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No I.D. talks about relearning the production process, getting the most out of Jay-Z on ‘4:44’

No I.D., the legendary hip-hop producer that helped shape the careers of Kanye West, Jay-Z, Vince Staples, and many others, now finds himself as an elder statesman of hip-hop. He was appointed executive vice president last year and is in charge of bolstering Universal Music Group’s urban branch of music.

The producer finds himself in an interesting space, occupying both the business and artistic side of contemporary music.

In an expansive interview with Variety, No I.D. talked about his new position as an executive, producing the entitreity of 4:44, and being an old head in a young man’s game.

On finding inspiration

No I.D., who is now 46, spoke to Variety about continuing to seek inspiration in his art as he ages. Not only is I.D. way past the typical age of popular hip-hop producers, his position as an executive means that he doesn’t really need to make music at all anymore.

So, in order to capture some of that creativity, he had to basically act as if he were starting from scratch.

“At my age, it’s supposed to be over for me. So I had to treat it as though it were over, and then approach it as though that were an advantage. ‘If I didn’t have a career, what would I do?’ I would try to learn.”

For inspiration, No I.D. looked to the work of Thriller producer Quincy Jones, one of the most important record producers in modern music.

“I started studying his career. I was trying to figure out how, at that age, he made the best albums of his [life]. And he wrote that in his mid-40s. He decided he wanted to get better, so he went and took piano lessons. He did all these things, and his only goal was to get better as a musician.”


Relearning production techniques and the relationship between artist and producer

When No I.D. took on the project of producing 4:44, he told Variety that part of this process of starting from scratch was to examine how he used one of the hallmarks of his style, the sampler.

One aspect of this was envisioning the sampler as an instrument, like a guitar or drum, as opposed to a machine. In this sense, he was able to make his samples a part of the music, as opposed to an outside component.

“I tried to embrace the concept of the sampler as an instrument, looking at how to take it artistically to another place where it can be appreciated, more than just taking someone’s song and doing a 4-bar loop.”

Another feature of No I.D.’s relearning process was to examine the relationship between producer and artist. On 4:44, he tried to get out of Hov’s way and supply the necessary blueprint to make his best music.

“Part of it was learning that a producer needs to get out of the way and let the artist have the spotlight. There’s the way modern music is produced, which is ‘Here’s a piece of music, and I’m the producer, so pay me and make sure my credit is right and get me my splits.’ But I’m trying to go backward. Now, it’s more like ‘What’s the texture? What’s the over-arching story?’ There are more things to pay attention to than ‘Is this the right snare?'”


Developing a ‘telepathic partnership’ with Jay/making that song

Although No I.D. ended up producing the entireity of 4:44, he says he and Jay never specifically decided that would happen. Instead, it just organically came together as I.D. sent new stuff to Jay daily.

“He says he and Jay never actually discussed the idea that he would produce the entire album — ‘we didn’t talk about credit, didn’t talk about money.’ Instead, he simply kept sending the rapper a daily stream of musical ideas.”

And, as a result, I.D. and Hov, “Developed… what [No I.D.] describes as an almost telepathic partnership, with [No I.D.] aiming to alternately inspire and provoke.”

As for “4:44”, the now-infamous titular track on which Jay-Z discusses his extramarital transgressions, No I.D. says he simply showed Jay his sample of Hannah Williams’ “Late Nights & Heartbreak” and left it up to the rapper to do the rest.

“When I made the song, I knew what I wanted him to say, and I knew we’d purposefully avoided it on every other record. So I just put [the sample] there and said, ‘Whatchu gonna do now?’ and looked at him. He looked at me and said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘You know what I mean. Whatchu gonna do?’ I put that intro there on purpose, to box him in. And he said, ‘All right, I’m going home.’ And there was a song after that.”

Wise words from a living legend.

With new ticket strategy, Jay-Z is having the most profitable tour of his career

Don’t let $6 nosebleed tickets fool you, Jay-Z’s 4:44 Tour is set to be his highest grossing tour ever due to new pricing strategies that charge actual market rates for the best seats and make the furthest seats affordable.

According to Live Nation, the average gross of the 4:44 Tour is up 21 percent from the same point during Jay’s 2013 Manga Carter Tour.

Basically, Jay-Z and his team have decided to charge market prices for the best seats in the house, and those with exclusive experiences like VIP access, while making nosebleeds increasingly accessible and cheap.

