4:44

Overrated Rapper and Album

Going Into this I had the idea that Jay-Z is an overrated rapper. Which I think Is true, he just never caught my interest like any other artist, like Kanye West or Kendrick Lamar.

But I keep seeing this album floating around, people saying Its amazing and one of the best. So I decided to bite the bullet and take a listen to it for myself. Going In open-minded of course.

The first song didn't do it for me. I mean, It's just more of an intro song after all but still didn't like it too much.

"The Story of O.J." I really want to love this song. Or even like It a lot. But man that sample is really annoying. It's such an iconic song with decent story telling and political lyricisms. But the Pusha-T version of this song Is better. Which, I didn't even know Pusha sampled this song.

"Smile" The beat sounds really wacky. It sounds like it isn't in 4/4 or off beat.. Here's the thing with Jay-Z. He either has really good vocals but a lack luster beat, or a good beat with not so good rapping. Just a note but.. He sounds a lot like College Dropout Kanye. Maybe Kanye got that inflection from the early Blueprint Jay-Z days.. But it's really uncanny because I keep thinking Kanye West Is on this record.

Listen, I don't think he's all bad. "Otis" and "N****s In Paris" Were really good songs.

"Caught Their Eyes" Seems like the vibe has totally switched up. Funny thing is that I don't know Frank nor Jay-Z like that and they're on the same song. Which is surprising because they seem polar opposites. Frank Ocean's verse is good but it feels forced In a way. Frank doesn't fit on this song.. Nor with Jay-Z. The beat is really solid though. The drums are really groovy and the melody is catchy. But at least, unlike Don Toliver. When Frank Is on the song the artist doesn't have to bend their whole sound to make the artist sound somewhat decent, because, even on a hip-hop beat, Frank can sound good.

"4:44" I mean. Come on. Its Iconic... I never heard the full song or anything just the Intro but.. It's a god-tier song. The sample is amazing and the overall beat and production is immaculate. As well as Jay-Z's rapping. This song sounds exactly like the album cover, if that makes sense. This is just an amazing song, probably the best on the album, which comes to no surprise. If only the rest of the album was this great. One last detail that this song does is that the length of it is "4:44" I adore when songs do small easter eggs like that. Really adds character.

"Family Feud" Song is good but Jay-Z needs to shut up about him being a billionaire, no one wants to hear about that, especially making a lot of misses in this musical career. Besides that though. The beat is pretty solid and a little catchy but the producers keep doing too much with the samples and Beyonce should have not been on this song. Her vocals are so annoying, like nails to a chalkboard. Not her fault, its the fact they're so loud and get spammed throughout the ENTIRE song.

"Bam" Jay-Z really loves talking on the beat instead of rapping on it. Half the reason it's hard for me to like him. He just talks. For most of this song there's no "flow" its borderline spoken word. Again with the production carrying this song. I still don't see where the hype is for this album. I mean title track is a masterpiece but one song cant save or make an album, and honestly. The vocal sample he uses isn't that great either. The ending is such a drag, the song should've ended one minute before it does.

"Moonlight" Yeah he is using such a Post-MBDTF and TLOP Kanye inflection here. Even though some people would think he made Kanye. Jay-Z is just trying so hard I feel like to replicate the success of The College Dropout. Just soul-chopped beats spammed. I love soul beats, their some of my favorite kinds, but every song on this album just sounds the exact same. I don't like it.

"Marcy Me" None of his flows have been catchy to me. It's like he is professionally rapping of beat. Also I am not a fan of these faded out sounding beats. It's just some random vocal with the high and low ends cut out and the same sounding drums for each song. Where's the variety? I will say, I love the drum fills on these songs, that's about the only unique thing I've heard.

I feel like people on here, or people in general just get their opinions influenced from others or scared of what other people would think about their own thoughts. I know people love this album, say its the best. I would get scrutinized If I say this album is quite lacking in almost every department. But It just is. Nothing special about it. "4:44" Is the only song I would ever go back to and maybe "Caught Their Eyes" It's just not special to me whatsoever.

"Legacy" At least the album ends on a decent note. The flow is solid and the production is really good. I also like the sample and drum choice for this song. It's pretty nice overall..

Ending this off... I think this album Is massively overrated In the hip-hop space. I've heard people say this is one of the greatest or at least top 15. It's no where close. It's not a bad album by any means. Just mid. That's all I have to say. It's just mid.