Creating a thread because I'm irrationally hopeful.
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 30 June 2017 02:03 (six years ago) link
http://www.stereogum.com/1947671/jay-z-announces-new-album-444-out-next-week/news/
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 30 June 2017 02:04 (six years ago) link
Oh, sorry, "JAY-Z"
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 30 June 2017 02:06 (six years ago) link
tidal-sprint
― johnny crunch, Friday, 30 June 2017 02:15 (six years ago) link
the story of O.J.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji0_Ucxrk_k
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 30 June 2017 11:03 (six years ago) link
yikes at the antisemitism??!
hey jay i thought antisemitism wasn't "hot" - guess fashions have changed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNFXHoaf4Vs
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 30 June 2017 11:06 (six years ago) link
anti-Semitism? In regards to what?
I did read a blurb that said No ID is doing the whole record
Which is the only thing that makes me kinda interested, I'm not sure Jay's broken flow is repairable, but maybe the one (and not particular fashionable) producer indicates they are trying to make an actually album
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 30 June 2017 11:58 (six years ago) link
did u listen to the song?
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 30 June 2017 12:33 (six years ago) link
the story of oj snippet does not get me excited about this album
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Friday, 30 June 2017 12:54 (six years ago) link
Is it even possible to listen to ANY of these songs outside of Tidal?
The 30 second snippets I can heard without joining have me intrigued, but, nah not joining Tidal
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 30 June 2017 13:04 (six years ago) link
There's a line about Jews owning all the properly in America.
― Matt DC, Friday, 30 June 2017 13:05 (six years ago) link
Property.
guess now we know why the umlaut
― r|t|c, Friday, 30 June 2017 13:48 (six years ago) link
haven't heard this yet / probably won't but I feel I can judge its contents by that line and the bland title alone
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, 30 June 2017 13:50 (six years ago) link
jay is my favorite rapper ever, but i don't see any reason to listen to his music in 2017
― k3vin k., Friday, 30 June 2017 13:51 (six years ago) link
Tracer: no that YouTube was broken don't have Tidal
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 30 June 2017 17:03 (six years ago) link
here's the frank ocean track posted unheardhttp://mp3waxx.com/jobfolders/jayzcte/index.php
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Friday, 30 June 2017 18:22 (six years ago) link
Jay-zZz
(pronounced "zed")
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Friday, 30 June 2017 18:26 (six years ago) link
listened to that song, jay sounds terrible
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Friday, 30 June 2017 18:46 (six years ago) link
Jay-Z retire bitch
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Friday, 30 June 2017 18:49 (six years ago) link
this is lame lol
― (•̪●) (carne asada), Friday, 30 June 2017 18:51 (six years ago) link
Go to your neighborhood high-end streetwear store. Just heard a few songs there while browsing Visvim jackets.
― Eazy, Friday, 30 June 2017 19:05 (six years ago) link
this sounds really good to my ears. low key but good.
― down that brown path (Spottie), Friday, 30 June 2017 19:19 (six years ago) link
He already retired. Not sure what this is
― calstars, Friday, 30 June 2017 19:20 (six years ago) link
twins trust fund
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Saturday, 1 July 2017 03:13 (six years ago) link
This is actually really great
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 1 July 2017 03:36 (six years ago) link
Fuck this shit that line about jewish ppl is gross
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 1 July 2017 03:58 (six years ago) link
He could have at least renamed himself before this release
― calstars, Saturday, 1 July 2017 04:23 (six years ago) link
JMZ for example
The "atonement" shit here is some make-yourself-feel-better showy cringey garbage. And Shakey OTM.