Billboard reports that the numbers for the 4:44 Tour demonstrate a change in headline tour strategy:

“Sales for Jay-Z’s tour represent a paradigm shift in concert tickets: by more aggressively pricing front row seats, VIP experiences and platinum tickets, concert promoters are getting increasingly more skilled at commanding high prices and record grosses from their best seating inventory. That’s bad news for ticket resellers — by pricing tickets closer to actual market value, JAY-Z and Live Nation are capturing more revenue and creating little room for brokers to mark up the best seats.”

By charging market value for the best seats in the house, and making the furthest seats affordable for virtually anyone, Jay-Z has basically eliminated ticket resellers.

It’s a strategy that more and more big acts are adopting. According to Billboard, artists with massive tours are using these pricing outlines to their advantage,

“In the last year, artists including Tool, Radiohead, the Weeknd, One Direction, Coldplay and U2 have all presented sellout shows with both $500+ tickets for the best seats, and $15 get-in-the-door tickets on sites like StubHub.”

This way, big acts make a bunch of money off the best seats, but also sell out the nosebleeds as they’re more affordable.

Patrick Ryan, who works at ticketing company Eventellect, told Billboard that this is a popular new strategy in live shows,

“This might be the future of ticketing. We are seeing many creative pricing strategies and we are seeing artists find what works for them. You generate a ton of revenue up front, but you still have a $25 price point that makes it more affordable for individuals who want to see an arena show.”

While this is a big move for artists with massive worldwide tours, it’s also great for fans who want to see their favorite acts.

By making the ‘worst’ seats more affordable, it grants more people the opportunity to get into the venue, it’s no wonder that this new strategy has seen a massive amount of success so far.

https://kulturehub.com/hov-businessman-marcy-millions/

Jay-Z’s ‘Moonlight’ reimagines an equal racial playing field in media

Jay-Z does it again with another mind-bending visual for the eighth track off of 4:44, “Moonlight.” Directed by Master of None co-creator Alan Yang, the video portrays an alternative view of Friends where the cast is all Black.

There’s definitely a fine list of prominent Black actors and actresses. The video for “Moonlight” casts Jerrod Carmichael, Lil Rel Howery, and Tiffany Haddish of the critically acclaimed Carmichael Show as Friends characters Ross, Joey, and Phoebe

HBO’s hit show, Insecure co-creator Issa Rae plays Rachel. Alongside Rae, Lakeith Stanfield of FX’s ATL and actress Tessa Thompson of Creed assume the roles of Chandler and Monica.

The video also casts Hannibal Buress at his best – himself.

As the “Moonlight” video is exclusively available for Tidal subscribers it will become available to the public via YouTube at some point later this week.

For now, peep a clip which shows the entire cast in an unorthodox introduction to Friends. The fact that the intro song is “Friends” by Whodini is sick AF.

“Moonlight,” as you should already know, is a very controversial song that addresses how Black people are portrayed in the media. Jay-Z only goes in for around two minutes but the lyrics present a very powerful message.

Do you remember when there was an envelope switch up at the Oscars this year for the Best Picture award? Nah, let me remind you.

Oscars 2017 GIF by The Academy Awards - Find & Share on GIPHY

This was the inspiration behind the song. “Moonlight,” which samples the Fugees hit single “Fu-Gee- La” on the hook while Jay-Z spits,

Y’all stuck in La La Land
Even when we win, we gon’ lose
Y’all got the same fuckin’ flows
I don’t know who is who
We got the same fuckin’ watch
She don’t got time to choose
We stuck in La La Land
We got the same fuckin’ moves

Before HOV get’s into a lyrical slaughter of the TV media and the current rap game, the seven-minute video takes viewers into an alternative Friends universe of Black doppelgängers.

The actors are portrayed in the same way, dress the same way, and act the same way as the characters in Friends. After going through a couple of lines the actors break for five. Jerrod Carmichael discusses the idea with fellow comedian Hannibal Buress who critiques the project as straight trash.

After getting ripped apart by Buress the cast resumes their positions but Carmichael is out of focus.

Upon realizing Carmichael is out of touch, Issa Rae’s character positions a finger on her mouth in the shush position and takes Carmichael through a door that is filled with studio lamps. Carmichael’s character then walks down the empty hallway and opens a back door to a revealing a room with grass, trees, a bench, and a big ass moon.

I’m guessing where Rae takes him is La La Land.

The video mimics what could’ve been. A year before Friends debuted on NBC a show with the exact same concept (six single friends living in NYC) debuted on Fox called Living Single. The only difference is that the Living Single cast was all black.

