Coming in the wake of “Lemonade,” an ambitious multimedia project that was simultaneously Beyoncé’s most personal and most political work to date, “4:44” finds Jay-Z in a similar mode, weaving confessional and autobiographical songwriting with big-picture perspectives on black life in the United States.
The opening track, “Kill Jay-Z,” sets the tone, explicitly addressing the years of tabloid reports and fan-fueled rumors that have made up the Jay-Z mythology, including the marital infidelity that seemed to fuel “Lemonade” and the infamous elevator incident in which he was attacked by Beyoncé’s younger sister, Solange, after the Met Ball:
You egged Solange on
Knowin’ all along, all you had to say you was wrong
You almost went Eric Benét
Let the baddest girl in the world get away
(Mr. Benét, an R&B singer who was previously married to the actress Halle Berry, has already responded on Twitter: “Hey yo #Jayz! Just so ya know, I got the baddest girl in…