― circa1916, Saturday, 1 July 2017 04:32 (six years ago) link
deray mckesson has 4:44 in his twitter display name now so you know this album must be good
― k3vin k., Saturday, 1 July 2017 16:38 (six years ago) link
so messy re eric benet
― johnny crunch, Saturday, 1 July 2017 18:27 (six years ago) link
this albums kinda...mellow
― johnny crunch, Saturday, 1 July 2017 18:40 (six years ago) link
re: the judaism line this thread has some context
To jay z's jewish people own property line: if he had said in Brooklyn rather than in America I would've found it accurate.— AirDaniel (@AirgoDaniel) July 1, 2017
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Saturday, 1 July 2017 20:00 (six years ago) link
click through though for the full thread
Rmde at that bullshit
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 1 July 2017 20:01 (six years ago) link
"Some people of this ethnic group did this one thing in a specific context ergo the broader generalizatipn is excusable" is bad logic with bad consequences
Where is mordy
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 1 July 2017 20:03 (six years ago) link
But i like how he puts the argument out there and then notes its irrelevance at the end, cool tactic bro
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 1 July 2017 20:04 (six years ago) link
Ok i'm going back to vacatipn now
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 1 July 2017 20:05 (six years ago) link
Vacation even
how do you even listen to rap music
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Saturday, 1 July 2017 20:06 (six years ago) link
angrily
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal), Saturday, 1 July 2017 20:08 (six years ago) link
I agree with Οὖτις, it's a bad and dumb line and even quasi-rationalizing it is bullshit
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, 1 July 2017 20:27 (six years ago) link
the prosperity gospel / progress-through-wealth-accumulation shit is also bad and dumb. I think this of anyone but it's doubly nauseous to hear it from such an obscenely wealthy person
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, 1 July 2017 20:28 (six years ago) link
i didn't want the thread to be all about that line but it literally was the first song (only!) song i heard and i was kind of low-key getting into it and suddenly i'm like THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 1 July 2017 20:30 (six years ago) link
D-40 that is some bullshit. If you need five (lol) tweets to try and get away with blatant anti-semitism you are doing it wrong. Shakey and Simon H otm. It's dumb, it's bullshit quasi-rationalizing. Most of all this dude is passé; never thought Jay-Z would be so bad at being a rapper but here we are...
― Le Bateau Ivre, Sunday, 2 July 2017 00:29 (six years ago) link
Tbh i'd be more inclined to give him a pass if he was just some dumb ignorant kid from the projects, but this is Jay-Z, intelligent middle aged multi-millionaire.
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 2 July 2017 00:42 (six years ago) link
The "he doesn't know what he's talking about because of his limited frame of reference" defense doesnt hold any water at this stage in his career.
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 2 July 2017 00:44 (six years ago) link
Plus he's in the Illuminati
― President Keyes, Sunday, 2 July 2017 02:15 (six years ago) link
There are a lot of valid reasons why these things get called out now, paramount is the internet/social media: everything is more visible/out in the open now than it ever was.
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 2 July 2017 20:23 (six years ago) link
It's not a conspiracy being perpetuated that white people exploit these communities though, "black Korea" and lines like this are right about a dynamic but wrong about the specifics (and in harmful ways, yes)
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Sunday, July 2, 2017 2:22 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Actually it's not that it's wrong in the specifics as much as it is overly specific likely bc of jay's own experiences in Brooklyn from which he extrapolated incorrectly (or he's just being cynical in an effort to connect with Just Folks and doesn't really care)
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Sunday, 2 July 2017 20:34 (six years ago) link
(...doesn't really care that he's perpetuating a harmful stereotype abt Jews I mean)
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Sunday, 2 July 2017 20:35 (six years ago) link
"a harmful stereotype about jews" = an interesting way of describing THE harmful stereotype about jews, the ultimate one, the ur-text of racist conspiracy theories
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 2 July 2017 21:03 (six years ago) link
i get that specific circumstances in jay's life produced a willingness to repeat this ignorant shit. that makes him different from anyone else how? we all have specific circumstances that point us in certain directions. i grew up in rural east tennessee. i still struggle with the damage that caused my racial sensibilities. but it's my responsibility to rise above that, to fight through it, to be better than that. jay deserves every bit of blowback he reaps from this line and i hope he's big enough to cop to it.