According to an interview with the LA Times done back in 1996 with the cast and creators of Living Single, the show wasn’t getting the same push as its copy cat Friends.

https://giphy.com/gifs/life-living-fvVxFgryW0Bu8

The shows creator and executive producer Yvette Lee Bowser, said,

“It’s disappointing that we have never gotten that kind of push that ‘Friends’ has had. I have issues with the studio and the network over the promotion of this show.”

At the time Bowser was one of the very few black female producers in the industry. Queen Latifah who was a part of the cast spoke out as well regarding the push Living Single wasn’t getting:

“It just pisses me off every time I see that ‘Friends’ billboard and the little piece of our billboard. I mean, how much more of a push do they need?”

This shadow cast over the accomplishments of African-Americans in the media is exactly what Hov is trying to articulate in the “Moonlight” song and video.

Every time Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight is brought up in conversation La La La Land will be associated with who won The Best Picture just because of an “accidental” envelope mix up. That’s just one example portrayed in the song.

Check out the song and video for yourself and let us know what you think.

Lead designer on ‘Story of O.J.’ video tells us what it’s like to work with Jay-Z

Jay-Z’s visuals for “The Story of O.J.” feels like an important moment in the history of rap music.

The second track off of Hov’s controversial album 4:44 serves as an educational, racial, and financial depiction of the identity of African-Americans.

The video, which was exclusively available on Tidal, went public on YouTube last week allowing wide access to the content. If you haven’t seen it yet please take some time to peep it below. Warning: You need to watch this.

Directors for the video Mark Romanek and Jay-Z collaborated over the course of six weeks with a team of animators, 3D modelers, and designers to produce this mind-boggling masterpiece.

Can you imagine working on a project that holds so much racial subject matter? Rustam Hasanov, lead character designer on the project, can.

Not sure how long this will be up. I was the lead character designer, weirdest gig I ever had #SToryOfOJ https://t.co/o2usFDYWYh

— Rustam Hasanov (@RustamHasanov2) July 6, 2017

In an exclusive interview with Kulture Hub, we asked Rustam about his experience working on Hov’s latest masterpiece.

According to Hasanov, who has worked on the Game of Thrones intro concept design and as art director on the animated Netflix movie Trollhunter, “The Story of O.J.” was a special project,

“It was definitely different. More than anything else, the timeline of this was really tight and the budget was pretty tight. Basically, the whole project was finished in 6 weeks and if you are familiar with animation that’s a very fast turn around on something like this, especially for something this sensitive in terms of the subject matter.”

Jay-Z The Story Of Oj GIF by Universal Music Africa - Find & Share on GIPHY

Hasanov continued,

“There was a ballpark, a gray area, of what we could hit and if we didn’t quite get it right I knew it could be catastrophic and that it could be misconstrued and misinterpreted in terms of what the intention behind the video was. So, we were very careful about how we were going to address all the stereotypes and how we were going to clarify exactly what the designs were going to say.”

What was the biggest challenge? Hasanov had to imagine what it would be like to be a 1930s cartoonist.

“Imagine doing these horrible racial stereotypes and turning them into entertainment for children. If you are an artist you know exactly what you are doing and you know that it’s bad, but they did it anyway. That’s exactly what we were doing too. That was the part we were nervous about, are we just repeating the same thing and are we fetishizing these stereotypes or are we making a statement? To us very much, we were on the side that we are not regurgitating this content, we’re making a statement about it.”

Hasanov had no idea what he was getting himself into. All he knew was that he always wanted to work on something that had meaning behind it.

Rustam Hasanov

One day, Hasanov received an email from his colleague Lisha Tan, the creative director on the project.

Tan and Hasanov worked on projects together before and she knew he was the right fit. His experience creating environments and characters, as well as working with tight deadlines was exactly what the project called for.

It was when Tim Delvin, art director of “The Story of O.J.,” pitched Hasanov the project, showed him the storyline, and said it was for Jay-Z he knew that it was a great fit.

“I found out from Tim Delvin who was the art director. I basically came in, he pitched the project to me, what the idea was and said, ‘it is for Jay-Z.’ At that point, I didn’t know the song and I thought, ‘God this could go very wrong’ because he just showed some imagery – the racist references and cartoons were shown to me first. Yeah, that was a little unnerving.”

Rustam Hasanov

Hasanov continued,

“But, I was excited because this is exactly the kind of thing I should be working on. Up to that point, I was really anxious to work on something like this, something that had a lot of meaning behind it. As soon as he said that I was a little bit nervous, but then I was like, ‘Oh man! This is going to be great.'”

