The song Jay-Z wrote for Blue Ivy days after her birth
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The song Jay-Z wrote for Blue Ivy days after her birth

There are very few creatives able to match the prolific artistry of Jay-Z. Hova, who has rightly established himself as one of hip-hop’s legends, has pushed the music industry to brave new areas. Areas of diversity, truth, and poetry beyond anything the world had music had seen before. Representing a vast area of society that had long been dismissed, Jay-Z has revolutionised popular culture as we know it.

Unlike any other hip-hop artists before him, the rapper made sure that his records arrived as full bodies of work, pieces of art set to be discussed for decades. Smashing barriers with every release, Jay Z has been setting records in all areas of the culture recognised as hip-hop. While critical and commercial success has followed him around, it is Hov’s connection to his family that we are focusing on today.

Of course, when Jay-Z married perhaps the most famous woman in the world in Beyonce, the world collectively turned their heads. The duo became music’s ultimate power couple and have rarely missed the opportunity to showcase their loving, painful and always human relationship for their fans in the name of art. Naturally, most will point to Beyonce’s album Lemonade as a searing indictment of their dedication to honesty. But Jay has shed his light on their life too.

His song ‘4:44’ is perhaps one of the rapper’s most honest. The emotional centrepiece to the album pf the same name, ‘4:44’ is a nearly five-minute full-length apology to Beyonce and his family for the pain he has put them through: “Look, I apologise, often womanise / 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.” He even directly mentions his and Beyonce’s child, Blue Ivy Carter, in the song’s lyrics. But he also used Blue Ivy in another song.

Recorded just 48 hours after her birth, Jay-Z penned the fantastic ‘Glory’, which he released only ten days after Blue ivy’s birth. The track features some of her infant cooings and is a reminder of the humanity behind the image of Hova. The song is a potent and pure reflection of his life with Beyonce, giving Blue Ivy a feature credit as B.I.C., the heiress to the throne, became the youngest featured artist to appear on the Billboard chart.

Within the lyrics, Jay shares some intimate details. He tells the audience that Beyonce had tragically suffered a miscarriage before becoming pregnant with Blue Ivy as he raps: “Last time the miscarriage was tragic/ We was afraid you’d disappear, but nah, baby, you’re magic.”

Jay also reveals where she was conceived and provides an insight into the power couple’s lives: “You don’t yet know what swagger is/ But you was made in Paris/ and Momma woke up the next day and shot her album package.” All in all, it makes ‘Glory’ one of Jay-Z’s most personal songs.