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Jay Z appears to have admitted to the cheating Beyonce alluded to on Lemonade via the lyrics of his new album released today, 4:44.
The rapper also makes not-so-subtle references to his Met Gala fight with Beyonce’s sister Solange, and directly responds to Beyonce’s now infamous ‘Becky with the good hair’ line in her song Sorry.
On Kill Jay Z, he appears to blame himself for the elevator fight with Solange:
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 / N—a, never go Eric Benét
[‘Eric Benét’ is a reference to Halle Berry’s ex-husband who admitted to cheating on the actress].
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In title track 4:44 he outright apologises to Bey, and reveals he didn’t fully appreciate his wife or marriage until Blue Ivy came along in 2012.
Look, I apologize, often womanize / Took for my child to be born / See through a woman’s eyes / Took for these natural twins to believe in miracles / Took me too long for this song/ I don’t deserve you
He also mulls over what Blue and the couple’s twins – whose names have been revealed – will think when they hear about her father’s infidelities one day.
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?”
He also reflects on Beyonce’s miscarriages, appearing to blame himself.
I’ve seen the innocence leave your eyes / I still mourn this death, I apologize for all the stillborns / ‘Cause I wasn’t present, your body wouldn’t accept it”.
His direct response to Beyonce’s “He better call Becky with the good hair” lyric in Sorry, which drove the internet into a frenzy as people tried to uncover who “Becky” was, comes in Family Feud.
Yeah, I’ll f–k up a good thing if you let me / Let me alone, Becky / A man that don’t take care his family can’t be rich.
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Jay Z’s new album takes a confessional and at times apologetic tone, but it’s not all about his past transgressions. He also takes Kanye West to task after Yeezy slammed him on stage at a concert in the lead-up to his breakdown:
I know people backstab you, I feel bad too/ But this ‘f— everybody’ attitude ain’t natural
But you ain’t the same, this ain’t KumbaYe/ But you got hurt because you did cool by ‘Ye
You gave him 20 million without blinkin’/ He gave you 20 minutes on stage, f— was he thinkin’?/ ‘F— wrong with everybody?’ is what you sayin’/ But if everybody’s crazy, you’re the one that’s insane
He also makes reference to Bill Cosby’s fall from grace after more than 50 women allege they were sexually assaulted by the former actor, who is said to have slipped sleep pills to his victims before he raped them, calling him “Pill Cosby”.
Jay Z’s new album is available on Tidal.
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