I wondered what it was like to see the imagery for the video before hearing the song that would go with it. I asked Hasanov what he felt like after he heard the whole track. This was his “Oh shit” moment.

“Once I listened to the song and understood what the message was, I was like, ‘Ok I have to do everything I possibly can to make sure this is done right because if it’s done right, this could be an incredible and powerful message.’ I think after I listened to the song that was my holy shit moment because that’s when I realized what the potential of this song could be.”

A lot of potential indeed. Race is definitely a very touchy subject. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to be white and work on a project that brings racial tension to light like “The Story of O.J.” does.

Rustam Hasanov

Hasanov doesn’t think being white is an excuse to opt out of the conversation.

“If you’re white I think it’s kind of a way to opt out of the conversation just by using the excuse, ‘I didn’t have these experiences, so I shouldn’t have an opinion about it.’ And I think that’s completely wrong. I just think racial relations or just race and the context and the history of all that is so important to the entire identity of this country. If you’re someone that doesn’t have an opinion on it or if you don’t want to have the conversation, I think, it’s almost irresponsible.”

“The Story of O.J.” is very complex and has a lot of underlying messages. It took me a couple of views to understand the context of the video.

One thing that stood out to me and Hasanov was the Nina Simone sample, “Four Women.” The four women represent four different generations.

Nina Simone is represented as the last generation in the song, the archetypal black slave woman that was taken from Africa brought to this country and sold on the block. There’s also the burlesque dancer and the Scrub Me Mama character.

Story of Oj
Rustam Hasanov

In relation to the four generations presented in the video, Hasanov explained,

“We tried to echo the song with those characters and how they represent continuing generations, from one to the next. The song suggests that Jay is really speaking to the fifth generation. How do we build on what we learned from history and use that to define and own this new identity?

Hasanov wasn’t a fan of Jay-Z, until this project. Working on “The Story of O.J.,” Hasanov learned how to approach a sensitive subject in the right way and that you cannot side step away from the truth.

He found a new respect for the Marcy artist saying,

“One thing that made me respect Jay-Z a lot as an artist is there was a moment where we had an early version of the storyboard for the music video that we gave to him. We were waiting anxiously on a response and the response he gave us was ‘it wasn’t hard hitting enough.’ He wanted more of a gut punch with the imagery. That made me feel like ‘whoa, he really wants to say something intense he doesn’t want to side step anything'”

The song and video made Hasanov develop a new understanding of a culture that he stands outside of.

slavery Story of Oj
Rustam Hasanov

There are no real solutions provided in “The Story of O.J.” but to Hasanov, what’s most important is that it starts a conversation.

“To me, I don’t necessarily think there are any solutions provided in the video of how we can move on but the power in the video is that it’s going to start a conversation and its going to make people more self aware of how to go about doing that. That’s very powerful.”

Peep more of Hasanov’s work over at his Instagram.

Is this Hov’s best album? Putting Jay-Z’s ‘4:44’ under the microscope

4:44 did not disappoint.

The samples and the inspiration behind the album proved to show how much talented and forward-thinking Jay-Z and No I.D., producer of 4:44, truly are.

The duo, who have worked together before on tracks like D.O.A.” and “Holy Grail,” sampled from the likes of legendary musicians like Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone.

Just to show the musical range, Tidal listed the songs that inspired No I.D. and Jay-Z, which includes Prince’s “Purple Rain,” Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” and of course Playboi Carti’s “Magnolia.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKJtB5ao15E

Jay-Z’s 13th studio album featured his wife Beyonce, Frank Ocean, Damian Marley, and his mother, Gloria Carter. It’s definitely Hov’s sharpest album as he was able to touch on how he feels about race, culture, money, and gave us a look into his life, all in 10 tracks.

As you know, Jay leads a very private life, but 4:44  is one of the most transparent albums he’s ever released.

Hov gives a peek into his foxhole, touching on his infidelities, his lesbian mother, his break up with Ye, and his proximity to billionaire status.

The album opens up with “Kill Jay Z.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BV7jFengL1y/?taken-by=erickaybar&hl=en

According to Jay-Z in exclusive commentary he gave to iHeartRadio, “Kill Jay Z” is not to be taken seriously,

“The first song is called ‘Kill JAY Z’ and obviously, it’s not to be taken literal. It’s really about the ego. It’s about killing off the ego, so we can have this conversation in a place of vulnerability and honesty.”

