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Jay-Z's producer reveals how Beyoncé contributed to 4:44

The album sees the rapper directly address the allegations of infidelity brought up in Lemonade

Clarisse Loughrey
Sunday 09 July 2017 13:04 BST
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Trailer: Jay Z's 4:44 album

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When the idea Jay-Z was dropping a "response" album to Lemonade first starting drifting across the internet, it painted quite the immediate picture: of a line drawn in the sand, of a tussle for supremacy.

Yet, Jay-Z's 4:44 is far from any of that: both these works now seem intertwined together, as the rapper heavily references lyrics from Lemonade in an honest, self-critical way which addresses much of what Beyoncé accused of him on the album.

From calling out 'Sorry''s notorious "Becky" in 'Family Feud', to 'Kill Jay Z''s mention that “You almost went Eric Benét / Let the baddest girl in the world get away"; Jay-Z's producer has now revealed Beyoncé even had a direct hand in the album's production.

Speaking to The New York Times, No I.D. (real name Dion Wilson) stated: "I always call Bey our de facto A&R. Pillow talk is the strongest conversation on the planet. Every song has to get past her ears, in my eyes. She came by a lot and played a good part in helping us get over hurdles on certain records. Of course, she’s genius-level with that."

However, those "hurdles" seem strictly of the musical sort; No I.D. also said that Lemonade was never directly spoken about in the recording studio.


"No, we never directly spoke about that album," he explained. "Mainly because if he talks about himself, it’s going to bleed into that regardless. But there’s a difference in talking about it for the sake of response and for the sake of honesty and the truth. The truth needs to explain why you are the way you are, why you did what you did. We know what happened. We got it. But what were the circumstances that led to this and how do you feel about it?"

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