美国国家公共电台 NPR JAY-Z Bares His Soul On '4:44'

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Jay-Z, the hip-hop goliath, has had a productive summer so far. His collaboration¹ with Beyonce yielded two releases - their twins. And just this morning, he released a new solo album called "4:44" - you know, like the time, four hours, 44 minutes. Now, with the release of this new album, a lot of people are wondering where Jay-Z might be taking hip-hop next. And so we asked NPR Music's hip-hop writer Rodney Carmichael to join us. Hey, Rodney.

RODNEY CARMICHAEL, BYLINE²: Hey, how are y'all doing?

GREENE: I'm good. So before we get to the backstory of this album, I think we should play some music. That's the best way to do this. So what are we going to listen to?

CARMICHAEL: This is "Kill Jay-Z" in which he starts the album out by slaying³ his own ego⁴, basically. It's a really good place to begin.

GREENE: Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KILL JAY Z")

JAY-Z: (Rapping) Kill Jay-Z. They'll never love you. You'll never be enough. Let's just keep it real, Jay-Z. [Expletive] Jay-Z. I mean, you shot your own brother. How can we know if we can trust Jay-Z? And you know better. I know you do. But you got to do better. Boy, you owe it to Blue.

GREENE: Slaying his own ego. Why would Jay-Z be doing that?

CARMICHAEL: Well, I think he's trying to set us up to take us in a slightly different place than where Jay-Z tends to go on his albums, which is a much more personal place and a much more vulnerable space for him. He reveals a lot of himself, and, you know, that hasn't always necessarily been his forte⁵ on the mic.

GREENE: Well, do you like the music? Do you like the album?

CARMICHAEL: I love it. This album is incredible. This is already my favorite Jay-Z album. It might be his best. It's definitely his best in recent years.

GREENE: I can hear people dying to listen to it all weekend after hearing you say that. Well, let's talk about his journey. I mean, in the '90s, a lot of people said Jay was, you know, taking hip-hop in this totally new direction. He's approaching 50 years old now. Is he still considered, you know, sort of a trailblazer or not?

CARMICHAEL: Well, he's been a trailblazer on the industry side. He's been a businessman, an entrepreneur, you know, as he likes to point out time and time again. But I think with this album he is pioneering a mature hip-hop movement. I think that he is - he's leading hip-hop into a new direction. This genre⁶ that has been, you know, a young genre for all of these years, he's really opening the gateway⁷ to show - to show people how the genre can age gracefully⁸.

GREENE: Hip-hop fans can age along with him, in a way.

CARMICHAEL: Exactly.

GREENE: Let me ask you - so in hip-hop, there's this thing when an artist gets called out by another artist, they might respond in a song. This is a little different with Jay-Z and his wife Beyonce because Beyonce made a song about infidelity in her big album "Lemonade." And I want to listen to a little bit of the title track "4:44" from Jay-Z here.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "4:44")

JAY-Z: (Rapping) I apologize, often womanize. Took for my child to be born to 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.

GREENE: They keep their relationship so private, but here it's sort of spilling out into their music.

CARMICHAEL: Well, that's where they've always left it, actually. And this is the track that everybody has been waiting on since - since Beyonce's album came out. This is the response to it, basically. It's an apologetic track. And it's not - he's not just apologizing to Beyonce. He's apologizing to women in general, women that he may have wronged in the past. He says that the birth of his first daughter was really an awakening⁹ for him to be able to see, you know, through a woman's eyes, so to speak. And he really goes there with this album. It's really deep.

GREENE: Talking about Jay-Z's new album with NPR Music's Rodney Carmichael. Rodney, thanks so much.

CARMICHAEL: Thank you.

1 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 slaying   

杀戮。

参考例句：

• The man mimed the slaying of an enemy. 此人比手划脚地表演砍死一个敌人的情况。
• He is suspected of having been an accomplice in the slaying,butthey can't pin it on him. 他有嫌疑曾参与该杀人案，但他们找不到证据来指控他。

4 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

5 forte   

n.长处，擅长；adj.(音乐)强音的

参考例句：

• Her forte is playing the piano.她擅长弹钢琴。
• His forte is to show people around in the company.他最拿手的就是向大家介绍公司。

6 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

7 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

8 gracefully   

ad.大大方方地；优美地

参考例句：

• She sank gracefully down onto a cushion at his feet. 她优雅地坐到他脚旁的垫子上。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line. 新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

9 awakening   

n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的

参考例句：

• the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
• People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。