The song represents the beginning of a new persona. One of the telltale signs- Jay-Z put the hyphen back in his name – “Kill Jay Z” appears without the hyphen. He decided to take the hyphen out back in 2013 and decided to put it back when he dropped the Marshala Ali ad.

“Kill Jay Z,” is  definitely the death of an ego:

“Kill Jay Z, they’ll never love you
You’ll never be enough, let’s just keep it real, Jay Z
Fuck Jay Z, I mean, you shot your own brother
How can we know if we can trust Jay Z?
And you know better, nigga, 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
Die Jay Z, this ain’t back in the days”

Besides voicing the death of an ego, Jay-Z also takes a shot at Kanye. I guess Jay-Z finally got in touch with ‘Ye after he ranted on stage back in November. ‘Ye made sure everyone was aware that he was hurt by Bey and that he and Jigga were not seeing eye to eye, financially.

“But you got hurt because you did cool by ‘Ye
You gave him 20 million without blinkin’
He gave you 20 minutes on stage, fuck was he thinkin’?
‘Fuck wrong with everybody?’ is what you sayin’
But if everybody’s crazy, you’re the one that’s insane”

Hovv also compared how he almost lost Beyonce over some dumb shit like Eric Bonet lost Halle Berry. Jay had time to throw in a quick jab to Future’s situation with his kid too. Savage.

“You almost went Eric Benét
Let the baddest girl in the world get away
I don’t even know what else to say
Nigga, never go Eric Benét!
I don’t even know what you woulda done
In the Future, other niggas playin’ football with your son”

Of course, Benét took that shit to heart.

The second song off of the album, “The Story of OJ,” is straight up business. Jay-Z raps about where black people stand in the fucked up pyramid scheme of 2017 America. Hov uses OJ Simpson as an example to depict that no matter how much money you have, no matter what status you achieve, you are still black in this country.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWDyfbpHl2G/?tagged=imnotblack

Jay urges us to turn that success into something bigger.

Hov really looked to educate people on this one. Even in his commentary on the album he sent to iHeartRadio, he explained,

“‘The Story of OJ’ is really a song about we as a culture, having a plan, how we’re gonna push this forward. We all make money, and then we all lose money, as artists especially. But how, when you have some type of success, to transform that into something bigger.”

Peep this excerpt from the second verse:

“Financial freedom my only hope
Fuck livin’ rich and dyin’ broke
I bought some artwork for 1 million
2 years later, that shit worth 2 million
Few years later, that shit worth 8 million
I can’t wait to give this shit to my children
Y’all think it’s bougie, I’m like, it’s fine
But I’m tryin’ to give you a million dollars worth of game for $9.99”

How much is Tidal? Tidal is $9.99. Sheesh, that’s a worthy trade.

A big shoutout to Stevie Wonder for Hov’s third track off the album, “Smile.” Definitely a powerful song, more like a joyful anthem, and features Hov’s mother, Gloria Carter. At the end of the song Gloria opens up on her sexuality and being free.

Frank Ocean gracefully hops on “Caught Their Eyes” to make the fourth track off of 4:44 a breezy listen. Hov explains it as a track about self awareness,

“‘Caught The Eye’ is a song that’s dealing with just being aware of your surroundings. There’s a line in it, and it says, ‘Your body language is all remedial, how could you see the difference between you and I?’ Just being so sharp about your surroundings.”

Hov also discusses his last meeting with Prince before he died and what the “Purple Rain” artist wanted to do with his music. Fuck you Londell McMillian.

“I sat down with Prince, eye to eye
He told me his wishes before he died
Now, Londell McMillan, he must be color blind
They only see green from them purple eyes”

The song I’ve been waiting to discuss is the self-titled “4:44.” At the number five spot on the album the track serves as the perfect median. The Hannah Williams sample is an apology to Jay-Z’s wife Beyonce.

Hov discusses his infidelities, the regret he holds, and how appreciative he is of Blue and his newly arrived twins. Peep the third verse from the song.

“And if my children knew, I don’t even know what I would do
If they ain’t look at me the same
I would prob’ly die with all the shame
‘You did what with who?’
What good is a ménage à trois when you have a soulmate?
‘You risked that for Blue?’
If I wasn’t a superhero in your face
My heart breaks for the day I had to explain my mistakes
And the mask goes away, and Santa Claus is fake
And you go online and see
For Blue’s tooth, the tooth fairy didn’t pay”

He described it as one of the best songs he’s ever written,

“‘4:44’ is a song that I wrote, and it’s the crux of the album, just right in the middle of the album. And I woke up, literally, at 4:44 in the morning, 4:44 AM, to write this song. So it became the title of the album and everything. It’s the title track because it’s such a powerful song, and I just believe one of the best songs I’ve ever written.”

