With Jay-Z dropping his 13th studio album this week, I’ve dedicated this week’s QUOTABARZ to the 10-tracks on the album. ‘4:44’ is a solid offering for Hov, who really doesn’t miss on the album. This album is like no-other Jay album.
On this one Hov really lets you into the life of Shawn Carter by tackling the issues surrounding him, realizing the mistakes he’s made in life, showing maturity, and preaching black enterprise, while also addressing social issues.
In no particular order I’ve lined up the hottest BARZ Jay brings on ‘4:44’. It wasn’t the easiest of tasks, given the kind of quality this album manifests from front-to-back. Check them out below, shoutout Genius for transcribing.
1) “KILL 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”
“Cry Jay Z, we know the pain is real / But you can’t heal what you never reveal”
“You got high on the life, that shit drugged you / You walkin’ around like you invincible / You dropped outta school, you lost your principles”
“But you ain’t a Saint, 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, fuck was he thinkin’? / “Fuck wrong with everybody?” is what you sayin’ / But if everybody’s crazy, you’re the one that’s insane”
“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”
2) “THE STORY OF OJ”
“I’mma play the corners where the hustlers be / I told him, “Please don’t die over the neighborhood / That your mama rentin’ / Take your drug money and buy the neighborhood / That’s how you rinse it”
“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”
“I turned that 2 to a 4, 4 to an 8 / I turned my life into a nice first week release date”
“Y’all on the ‘Gram holdin’ money to your ear / There’s a disconnect, we don’t call that money over here”
3) “SMILE” FEAT. GLORIA CARTER
“Kept the tray on me like Chris Paul then / Drinkin’ Ace of Spades like it’s codeine now / Tryna put a million on the whole team now / Push through the pain so we can see new life / So all the ladies havin’ babies, see a sacrifice”
“Mama had four kids, but she’s a lesbian / Had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian / Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate / Society shame and the pain was too much to take / Cried tears of joy when you fell in love / Don’t matter to me if it’s a him or her / I just wanna see you smile through all the hate / Marie Antoinette, baby, let ’em eat cake”
“A loss ain’t a loss, it’s a lesson / Appreciate the pain, it’s a blessin'”
“Anita Baker’s “You Bring Me Joy” / Slappin’ out of the toy, the separation is clear / In my rear-view mirror, objects is further than they appear”
“The world is changing and they say it’s time to be free / But you live with the fear of just being me / Living in the shadow feels like the safe place to be / No harm for them, no harm for me / But life is short, and it’s time to be free / Love who you love, because life isn’t guaranteed / Smile” – GLORIA CARTER
4) “CAUGHT THEIR EYES” FEAT. FRANK OCEAN
“Invisible ink, I had to read things that wasn’t there / Memories may sneak down my cheek / But I could see a side-eye in my sleep”
“They eyes hide, they eyes high / My eyes wide shut to all the lies / These industry niggas, they always been fishy / But ain’t no Biggie, no lazy eye, huh”
“Don’t big bro me, don’t “Big Homie” / I’ve seen pure admiration become rivals / I’ve been to Paris at least two times / I’ve seen the Eiffel, I’ve seen a eyeful”
5) “4:44”
“Look, I apologize, often womanize / Took me too long for this song / I don’t deserve you / I harass you out in Paris / “Please come back to Rome,” you make it home / We talked for hours when you were on tour”
“We’re supposed to vacay ’til our backs burn / We’re supposed to laugh ’til our hearts stops / And then meet in a space where the dark stops / And lets love light the way”
“I never wanted another woman to know / Something about me that you didn’t know / I promised, I cried, I couldn’t hold / I suck at love, I think I need a do-over / I will be emotionally available if I invited you over”
6) “FAMILY FUED” FEAT. BEYONCÉ
“Kid that used to pitch bricks can’t be pigeonholed / I cooked up more chicken when the kitchen closed”
