But how, when you have some type of success, to transform that into something bigger.” “We all make money, and then we all lose money, as artists especially. “’The Story of OJ’ is really a song about we as a culture, having a plan, how we’re gonna push this forward,” JAY-Z explains. Money, power, and race are all factors that cause a rift amongst artists in the hip-hop community. “Light n-a, dark n-a, faux n-a, real n-a/ Rich n-a, poor n-a, house n-a, field n-a/ Still n-a, still n-a” JAY-Z ponders on what his infidelity could’ve done to his relationship with his children, as he references the demise of Future and Ciara’s rocky relationship, with Ciara later marrying Seattle Seahawk quarterback Russell Wilson. “I don’t even know what you woulda done/ In the future, other n-s playing football with your son/ You would’ve lost it”
On “Kill Jay Z”, the rapper compares his marital woes to that of R&B singer Eric Benet and his most famous relationship, with then-wife Halle Berry – which ended due to Benet’s infidelity. JAY-Z’s infidelity with “Becky with the good hair” was the cornerstone topic of his wife’s album Lemonade. “You almost went Eric Benét/ Let the baddest girl in the world get away/ I don’t even know what else to say” Speaking on the song’s message in an interview with iHeart Radio, JAY-Z explains that in “Kill Jay Z,” he’s “killing off the ego, so we can have this conversation in a place of vulnerability and honesty.”
The album’s opener finds a pensive JAY-Z in a tete-a-tete with himself, as he faces the demons of his formative years while also grappling with the what-ifs of his actions. “And you know better, n-a, I know you do/ But you gotta do better, boy, you owe it to Blue/ You had no father, you had the armor/ But you got a daughter, gotta get softer” Well, the album is finally here, and JAY-Z has given us the answers. Scroll below for the rapper’s most introspective lyrics from his 4:44 album.