Jan 30, 2018 People are going to read the title and slander it without reading the actual post and that's fine. This isn't about Jay and i'm going to clarify this over and over again during the thread. This is about the general consensus overpraising this album for the wrong reason. I really do like Jay-Z's music. I think he is a top 5 skilled rapper OAT but this album being hailed as a "personal and self-aware masterpiece, the most personal album ever" is an opinion that started from one person and transcended to others when y'all ain't even analysing the actual album. How is this "personal" ? The whole cheating thing was following up on the momentum of Beyonce's release, he didn't do that out of being "self aware and personal" , he did that because he knew he was going to get more sales out of it. I don't have a problem with Jay doing it. I have a problem with his global amount of fans especially on "Reddit" and RG praising this album for being self aware. How ? And Don't Get Me started on The Story of O.J . The song has great replay value but this constant message of "The song has a great message , people should follow it." . No they shouldn't thats not what Jay was trying to show. Jay is trying to show his way of dealing with things, he prefers to invest. Different people have different traits so why should everybody follow it? Some people just don't like investing long term because they prefer to enjoy the moment and there isn't anything wrong with that. I admit the situation with his mum was a really personal topic, that I agree with. But most of the album was just following up on the momentum of previous situations that had been globalised within the media(the Kanye situation, the Beyonce situation etc) because Jay knew he was getting spins if he did that. I don't have a problem with Jay doing that I have a problem with people putting the album on a pedestal because of it. Every Kanye album is more personal and self aware than 4:44. I don't see people putting the same description on his albums. Yet because Jay-Z did it first time its the most personal album in 25 years. I've seen people on this website do it too. I'm not shi--ing on Jay at all. I'm making a point on people not even having an individual opinion and following what someone else said about the album. It's the same with Illmatic also, people who love the album weren't talking about the music , they were talking about the subject matter being "He's describing the visions he sees with the people in his ghetto" bs . No he wasn't , he was boasting about f---ing honeys , smoking blunts and chilling on the park thats all . It's similar to this album , people keep looking at it like its the most introspective , self aware thing that has happened in the past 70 years . It really isn't. He has 1 or 2 introspective tracks here and there but most of the album is Jay capitalising on the momentum. This albums strength is the stellar production and amazing rapping on there not the personal , self aware bs. It is a really dope album though. Top 2 Jay album without a doubt for me.
Jan 30, 2018 - Jay is not known for being personal that much - This kind of album is desperately needed considering how trash music is oversaturating the industry - He is the king of NY and one of the GOATs - It will most likely be a classic album in the future
Jan 30, 2018 He has been really introspective before though, not consistently but Jay is really introspective on some of his best songs. RD and TBA are the best examples for that imo. I agree with the 2nd and 3rd point but that has nothing to do with it being extremely self aware. Its still an amazing project.
Jan 30, 2018 Good album that stands out amongst this yrs releases. Don’t see it overly hyped up anywhere besides here tho.
Jan 30, 2018 I've seen a lot of people on here , Reddit , RG , KTT talk about how its the most revealing album in the past decade and on that note alone it should've won it. Thats my problem here. I don't actually get that part
Jan 30, 2018 Why even say this if you don’t listen to music like that Just off the top mount eeries albums from last year blows it out of the water in terms of being “personal”