“Family Feud” is an epic follow up to “4:44” featuring vocals from Beyonce. Hov gets a little cocky on this one and discusses what his family is really worth… priceless. Hov also touches on his rap family and how fighting within the culture is not progressive.

Hov gives a shout out to “Becky with the good hair” too,

“Yeah, I’ll fuck up a good thing if you let me
Let me alone, Becky”

Remeber when Jay-Z went to Jamaica?

He was definitely mixin it up with Damian Marley to create “Bam.” The track has an island vibe and is supposed to be an ode to Damian’s dad’s “Jamming.”

“Moonlight” was inspired by the movie. It samples the Fugees hit track “Fu-Gee- La,” poking fun at the accidental Oscar awarding to La La Land. 

Oscars 2017 GIF by The Academy Awards - Find & Share on GIPHY

The hook says it all, “We stuck in La La Land/Even if we win, we gonna lose.” According to Hov, the song is “commentary on the culture and where we’re going.”

“Marcy Me” takes you straight through Marcy. It’s a song of hope and that you can do anything you put your mind to. You can get out of any situation you don’t want to be in.

Peep this verse that gives you a picture of Hov’s struggle coming up:

“Marcy me
Streets is my artery, the vein of my existence
I’m the Gotham City heartbeat
I started in lobbies, now parley with Saudis
I’m a Sufi to goofies, I could probably speak Farsi
That’s poetry, reek of coca leaf in my past
Came through the bushes smellin’ like roses
I need a trophy just for that”

The-Dream throws a vocal assist to close this beautiful song.

Hov closes 4:44 with “Legacy.” The track starts off with his daughter Blue Ivy asking. “Daddy, what’s a will?” Jay-Z hints at all the things he’ll be giving his children to keep his legacy alive. This includes Roc Nation, Tidal, and Armand de Brignac.

Blue has no idea how breaded she really is.

https://giphy.com/gifs/north-west-gif-WXlUMkb84ZOh2

Jay-Z dropped the tea-spilling ‘4:44’ and everyone lost their damn minds

After weeks of hype and speculation, Jay-Z dropped his new album 4:44 last night exclusively on Tidal. 4:44 is the Brooklyn native’s first project in four years and… it’s a lot.

Backed by production from the legendary No I.D., Hov spits some grown man bars about everything from black-owned businesses, to the discontents of throwing money in a strip club, to his personal issues with his own marriage.

On 4:44, Hov spends a lot of time talking about spending your money responsibly and giving back to your own community, he also spills all the tea, dissing Kanye and Eric Benet on “Kill Jay Z.”

While it’s sad to see some of the greats feuding, especially two dudes who did so much great work together, someone had to say something about Kanye one of these days, and who better than the man Ye referred to as his big brother?

Jay-Z also speaks on his infidelity and the near deterioration of his marriage and for most people, that’s the biggest takeaway.

Obviously people were very focused on the drama of 4:44, and for good reasons, but it’s just dope to have Hov back. I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t sure what to expect from this album, Jay hasn’t put out the best music of his career lately.

4:44 feels like a return to form for Hov. We’re glad to have him back.

Of course, social media went into near meltdown mode over 4:44, we selected some of the highlights for you to sift through.

People are sick they don’t have Tidal  


Very sick

https://twitter.com/GiftSama/status/880703684627369985


The shots at Kanye, though!


SHEESH

https://twitter.com/hancxck/status/880645364914810881


Hov really philosophizing out here


The younger generations don’t even know

https://twitter.com/fivefifths/status/880774637432516608


Hov got the documentary bars on “The Story of O.J.”


But was this “male Lemonade“?

https://twitter.com/__Dutch/status/880550739621314560


Regardless, it’s a must-listen


Poor Eric Benet was just living his life and then…

https://twitter.com/_rapdad/status/880682038617100289


Benet even responded, but Twitter was not letting him rock


A lot of people came for the tea…


But there was so much more…

https://twitter.com/A_GAME4Q/status/880758067255758850


GROWN MAN ISH!

https://twitter.com/BrownAlexandre2/status/880640136677117952


We don’t all need that though…


No I.D. one of the GOATS


We do too Ferg, we do too