With the release of Lemonade last year, Beyoncé welcomed the world into her (apparently) not-so-perfect marriage to fellow music god JAY-Z. With JAY-Z's latest album, 4:44, which was released June 30, fans are getting an even deeper glimpse into the celebrity marriage by way of the rapper's extremely personal lyrics. According to Cosmopolitan, the rapper is further explaining the meaning of his album in a Tidal video series called "Footnotes."
In the videos, JAY-Z joins other famous men in love (Chris Rock, Jesse Williams, Aziz Ansari, Will Smith and Mahershala Ali) and gets candid about his marriage with Bey, decoding the story behind the lyrics of his new album.
The latest song to be spotlighted in the "Footnotes" series is "4:44." Lyrics include, "Do I find it so hard / When I know in my heart / I'm letting you down every day," and "Took me too long for this song / I don't deserve you."
In the video, JAY-Z says, "This is my real life. I just ran into this place and we built this big, beautiful mansion of a relationship that wasn’t totally built on the 100 percent truth and it starts cracking. Things start happening that the public can see. Then we had to get to a point of 'Okay, tear this down and let’s start from the beginning'…It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done." It's clear the pair has no problem sharing the intricate workings of their relationship with us.
While celebrities normally try to keep any and all relationship problems out of the public eye, Beyoncé and JAY-Z have welcomed the attention. Maybe we shouldn't know as much as we do about the details of their marriage, but JAY explained why it's necessary for people to know the truth and that real relationships are not perfect. "We just got to a place where in order for this to work, this can’t be fake. Not one ounce. I’m not saying it wasn’t uncomfortable because obviously it was."
For more relationship talk from JAY-Z and others, watch the "Footnotes" series on Tidal.
