2017 Re Visitation: 4:44

It took me a long time to truly understand the greatness of Jay-Z as a rapper. I know that sounds crazy because that's almost like saying it took me a long time to understand how good Michael Jordan was at basketball. But in reality, that is also true. I was born a few months before The Blueprint came out and Michael Jordan begun playing for the Wizards. I can't help that. I'm sorry.

I'm not bumping Reasonable Doubt all the time.

I'm just not.

But when I was 16, Jay dropped 4:44. I didn't think much of it past the fact that the great Jay-Z humbled himself enough to apologize to the (in my opinion) greater Beyonce for the indescribable mistake of being unfaithful to her.

This was the first project Jay released since I had become pretty conscious of rap music in my mid-teens. As we come up on the three year anniversary of 4;44, I must admit that, while washing my car about a month or so ago, I revisited the album because one of the only songs I had saved from the album, "Caught Their Eyes", always was one of those songs that I loved to listen to. So, I decided to listen to the whole album because I hadn't in a while and this quarantine has prompted me into listening to a lot more full albums, hence the re visitation.

1. Kill Jay Z

This was the track I knew about before I ever really listened to the album myself. When I visited a friend whose dad was bumping the whole album in his whip, this was the song I remembered him playing the most. It's a track that I think embodies the shame Jay feels about the infidelity and the rest of the trials of being the biggest rap artist of his generation and how that affected his interpersonal relationships with friends, his wife, and Kanye West. The line that always sticks with me from this record is "If everybody's crazy, you're the one that's insane". Even though this came out long before, this line reached new meaning when Kanye came out with hot slavery takes and similarly inflammatory remarks in 2018.

2. The Story of O.J.

I think this the consensus best track on the album and one of the best songs in Jay's discography. The subject matter is so... responsible. It's the epitome of who Jay had become as far as a figure in the culture. He became the gold standard for seeing rap as a vehicle and not the destination. I want to also say this was after one of those really revealing O.J. Simpson movies and in the midst of the whole "Black is beautiful" movement at it's peak in the decade, This was when every artist was making conscious music and using their blackness as a muse for their work. This was two years after Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly and one year after Beyoncé's Lemonade. So, Jay made this record as more of an instructional audio session for building generational wealth and put stock into things that build that wealth over time, something that he admittedly struggled with before. A very responsible track.

And, No I.D. Great stuff.

3. Smile

I used to always skip this track. In fact, I did not have it saved until this re-visitation. What a record. I knew it was about his mother and her sexuality but for some reason, it did not hit one time before. Maybe it's because of my recent heightened infatuation with Stevie Wonder. My appreciation is not as much for what Jay is saying as much as it is how he says it and how the sentiment and the beat is so uniform. I think this is a lost form for A LOT of music these days and Jay and No I.D. nail it here.

4. Caught Their Eyes

Oh my goodness. This was my number one ride out song the fall of my senior year of high school. This was the first song I listened to when I found out Frank Ocean was on it. In 2017, Blonde was like Thriller to me. I was looking for any sliver of Frank Ocean's vocals on ANYTHING. And I did not care for this record at first. Jay's raps are obviously good on the beat but what takes the cake for me again is the work of No I.D. on the production. And honestly, even though, I enjoy it, Frank's performance is the worst out of the three. Jay's intro and outro are some of my favorite moments from the whole record.

5. 4:44

Whew, chile. I mean. This is it. This is it.

This has to be the hypest apology ever.

If I was B when I first heard this, that was be the maddest head bobbing you can imagine.

This should be the title track because this is a vulnerable, soul-bearing Jay-Z in a way we haven't seen him. The screaming in the sample matches the intensity of the conversation that probably had to take place in that household. The loud cries, the adamant apologizing, and the raw, boisterous tenor. It's a track where he not only goes through the consequences of his marriage but his relationship with his children. This is a real thing. I know that if my father cheated on my mom, no matter what the situation was, I couldn't look at him like the "superhero" I have always seen him as. I love this. It's real and equally euphoric and uncomfortable to listen to.

6. Family Feud

If you know me, you know how I feel about Beyoncé.

As great as Jay-Z at everything he does, Beyoncé always WASHES HIM in all their collaborations.