“All this old talk left me confused / You’d rather be old rich me or new you? / And old niggas, y’all stop actin’ brand new / Like 2Pac ain’t have a nose ring too, huh”
“Fuck rap, crack cocaine / Nah, we did that, Black-owned things / Hundred percent, Black-owned champagne / And we merrily merrily eatin’ off these streams / Y’all still drinkin’ Perrier-Jouët, huh / But we ain’t get through to you yet, uh”
“Yeah, I’ll fuck 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 / I’ll watch Godfather, I miss that whole shit”
“My consciousness was Michael’s common sense / I missed the karma that came as a consequence / Niggas bustin’ off through the curtains ’cause she hurtin’ / Kay losin’ the babies ’cause their future’s uncertain”
“Al Sharpton in the mirror takin’ selfies / How is him or Pill Cosby s’posed to help me? / Old niggas never accepted me / New niggas is the reason I stopped drinkin’ Dos Equis”
7) “BAM” FEAT. DAMIAN MARLEY
“Shawn was on that gospel shit / I was on the total fuckin’ opposite”
“Y’all be talkin’ crazy under them IG pictures / So when you get to hell you tell ’em Blanco sent ya / I can’t take no threats, I got a set of twins / Those were just the words you’ll never hear again”
“My advice is just don’t be too nice to niggas / Just set the price so niggas’ll live your life, my nigga”
“Who they effin’ with, and we got FN’s too / Before we had A&R’s, we had AR’s too / We the only ones really movin’ like y’all say y’all do / We still movin’ like y’all niggas say y’all did / Emory passed you niggas and he did a bid / Ty Ty jumped over niggas and he’s like 5’6”
“Uh, niggas is skippin’ leg day just to run they mouth / I be skippin’ leg day, I still run the world / I pressed ahead of your team with one finger curled / I’ll line you all up with one finger wave / Make niggas weave, niggas is out here fake”
8) “MOONLIGHT”
“Glorified seat filler, huh? / Stop walkin’ around like y’all made Thriller, huh? / Fake Dracos all in the videos / We sure we shoot ’em in my city though / I don’t post no threats on the Internet / I just pose a threat, blame Lenny S for that”
“I don’t be on the ‘Gram goin’ ham / Givin’ information to the pork, that’s all spam / Please don’t talk about guns / That you ain’t never gon’ use / Y’all always tell on y’all self / I’m just so fuckin’ confused”
“Y’all niggas still signin’ deals? Still? / After all they done stole, for real? / After what they done to our Lauryn Hill? / And y’all niggas is ‘posed to be trill?”
“Lucian is cool but Lucian don’t write / Doug ain’t this tight, so / Fuck what we sellin’ / Fuck is we makin’?”
9) MARCY ME FEAT. THE-DREAM
“Back when ratchet was a ratchet and a vixen was a vixen / And Jam Master Jay was alive I was mixin’ / Cookin’ coke in the kitchen / Back when Rodman was a Piston / Mike was losin’ to Isiah, but he soon would get his sixth one”
“I’m from Marcy Houses, where the boys die by the thousand / Back when Pam was on Martin / Yeah, that’s where it all started / When Denzel was blottin’ carpet, I’ll pack a… nine millimeter / When Slick Rick made “Mona Lisa” / When Lisa Bonet was Beyoncé of her day, I had divas, y’all”
“Old Brooklyn, not this new shit, shift feel like a spoof / Fat laces in your shoe, I’m talkin’ bustin’ off the roof / Hold a Uzi vertical, let the thing smoke / Y’all flirtin’ with death, I be winkin’ through the scope”
10) “LEGACY” FEAT. BLUE IVY CARTER
“My stake in Roc Nation should go to you / Leave a piece for your siblings to give to their children too”
“TIDAL, the champagne, D’USSÉ, I’d like to see / A nice peace-fund ideas from people who look like we”
“Generational wealth, that’s the key / My parents ain’t have shit, so that shift started with me / My mom took her money, she bought me bonds / That was the sweetest thing of all time, uh”
“You see, my father, son of a preacher man / Whose daughter couldn’t escape the reach of the preacher’s hand / That charge of energy set all the Carters back / It took all these years to get to zero in fact”
Tell me what your favorite lyric is in the comments below.
@IAMBNYCE