For a couple who spent years denying they were even in a relationship, Jay-Z and Beyoncé are making up for lost time by divulging some major details about their marriage.
The rapper continues to tell his version of his wife’s “Lemonade” confessions with a deeply personal video in which he takes us behind the scenes of their relationship.
“Footnotes for 4:44” is an 11-minute video in which Jay-Z builds on the coming clean he’s done on a few tracks from his new “4:44” album.
The rapper thought that meeting his estranged father would teach him to love, only to discover it left him feeling inadequate when it came to relationships.
“This is my real life,” Jay-Z says in the video. “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. Then things start happening that the public can see.”
Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” album, which contained themes of love and betrayal, sparked rumors of infidelity in the power couple’s marriage.
Jay-Z appears to address these rumors in his title track “4:44,” which includes an apology to his wife.
“Look, I apologize often womanize / Took for my child to be born / See through a woman’s eyes / Took for these natural twins to believe in miracles / Took me too long for this song / I don’t deserve you,” he rapped.
In his “Footnotes” video, Jay-Z expounds on the rough patch in his relationship.
“Then we had to get to a point of, ‘Okay, tear this down and let’s start from the beginning,” he said “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
Jay-Z said he let his wife in on his feelings by playing her the album prior to its release.
“We just got to a place where, in order for this to work, this can’t be fake,” he said. “Not one ounce. I’m not saying it wasn’t uncomfortable because obviously it was.”
Jay-Z enlisted a famous cast of male celebrities to help him tell his story.
Chris Rock, Aziz Ansari, Anthony Anderson, Will Smith, Mahershala Ali, Jesse Williams, and fellow rappers Kendrick Lamar and Meek Mills all spoke candidly about relationships
“Footnotes for 4:44” is streaming on Tidal.