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 2 July 2017 21:23 (six years ago) link
https://itself.blog/2017/07/02/the-christianity-of-jay-zs-typological-anti-blackness/
― j., Sunday, 2 July 2017 21:29 (six years ago) link
ah you sutures and valences, how i've missed thee
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 2 July 2017 21:35 (six years ago) link
MAN, that video.
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 2 July 2017 21:38 (six years ago) link
getting all captain save a hova in here
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Monday, 3 July 2017 15:54 (six years ago) link
overdue but proper ^
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 July 2017 15:54 (six years ago) link
― j., Sunday, July 2, 2017 4:29 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
an ilxor is at school w one of the authors of this piece, im curious what he thinks of it
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Monday, 3 July 2017 21:05 (six years ago) link
That antisemitic line is such a red herring, it's been called out already, what's the need to discuss it ad nauseam? Make Jay erase it before the album hits Spotify?
It's one dumb throwaway line on an otherwise interesting track where Jay engages with his own role as a kind of emancipatory capitalist by applying popular Piketty to his art collection:
Financial freedom my only hopeFuck livin' rich and dyin' brokeI bought some artwork for 1 million2 years later, that shit worth 2 millionFew years later, that shit worth 8 millionI can't wait to give this shit to my children
― niels, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 09:22 (six years ago) link
does "engages with his role" mean anything other than "espouses" here
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Tuesday, 4 July 2017 09:40 (six years ago) link
You can call it that. He's arguing in favor of the choices he's made, justifying his position in class society not as a symptom of a system to be overturned but as a type of black emancipation. I don't need to agree with him to find it interesting. But no, he's not being all Kendrick-dialectic about it, not really his style.
Anyway, what we all should be raving about imo is that Jay dropped a good album wtf o_O
― niels, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 09:49 (six years ago) link
I think this thread so far is very indicative of the fact that most of the posters myself included haven't heard it
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 4 July 2017 10:47 (six years ago) link
it's on slsk
― niels, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 14:56 (six years ago) link
gm i jus sold my moms jewelry business &my stepdads toyota fj cruiser n bought myself a basquiat doodle. thnk u 4 the knowledge darts hov🙏🏾— g (@thugtear) July 5, 2017
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 5 July 2017 11:53 (six years ago) link
I mean to be fair Jay-Z once dropped the line that sun revolves around the earth, didn't he?
― piramjida, Wednesday, 5 July 2017 15:25 (six years ago) link
But that was back in '99 before we had science
― President Keyes, Wednesday, 5 July 2017 15:30 (six years ago) link
that's supreme mathematics study your lessons
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 5 July 2017 15:32 (six years ago) link
anyone on Twitter made the "Motherfuckers say that I'm foolish, I only talk about Jews" joke yet?
― El Tuomasbot (milo z), Thursday, 6 July 2017 02:59 (six years ago) link
not heard it and probably wont for a while, but all the guess work around The Affair i am starting to think is just the perfect PR move to generate lots of gossip and think pieces (eg the guardian's 'this is not feminism' piece). i dont really buy it.
― StillAdvance, Thursday, 6 July 2017 10:59 (six years ago) link
if you stream it on Tidal, you won't have to!
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 6 July 2017 11:18 (six years ago) link
lol
― niels, Thursday, 6 July 2017 11:43 (six years ago) link
it's a confessional album with good rapping, solid beats, infinitely better than Magna Carta, a most pleasant summer surprise
also, since it's sonically very accessible and the lyrics are completely straightforward there is no need for explanatory thinkpieces plzzzz
― niels, Thursday, 6 July 2017 11:46 (six years ago) link
otm
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 6 July 2017 12:19 (six years ago) link
https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/07/album-review-jay-z-444/
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 6 July 2017 21:24 (six years ago) link
I finally did a 30 day Tidal trial w/an older burner hotmail acct to listen to this
I really like it! No ID did an amazing job w/the beats, really great old school soul/jazz feel.
