Rappers are blowing up Twitter with praise for Jay Z and ‘4:44’

Jay Z’s 2017 album 4:44 is mentioned, and the conversation quickly pivots away from the album itself and toward the wider hip-hop community. Its lyricism was personal, its content was introspective, and it was frank about family, relationships, money, legacy and the responsibilities that come with success, and the record was widely discussed for these qualities.

The most visible reaction to the record was perhaps Kendrick Lamar. 4:44. WOW. MASTER TEACHER. He tweeted a short but memorable note shortly after the album dropped. Just that reaction said so much, another big voice from the younger generation publicly giving a nod to an established rapper.

The album also became a talking point for Jay Z’s willingness to expand on the ideas behind the individual songs. For example, he pointed to “Family Feud” as a case of separation in hip-hop culture, of tensions between generations of rappers. That helped set the stage for 4:44 to be a project that was about more than just personal confession, but about the larger culture surrounding hip-hop.

‘The response from the artists was big because normally rappers are in a competitive musical environment. “Peer praise is not like a regular album review, [it’s from] people that know the craft from inside the culture.

4:44 was as much a conversation as a b release. The album was an invitation for the audience to witness an artist that was willing to look back, to own up to mistakes, to speak of accountability and to think of what’s next. That larger backlash included a public response from Kendrick Lamar, among other things.