The power and reach of JAY-Z’s thirteenth album, 4:44, and the viral campaign that was accompanied with it doesn’t extend solely to the United States and Europe. I recently had a friend tell me his cousin whom lives in rural Philippines has been clamoring for a copy, and with no other means to find one, has been relegated to score a copy through other, frowned-upon means. Not to mention, the Philippines’ internet service is ranked 108th.
Needless to say, since the release of the rap Elohim’s “surprise” album — produced entirely by No I.D. with a lengthly list of incredible sample choices — has been on repeat here at the DopeHouse, and is arguably (is it really an argument though?) an AoTY contender.
The downside to all of this of course, is in order to listen to the album (without pirating it, tsk tsk), you’d either have to sign up through Sprint or have an already-existing TIDAL account. The good news is engineer extraordinaire Young Guru has revealed a few bonus tracks, including “Adnis” (which was teased a few weeks back), will appear on future physical copies.
No I.D. confirmed in a recent Rolling Stone interview:
“There’s three more songs that are coming out as bonuses,” I.D. said. “James Blake came in and joined into the process. There’s more coming shortly that’s equally as revealing.”
According to a source at Billboard, “4:44 will be added to Apple Music/iTunes next week after its one-week exclusivity window on Tidal,” continuing “A physical release is eventually planned, though no timetable has been set yet for that roll-out.”
