Everything we know so far about JAY-Z's new album '4:44'
It's the news we've been waiting for ever since Magna Carta Holy Grail dropped in 2K13: JAY-Z is back with a new album.
Titled 4:44, Jay's dropping the much-anticipated - and pretty damn mysterious - album on Friday 30th June.
To tide you over until then, we've done some gentle digging to find out exactly what we can expect from Hov's 13th studio album. Here's what we found...
1. The name
You might be thinking 'why the obsession with the number 4, Hov?' and it's a fair comment. There's a long and sort of complicated history to the Knowles-Carter's relationship with the number 4, so we'll break it down:
Jay's birthday is December 4th, Beyoncé's birthday is September 4th, Bey's mum's birthday is January 4th. So far, so simple.
Speaking at her Live at Roseland: Elements of 4 show (which, of course, happened over four nights) in 2011, Bey noted the significance of the number in relation to their wedding day: "On April 4, 2008 - eight divided by two is four - [JAY-Z] put a ring on it."
Blue's middle name (Ivy) is named after the Roman numerals 'IV' and the couple have those same Roman numerals inked on their fingers. In short: they're obsessed.
2. The Beyonc茅 references
Moments after Beyoncé released the critically acclaimed Lemonade (it bagged Album of the Year at the BET Awards, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album; no biggie) - an album that fueled infidelity rumours aplenty - US Weekly started reporting that Jay was preparing to drop a response in album form.
So far the only Lemonade reference we've seen from Jay is a throwaway lyric on the All The Way Up remix (by Fat Joe, Remy Ma and JAY-Z), released in May 2016: "You know you made it when the fact / Your marriage made it is worth millions / Lemonade is a popular drink and it still is / Survival of the littest"
Either way, will we be scouring the lyrics for a Bey reference? You betcha.
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From early days Bonnie & Clyde to Bey's damning verses on Lemonade, here are the Bey and Jay namechecks that matter most...
3. The producers
This one's easy: JAY-Z's 13th studio album is produced by hip-hop and R&B producer Ernest Dion Wilson, A.K.A. No I.D.
What's the significance of this fact? Jay and No I.D. have worked together before on Run This Town and D.O.A. (both off of The Blueprint 3 album), as well as on Holy Grail featuring Justin Timberlake (part of the 2013 album Magna Carta Holy Grail). But 4:44 will be the first time Jay has worked exclusively with one producer on an entire album.
4. The songs
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Again, little is known about the track-list (those Carter-Knowles are a secretive bunch, aren't they?) but Jay did provide us all with a snippet in the form of Adnis.
Adnis refers to Jay's late father, Adnis Reeves. The two had a tumultuous relationship after Adnis reportedly abandoned Jay at the age of 11.
The clip features the Oscar-award winning Mahershala Ali boxing alongside a teaser of the track: "Letter to my dad / that I never wrote / Speeches I prepared that I never spoke / Words on a paper that I never read / Proses never penned they stayed in my head"
5. The collabs
While the majority of the album deets are on lockdown, we do know that Damian Marley has clocked some studio time with Jay. Speaking to Billboard, the Tidal co-owner said:
"We did some work in the studio recently and he wanted to come to Jamaica to get a tour of the place.
Well, I did some work with him for some stuff he’s working on. I’m not really sure of the details of his project in that sense, but we worked on some music together. I’ve been a fan of his music since he came out.
We’ve never done any musical work together. So that was a joy to finally work together musically."
6. The release date
The album will be released on June 30th exclusively on Tidal and you can hear tracks on Radio 1 and 1Xtra.
Put that in your diary, stat.