Jay-Z releases new album, admits to cheating, apologies to Beyonce

If Beyoncé's Lemonade was the accusation album, 4:44 is the apology. Last year, Beyoncé in her Lemonade album told the world – that her nine-year old marriage with Jay Z had been sorely tested by his infidelity, and even referenced an apparent extra-marital relationship with an anonymous woman (described only as "Becky with the good hair"). It now seems that Jay Z has publicly answered many of the accusations in his new record released on Thursday where he spoke honestly about his family life and his marriage.

Upon release, his fans immediately delve into the lyrics to search for possible responses to wife Beyonce— and they didn't come up empty handed.

For example, some of the lyrics on intimate title track 4.44, directly address Jay Z's guilt over past cheating, and his feelings towards the couple's three children (daughter Blue Ivy and newborn twins):

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.

The 47-year-old music mogul, in at least three of the tracks, appears to address infidelity, and not subtly, either.
In Kill Jay-Z, addressing himself, he raps 'You almost went Eric Benét / Let the baddest girl in the world get away.' (Eric Benét famously cheated on then wife Halle Berry).

I don't even know what else to say / N***a, never go Eric Benét / I don't even know what you woulda done / In the future, other n***s playin' football with your son.

Fans were quick to notice the last line referenced fellow rapper Future's attack on footballer Russell Wilson for being a stepfather to his son, Future Jr. 

Elsewhere on the album, Jay Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, references the fact that the couple suffered through several miscarriages together, and appears to regret his own absence during this time (emotional or otherwise):

I still mourn this death/I apologize for all the stillborns/ 'Cause I wasn't present your body wouldn't accept it.

He also expresses severe guilt over the thought of his children ever finding out about his mistakes, and shame at the fact that he risked his marriage and family life:

And if my children knew, I don’t even know what I would do / If they ain’t look at me the same / I would probably die with all the shame / ‘You did what with who?’ / What good is a ménage à trois when you have a soulmate? / ‘You risked that for Blue?’

In the same track, Jay-Z also appears to reference his infamous lift fight with his sister-in-law, admitting it was his fault.

You egged Solange on knowin' all along / all you had to say you was wrong,' he raps.

Even the title of the song, which is four minutes and 44 seconds long, and the album itself, has a personal significance to Jay Z and his wife Beyonce, who also chose to title her fourth album, released in 2011, "4".

My birthday is on the fourth," Beyoncé said at the time. My mother's birthday is on the fourth. My husband's birthday is on the fourth. I got married on the fourth."

But while 4.44 might be the most overtly confessional track, other songs on the album also appear to directly refrence Lemonade.

In the track Family Feud, for example, -which bears the refrain 'Nobody wins when the family feuds' - even name-checks 'Becky' with the good hair, whom many believed was Jay-Z's mistress after Beyonce's Sorry includes the line:

Yeah, I'll f*ck up a good thing if you let me / Let me alone, Becky / A man that don't take care his family can't be rich,' he raps.

Beyonce meanwhile provides backing vocals on the track.
His title song of 4:44 however appears to contain several lines of regret and apology for infidelity.

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,' he raps, claiming his children made him see the error of his ways.

Like the men before me, I cut off my nose to spite my face / I never wanted another woman to know / Something about me that you didn't know.

He continues: 

And if my children knew, I don't even know what I would do / If they ain't look at me the same / I would prolly die with all the shame.

You did what with who? / What good is a ménage à trois when you have a soulmate? / You risked that for Blue?".

The chorus concedes: 

I'm never gonna treat you, never gonna treat you like I should.

Beyonce and Jay-Z are parents to daughter Blue Ivy, five, and the couple recently welcomed twins - a boy and a girl - on June 18.