The Carters

Everything Is Love

A timely document that shows even the most powerful couple in hip-hop can still endure the most trying and human of challenges.

Although not as strong a project as either ‘Lemonade’ or ‘4:44’, The Carters’ first joint LP still succeeds in defying the attempts to diminish negative portrayals of their relationship and black achievement.

As with The Avengers, your previous investment in the Carters will dictate your current enjoyment. But it’s hard not to feel something when the duo ... ends its impossibly luxurious extravaganza by simply repeating that the two are “happy in love.” It’s a pop fairy tale just real enough to believe in.

The Carters round out a trilogy of confrontational albums about their marriage with something lighter but no less resonant. It is a celebration of resilient black love and proud black extravagance.

Everything Is Love certainly doesn’t have the musical expansiveness of Lemonade. There are neither ballads nor bangers, and not much in the way of melodic song construction at all. Rather, these are snappily repetitive beats on which the stars can put across their message as a form of hip hop conversation.

It would be enough for the Carters to make their point with sly references and double-entendre, but what makes Everything is Love so impactful is that it’s musically on-par with anything else either artist has released in their careers.

The album ultimately serves as a vehicle to make their art consistent with their reality – a feat that the Carters have attempted individually and conquered collectively.

At times an opulent spectacle and at others a full-bodied avowal of devotion, Everything Is Love stands as a monumental testament to keeping it real.

It might lack urgency, but it’s an accomplished, glossy finale.