Jay Z dropped his new album 4:44 last week AND EVERYONE ON THE INTERNET IS DIGGING FOR LEMONADE RECEIPTS.
The album, which was Jay’s 13th, is all we’ve been able to listen to/think about since it dropped. The Bey Hive (basically everyone) are clamoring about one track that hits way too close to home – “Family Feud.”
Beyoncé is featured on the song, obvs, which would have been enough to get us excited. But on top of that, Jay addressed (and apologized!!!!) for his alleged infidelity.
Many of the lyrics to Jay-Z‘s tracks on his new album appear as responses to lines from Bey’s 2016 chart-topping & Internet-breaking Lemonade, which was about love, infidelity and forgiveness. Which was how we all got to know about Becky. Becky’s got good hair and the wrath of millions dedicated towards her for upsetting the Queen Supreme.
In Beyoncé’s track “Sorry”, she sings, “He only want me when I’m not there / He better call Becky with the good hair”. In Jay-Z’s track “Family Feud,” he raps, “Yeah, I’ll f–k up a good thing if you let me / Let me alone Becky”.
In another of Bey’s song “Pray You Catch Me,” she sings, “You can taste the dishonesty / It’s all over your breath as you pass it off so cavalier”. In “Kill Jay-Z,” the rapper raps, “You egged Solange on / Knowin’ all along / All you had to say you was wrong”.
The track points toward Jay-Z’s infamous elevator fight with Bey’s sister Solange after the 2014 Met Gala. Sources have reported that Solange had confronted him after he got a little too close with designer Rachel Roy, the ex-wife of his business partner Damon Dash.
It’s also been widely speculated that “Becky” is actually Roy or singer Rita Ora. Both have denied their involvement in allegedly causing a rift between the power couple.
And then comes “4:44”, basically his biggest admission of his faults – “Look, I apologize, often womanize / Took for my child to be born / See through a woman’s eyes / Took for these natural twins to believe in miracles / Took me too long for this song / I don’t deserve you,” he raps.
“I apologize to all the women whom I / Toyed with you emotions because I was emotionless / I apologize ’cause at your best you are love / And because I fall short of what I say I’m all about.”
I’ve got to say, after all the bombshells Bey dropped in Lemonade, I’m just glad Jay-Z did due diligence with his responses in 4:44. It’s nice to see everyone’s faves baring their souls into their art, leaving us reeling for more. Until then, we’ll just be playing Lemonade and 4:44 on repeat to decode more clues.
Who knows? We might even find out more about Becky after we’re done digging for gold through 4:44.
