Remember the long rumored collaboration album between Beyonce and JAY-Z?
It never materalized, but it does exist.
And the confirmation comes courtesy of Jigga himself!
Full story below…
In a candid interview with the NY Times (which arrives a day after he was revealed frontrunner at the 2018 Grammys), Jay said of the elusive LP:
“We were using our art almost like a therapy session. And we started making music together. And then the music she was making at that time was further along. So her album [‘Lemonade’] came out as opposed to the joint album that we were working on. There was never a point where it was like, ‘I’m making this album.’ I was right there the entire time … It just felt like, she should go first and share her truths with the world.”
He went on to add that he never thought of his project ‘4:44’ as a response to her record while making it. The Roc Nation mogul also teased that some of the material from the unreleased album is still in the vault.
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We’re torn.
A part of us would naturally love to hear the project and we daydream about the musical, visual, and thematic possibilities had it come to fruition. After all, it’s hard to top their individual or collective superstardom. Or their marriage narrative.
However, given the serious topical nature of both records, all the reasons it could have “worked” could easily been the reasons it potentially would backfire.
Indeed on the one hand, they’re so private that a window-peek into their hardships in such a way would have been kinda groundbreaking. A Mr & Mrs Carter, OutKast ‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below’ type concept.
Yet, on the other, it could have looked like commercialising and commoditising the world’s fascination with them. Something which could have been deemed overkill and ironically quench collective interest in “The Carters.”
Needless to say, there’s a lot of “shoulda, woulda, coulda’s.” Enough of our ranting, though. Do you want to hear the joint album? Let us know…