However, Jay snaps here. His flow is interesting because it's cadence lets The Clark Sisters shine too, instead of his words over powering the sample. Which even amplifies the "amen from the congregation" part.

"All this old talk left me confused, you rather be old rich me or new you? And ****** yall stop actin brand new, like Tupac aint have a nose ring too"

I can't off the top of my head thing of bars better than that in 2017.

Family Feud is full of Jay in Beast Mode. The Steve Harvey bar, the streams line, the billionaire question. And that's just the first verse.

And the production is 10/10 so far.

Don't get it messed up, Beyoncé singing is still the highlight of the record.

7. Bam

"**** all this pretty 'Sean Carter' ****"

The reggae mixed with trap sound is something that will never lose its flair and Jay has the uncanny ability to make the best music for the soundtrack of a possible "Godfather" remake with a black Corleone family. Almost each second of Jay rapping is beautifully riddled with double entendre and brilliant word play to assure any doubters that the billionaire husband and father, business mogul was still in the top 1% of MCs alive. Not to mention Damian Marley calmly yet strongly narrating Jay's reclamation of whatever crown anyone thought he lost or conceded due to age, other interests and sporadic releases. AGAIN, NO I.D. CONTINUES TO BE THE MVP OF THIS PROJECT. This is one of the very best rap songs of the decade and Bam is definitely what I will be playing in my 2051 Escalade with the windows down and the bass bumping as I pull into the parking lot at my last child's Kindergarten graduation ceremony.

8. Moonlight

I started "Moonlight", the 2017 Best Picture, in February. I didn't finish it because though I watched the first half hour before falling asleep one night, and the next ten minutes before falling asleep again the next night, I went to sleep immediately after my shower the next night and never watched any more of it. Not because I didn't like it or wasn't intrigued. The story, though not particularly set up like films I usually indulge in, was getting interesting and the cinematography, score, and acting was obviously 'A' tier. I just got too busy to ever finish it.

HOWEVER, I have seen "La La Land" three or four times. I love the film. I love romance films and have a guilty pleasure for romantic musicals when they are done right. So, when I heard about the Oscar fiasco and how they tried to give "La La Land" the award for Best Picture when "Moonlight" actually won, I was perplexed, but not enough to actually care or call blatant racism because I believe there is a prejudiced predisposition in most awarded industries.

I loved this song before I saw either film. The "Fu-Gee-La"/Teena Marie sample roped me in, Thank you again, production. The song is short but Jay's wisdom of what hip hop should be and awareness of where hip hop is has a shining moment on this record. The infatuation with popping off on social media and in videos, the arrogance and entitlement artists walk around with with less than a fraction of the success of Jay, his peers, or those that came before him, and obviously the phenomenon of when black creators make something of real quality and substance, there is still an additional obstacle of getting adequate credit for it.

9. Marcy Me

This was one of the tracks I discovered on my revisiting. I love songs like this. Melodic sounds and instrumentals, little to no chorus, and lyrical vomit. There isn't much to say here, it is one of the true, raw odes to Jay's younger days specifically the late 80's, thanks to the Jam Master Jay and NBA references. In a way, Jay is flaunting his age here. Almost none of the rappers that were on top of the world were in their teens and young adults when Run DMC was out and Jordan still wasn't considered a winner. It also shows the tug of war that was his life at that time, though music and basketball were things that intrigued him as a young black kid in Brooklyn, he had a responsibility that many of the same rappers he sees around him in 2017 didn't have to bear.

10. Legacy

This is why it took me so long to soften up to this album. When I was 16, yeah I liked J. Cole and Kendrick and I wasn't all the way into the trap, fun, colorful rap craze, but I was still in there. I was not trying to listen to the same thing my uncle or my football coach was. All I saw in social media was "Jay showing yall how to save yall money", "Jay showing yall how to be a responsible adult". I truly wasn't tryna hear allat.

But, even in 3 years, relationships I have formed and experiences I have had, have forced me to think about my future and what kind of legacy I want to leave.

As I am looking at the lyrics on Genius, there is a music video. Let's check it out.

Hey, theres that guy from that movie.

Hey, Jesse Williams!

Jack Black?

Michael Jackson???

Will Ferrell?

Old Southern Thanos?

Yeah, I did not understand that. I'm sure there's more to it.

Great song.

4;44

8.5/10