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The only thing I disagree with him on is
favorite songs although I like all the
songs. Wise' last hashtag tho lol.
(FB swipe)
OK, JAY Z has always been, IMO, one of the dopest writers/emcees to ever pick up a pen. He's ALWAYS been that dope to me, and has never released an entirely "wack" album. I am a fan (of a lot of emcees). Sometimes I'm a satisfied fan, and still some other times a disappointed fan, and critical from that vantage point - but NEVER a "hater."
THAT SAID, I've listened to the new 4:44 album. I thought it was dope (in a Hip Hop way). I tried to go into it without the influence of other people's opinions of the album weighing too heavily on my own. Firstly, the tracks I liked most were/are - Kill Jay Z, Caught The Eye, and 4:44. I found the album in its totality to be the same braggadocious Jay Z just from the vantage point of a more experienced 47 year old. I mean at his age, if you can't part some wisdom gained from past experience you shouldn't say shit in the first place. its like Chuck D said "At my age if I can't teach, I shouldn't even open my mouth to speak."
I WOULDN'T CALL IT, as many have, a "WOKE" album. I know for some, songs like "The Story of O.J." played a part in helping them formulate that opinion of the album. As well as referring to himself as Nat Turner, and suggesting the rich white and powerful are going to kill him for saying "too much." However, I don't think he said much. He invoked Lauryn Hill as an example, but Lauryn challenged the Pope on pedophilia in the Catholic Church - AT THE VATICAN on CHRISTMAS!!! She denounced American capitalism before a federal judge. Lauryn courageously peeled the skin off of white racism, police terrorism and the oppression of black people and women LIVE ON MTV UnPlugged. She literally forfeited the commercial lime, deliberately and conscientiously, because the lifestyles of the "rich & famous" did not bode well with her psychosocial, psychospiritual and or political orientation. 4:44 couldn't have been a skit in that reality.
APART FROM the recordings that addressed his personal life in detail the album was Jay Z, i.e., dope, witty, clear and lyrically unparrelled as he always is. As far as the "WOKE(NESS)" he didn't expound on anything he hasn't peppered his schemes with in previous offerings. He's always had, and occasionally invoked, the knowledge he displayed on this album in his past works. He's never been stupid, or oblivious to the racial politics of the USA. Many black people not considered "woke" are aware of the racism they face day in and day out in this white power-structure, its hard not to be.
IN CONCLUSION its a dope ass album! No I.D. delivered. Jay Z delivered as he does more often than he does not. But for me, if the album strikes you as "WOKE", either you've awaken in the second level, second phase sleep in the same dream (ala inception), or I've altogether never understood what it means to be woke? In short, I thoroughly enjoyed the album...
#JayZ444
#Woke
#MaybeTheRichestFieldNiggaEver
#WhenLifeGivesHerLemonsLeverageTheLemonadeStand ~
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Days like this I miss Sha Mecca
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