Jay-Z's new album sounds like it was recorded in a confessional box while his daughter slept in the next room.
He's threatened it many times. He nearly did it when he "retired" in 2003. But on Kill Jay-Z, the opening track of the rapper's new album released exclusively via Tidal, he actually does it. Jay-Z kills himself.
Of course, he's not talking about suicide. The 47-year-old rapper is axing his
former guise, the bling-lugging boaster who became the world's biggest hip-hop star by rapping about money, fame, and "the hottest chick in the game wearin' my chain," over the most expensive beats money could buy.
It served him pretty well. But times have changed. Here, on his 13th album, with a five-year-old and newborn twins disturbing the peace, and Lemonade, Beyonce's controversial adultery album, weighing heavy on his shoulders, Jay-Z's been forced to reinvent himself.
After the lacklustre returns of The Blueprint 3 and Magna Carta Holy Grail, it's a necessity. But it's also a revelation. Because 4:44 is unlike any other Jay-Z record ever made.
It's slower and calmer, a meditative, headphone-ready journey through Shawn Carter's soul, one that addresses every single elephant standing in the corner of the room.
