JAY-Z Announces New Album '4:44'
It’s official. JAY-Z’s 13th album, 4:44, is no longer a rumor. The highly-anticipated project will be released at 12:01 a.m. on June 30 through Sprint and TIDAL.
In preparation for the project, Hov premiered a snippet of his song “Adnis” on TIDAL. The lyrics to the track show a reflective Jigga, pondering what he never wrote and never spoke to his late father, Adnis Reeves.
“Letter to my dad that I never wrote,” he raps. “Speeches I prepared that I never spoke / Words on a paper that I never read / Proses never penned, they stayed in my head.”
JAY-Z’s complicated relationship with his father has been referenced throughout his career. In the trailer, it appears to be represented by Mahershala Ali, who plays a boxer, and Danny Glover, who appears and disappears as his trainer.
.@S_C_ ‘4:44’ https://t.co/mM3hBjHr84 #TIDALXSprint pic.twitter.com/dZIddQsz5t
— TIDAL (@TIDAL) June 19, 2017
The album announcement follows a reported $200 million deal with Sprint and TIDAL. 4:44 will be available exclusively to Sprint and TIDAL users.
“Today is an exciting day to be a Sprint customer,” said Marcelo Claure, Sprint president and CEO. “JAY-Z is a global icon and we’re giving customers an incredible opportunity to be among the first to experience his new album 4:44. Our loyal, existing customers, and customers who switch to Sprint, can experience the album exclusively, plus access a complimentary six-month trial of TIDAL HiFi, giving them access to content they can’t get anywhere else.”
Earlier this month, banners emblazoned with 4:44 mysteriously popped up across the country and online. A trailer for the album appeared during the NBA Finals, prompting speculation about a possible LEMONADE-like visual to accompany the LP.
4:44 will be Jay’s first studio album since 2013’s Magna Carta…Holy Grail, which spawned the hit singles “Holy Grail” and “Tom Ford.”