just serves to validate those who would see the background as suspicious or bad. This one was another win for me, I honestly may start to listen to JAY-Z now, once I figure out which song has the anti-semitic reference... OH WAIT:

"You wanna know what's more important than throwin' away money at a strip club? Credit
You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America? This how they did it."

Okay then. I understand that JAY-Z meant this lyric as a compliment, but that doesn't mean it isn't still offensive. A positive prejudice is still a prejudice! And yes this appears on a very intense song in regards to race, but come on! No one is perfect and I want to give him a pass for this on those grounds alone, everyone makes mistakes etc. and he has already admitted to several mistakes and this is only the 2nd track, but I'm not going to give him a pass.

Why? Because it feels like pointing the blame in a different direction instead of asking why there needs to be a blame in the 1st place. Let me explain. He spent the entire song discussing the tension between America and African-Americans, and the idea that our society sees being black as a crime.

Who is to blame for the crime? He makes an amazing effort artistically analyzing the whole situation, but the randomly throws Jewish people under the bus, which I don't appreciate. I understand that that may not have been his original intention, but art can be interpreted in many ways, that's the beauty of it.

And for an artist who is under some intense scrutiny, you just feel like someone had to have been in the position to catch that one before it blew up in JAY-Z's face. He is a celebrity, like it or not, and that comes with the responsibility of carefully regarding your words and actions. Okay! Now that I've got that off my chest the 3rd and final song review!

3. "4.44"

Ah a song with the same title as the album, that always bodes well. Actually, in this case it does. This song is the least problematic of the 3 most popular that I have reviewed. In fact...it's kind of sweet. In a weird way. In a very personal, uncomfortable way. Hopefully he asked his wife before putting this song on his album because his reference to stillborns is otherwise cruel:

"I seen the innocence leave your eyes

I still mourn this death and
I apologize for all the stillborns cause I wasn't present

Your body wouldn't accept it"

I really like this lyric though. He's talking about gifts, presents, and links that to a baby and how her body wouldn't accept the "present" because JAY-Z wasn't attentive. It's incredibly raw and comforting, again in an odd way, but I'll take what I can get. Once again I believe in the power couple. He also admits that he ran away from their problems with other women, only making problems worse. Which has to be hard to admit. Especially in the limelight.

~

Overall, I'm really really happy that this album is in existence. I started this article with a set idea of what I was going to find, some of it I found, but for the most part I was surprised to find, and this is startling but...JAY-Z is human? I always thought of him as a scoundrel, and he admits to this, but I really like the confessional idea of the album, and the fresh start that it proposes.

Yes I went a bit off the handle when I finally found the anti-semitic quote, and I still think there should have been some sort of peer-editing on that, but I have to say, everything else falls into place.

Okay, most things fall into place, but I'm not going to nitpick any more than I already have. And if Queen Bey can forgive him, and I assume her collaboration on the song "Family Feud" means just that, I suppose I can too.