It’s been a good month for Jay-Z.
The rapper, producer, and entrepreneur released his thirteenth studio album, 4:44 with positive reviews two weeks ago. This week, he released the second music video off the album following the first one which was the animated black-and-white clip for “The Story of O.J.”
“4:44” is a visual collage of videos stringing together to form a love letter. The title track is becoming the most talked about song on the album due to the intense personal subject matter that the song portrays. The song is an open love letter and apology letter to his wife, Beyoncé. In the song, Jay Z raps about being a bad husband and being unfaithful to her over a sample of Hannah Williams’ “Late Nights and Heartbreak” – another song about infidelity.
The video for the song begins with a video clip of a young boy singing “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone. The footage was also sampled on Watch the Throne’s “New Day.” The music video then moves on to footage from the 1983 Eartha Kitt documentary All by Myself: The Eartha Kitt Story, in which the singer talks about love and compromise. In the documentary, she explains that; “There’s nothing in this world more beautiful than falling in love.” Love is the general theme of “4:44” if you look closely. Love in a world full of chaos is the only thing that matters and if you can find it, then there is hope.
Throughout the eight-minute video, viral videos strewn together to show a variety of different facets of black American culture. Towards the end of “4:44,” we see footage of Jay and Beyoncé performing “Drunk in Love,” dancing together but also revealing their pain that they are trying to hide.
The video ends with footage of Blue Ivy smiling and looking at the camera. The footage was used in the video Blue and here leaves viewers with an endearing end, a feeling of hopefulness for the future.
“4:44” is a rollercoaster of emotions that ranges from across the spectrum but it is worth watching just for the glimpse inside the world of Jay and his family.
Watch “4:44” below:
Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna
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