What we learnt from Jay-Z, Beyoncé album

The album — which came two years after Beyoncé revealed Jay-Z's infidelity through lyrics — again offers plenty of tidbits into the lives of music's most famous couple

(FILES) In this file photo taken on November 4, 2016 Beyonce (L) and Jay-Z introduce Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) performance in support of her at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Music's most famous couple Beyonce and Jay-Z pulled a surprise by releasing a joint album late on June 16, 2018, a long-rumored collaboration that celebrates their marital passion. / AFP / Brendan Smialowski

Music's most famous couple Beyonce and Jay-Z pulled a surprise by releasing a joint album, a long-rumoured collaboration that celebrates their marital passion. AFP 

AFP
Jun 17, 2018
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Jay-Z and Beyoncé late Saturday released "Everything is Love," a surprise album after years of speculation that they were working on a joint project.

The album — which came two years after Beyoncé revealed Jay-Z's infidelity through lyrics — again offers plenty of tidbits into the lives of music's most famous couple.

Here are some highlights:

No love child 

Jay-Z shot down rumours that he has an illegitimate child. Aspiring rapper Rymir Satterthwaite has alleged for years that he is the superstar's son due to his mother's purported fling with the then little-known Shawn Carter in 1992.

"Billie Jean in his prime / For the thousandth time / The kid ain't mine," Jay-Z raps on Heard About Us, referencing Michael Jackson's classic song about a paternity case.

Jay-Z and Beyonce's six-year-old daughter Blue Ivy separately makes an appearance on the album and says "hello" to her twin siblings Rumi and Sir, who turned one on Thursday.

Recovered from infidelity 

Everything is Love, as the title implies, speaks much about the strength of their marriage after highly public troubles.

Beyoncé on her 2016 album Lemonade revealed infidelity by Jay-Z, who apologised a year later on his own album 4:44.

On the joint album's boisterous closer Lovehappy, the two say that they have patched up.

"You did some things to me / You do some things to me," Beyoncé sings with brass in her voice. "But love is deeper than your pain and I believe you can change."

Angry at legal action

Jay-Z vents frustration several times on the album about legal action against him. Most recently the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered the rapper to testify as part of an investigation into his sale of his Rocawear clothing line.

On Nice, Jay-Z denounces the subpoena and suggests he is being targeted because he is a successful African American, wondering why he did not face such scrutiny in his earlier life as a Brooklyn drug dealer.

"Time to remind me I'm black again, huh? / All this talking back. I'm too arrogant, huh?"

Later on the album he professes his innocence in disputes with authorities — so often known by their agencies' acronyms — as he raps: "I pass the alphabet boys like an eye test."

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Read more:

Beyonce and Jay-Z release surprise album 'Everything Is Love'

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No to Super Bowl 

Jay-Z appeared to confirm a report that he turned down an offer from the National Football League to perform at this year's Super Bowl, the most watched event on US television.

Jay-Z is an outspoken supporter of Colin Kaepernick, the now-unemployed quarterback who stirred a nationwide discussion by kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice.

He alludes to the racial imbalance in American football, where team owners are almost entirely white and players mostly African-American.

"I said no to the Super Bowl / You need me, I don't need you," Jay-Z raps.

"Every night we in the endzone / Tell the NFL we in stadiums, too."

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