It's been widely acknowledged in many corners that this is Beyoncé's world and we're just living in it.
For at least the past three years, that fact has been truer for no one than it has been for Jay-Z.
Without his wife of nine years and overall partner since 2002, sure, he's still one of the most successful, critically acclaimed rappers of all time and a savvy businessman whose empire has expanded to include at any given time a record company, clothing, restaurants, liquor, the Brooklyn Nets and, most recently, the streaming service Tidal.
An enviable life, indeed, one that in most cases would be enough for him to be deservedly known for the rest of his life as a pioneering talent and beacon of by-the-boot-straps prosperity. There, epitaph written.
But thanks to Beyoncé, we know that 47-year-old Shawn Carter is also just a guy, one who was subjected to the most average of human temptation and utterly failed the test. A regular man who proved he was no better than any unfaithful husband, billion-dollar business acumen notwithstanding.
So isn't it refreshing that on 4:44, Jay-Z's 13th solo studio album, he admits that?
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