It's not going to knock any of the classics off their perch but at least it feels like Jay's just being Jay and trying to make an album that says something and holds together without trying to be relevant or following modern hip hop.
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 28 August 2017 16:43 (six years ago) link
def some o_O lyrics but you know...it's Jay.
I listened a lot to it when it came out (downloaded it on slsk) but since I mostly listen via Spotify it's not been in my rotation much since
def a good album
― niels, Monday, 28 August 2017 16:46 (six years ago) link
lol can't believe no one has revived thits thread since July.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 28 August 2017 17:24 (six years ago) link
The buzz from being a Tidal Exclusive!
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 28 August 2017 18:59 (six years ago) link
https://www.nytimes.com/video/t-magazine/100000005574909/jayz-interview.html
― competitive shooter - - - - (Spottie), Thursday, 30 November 2017 07:34 (six years ago) link
so this is probably his best album since black album, perhaps leaning a bit too old school to be very relevant as a 2017 release, but all the same I can't help but think that if it had been available on all streaming services it would have been on a lot of EOY lists
― niels, Thursday, 30 November 2017 10:49 (six years ago) link
really love No ID's work, it's very interesting how he managed to take the hyper edited digital chopping feel of some electronic and dance music w/jazz and soul samples
but yeah I think it holds up, I just got back on Tidal with this Best Buy deal where you could get 6 months free w/CD purchase and listened to it again
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 30 November 2017 15:21 (six years ago) link
otm, it really gave new life to some super obvious and well-known samples, particularly "Four Women" in "OJ" and "Love's In Need of Love Today" on "Smile"
― voodoo chili, Thursday, 30 November 2017 15:39 (six years ago) link
mix is interesting though, with Jay's voice far above the beat, as if he wanted to make absolutely sure that everyone could hear him
― niels, Friday, 1 December 2017 07:15 (six years ago) link
surprised this isn't being released on streaming (like actual streaming) in anticipation of year end lists; money is a funny thing.
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Friday, 1 December 2017 15:42 (six years ago) link
Yes, I'm sure Jay-Z is more concerned about whether Consequence of Sound thinks he's better than Slowdive opposed to monopolizing the entire market on the streaming service that he owns
― mag gerwig! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 1 December 2017 15:48 (six years ago) link
truly selling a lot of subscriptions to a doomed service because of his exclusive stranglehold on a single six month old album from america's favorite 50 year old rapper
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Friday, 1 December 2017 15:50 (six years ago) link
all the services are probably doomed
― mag gerwig! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 1 December 2017 15:52 (six years ago) link
I guess except Apple and Amazon
― mag gerwig! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 1 December 2017 15:53 (six years ago) link
I hope so
― Οὖτις, Friday, 1 December 2017 15:54 (six years ago) link
xp i've been assuming spotify gets bought by apple/amazon/google so count them in too.
if (more likely really when) the bubble truly bursts through the end of net neutrality or "hey anybody noticing this shit isn't making money" or whatever, i wonder what's next. perhaps you can just charge your tidal giftcard to sit at jay-z branded listening stations.
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Friday, 1 December 2017 16:00 (six years ago) link
if only there was many other ways for people to hear a Jay Z album oh well
― mag gerwig! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 1 December 2017 16:04 (six years ago) link
can't hear you over my state issued iphone earbuds
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Friday, 1 December 2017 16:05 (six years ago) link
whiney I think everyone itt are able to hear the album
― niels, Friday, 1 December 2017 17:10 (six years ago) link
slowdive called in to talk shit about jay on ebro in the morning
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 1 December 2017 17:17 (six years ago) link
fwiw i did a month of tidal to listen to 4:44 and i think i'm going to switch to it full time, it sounds so much better than spotify
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 1 December 2017 17:32 (six years ago) link
I bought my copy on CD #oldtimer
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 1 December 2017 17:35 (six years ago) link