He told The New York Times Style Magazine that he’d built up walls due to issues from his childhood, which led to him shutting down and infidelity.

“The hardest thing is seeing pain on someone’s face that you caused, and then have to deal with yourself,” he said.

The couple had both hinted about it in their music.

“You have to survive,” he said. “So you go into survival mode, and when you go into survival mode, what happens? You shut down all emotions.

“So, even with women, you gonna shut down emotionally, so you can’t connect. In my case, like, it’s deep. And then all the things happen from there: infidelity.”

He hinted that they could have got divorced but he’d had therapy to help him deal with his past experiences.

“You know, most people walk away, and, like, divorce rate is like 50% or something ’cause most people can’t see themselves.”

In 2013, rumours came out that the rapper had been cheating and then there was #elevatorgate when Solange Knowles attacked Jay-Z, while sister Beyonce stayed silent.

More recently Jay-Z’s album, 4:44, alluded to him being unfaithful.

He wrote: “Look, I apologize/Often womanize/Took for my child to be born to see through a woman’s eyes.”

A year before 4:44 came out, Beyonce sang about “Becky with good hair” on her album Lemonade.

“He only want me when I’m not there/He better call Becky with the good hair.”

The rapper and Beyonce had planned to do a joint album but ended up doing solo records instead.

“We were using our art almost like a therapy session. And we started making music together. And then the music she was making at that time was further along.

“So, her album came out as opposed to the joint album that we were working on.”

Not only did Jay-Z open up about his marriage, he talked about his relationship with Kanye West.

“I [talked to] Kanye the other day, just to tell him, like, he’s my brother. I love Kanye. I do. It’s a complicated relationship with us.”

He admitted that it hadn’t always been an easy relationship.

Kanye West reportedly left Jay-Z’s streaming service, Tidal, over a money dispute and he also ranted about him during a concert.

“I’m sure he feels that I’ve done things to him as well. I’m not a perfect human being by no stretch.

“Hopefully when we’re 89, we look at this six months or whatever time and we laugh at that.”

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Source: BBC

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Although the Philadelphia rapper had the assault case dropped and was able to take a deal for the reckless driving charges, the judge saw fit to put him in a cell for violating the terms of a probation sentence he got for a 2009 weapons and drugs charge.

Predictably, folks from all over the rap game have used social media to show their support for the MMG artist. One of them was JAY-Z, who signed Meek to his Roc Nation management group a while back. According to Hov, who chronicled systemic injustice in his Kalief Browder documentary last winter, Meek’s sentence is just another tragic symptom of a deeply flawed justice system.

“The sentence handed down by the Judge — against the recommendation of the Assistant District Attorney and Probation Officer — is unjust and heavy handed,” Hov wrote in a Facebook post. “We will always stand by and support Meek Mill, both as he attempts to right this wrongful sentence and then in returning to his musical career.”

Speaking on a more direct, personal level, T.I., who worked with Meek extensively at the outset of his mainstream career, served up his own bit of support with a throwback picture on Instagram. “Was wit u then & WE STILL WIT U NOW!!! This too shall pass,” wrote Tip.

“You got this!!! God places the heaviest loads on the strongest backs. We got real love for u out here KING.”

In the minds of many, Meek’s sentence is a reflection of a justice system designed to suppress African Americans born into less socioeconomically advantageous communities—namely, the inner city. That’s the sort of thought Meek himself discusses on his Wins & Losses cut, “Young Black America.” Speaking on his then-impending jail sentence, Meek addressed that idea once again in an Instagram post.

“We go to war for our freedom … they say we equal …. i used to wanna play i like Randall and be a Eagle …. i used to play the quarterback my homie would go receiver … that was until the football got flattened by a dope needle … on the pavement,” he wrote yesterday in the caption for a pic of himself sitting stoically by himself.

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Source: xxlmag.com

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The music was only available on Tidal, the star’s own streaming service, and to customers of US mobile firm Sprint.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) platinum certification, which requires more than one million sales, is rare for digital-only albums.

The RIAA only started counting digital streams last year, with 1,500 plays considered equal to one album sale.

4:44 will reportedly be available on Apple Music and iTunes this week.

Marketing tricks

Sprint was a significant contributor to 4:44’s early success, giving away large numbers of the album to its users for free.

The firm is a major shareholder in Tidal, which launched in March 2015.

It is not the first time JAY-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, has partnered with a phone company to generate a sales splash.

His 2013 limited-release album Magna Carta Holy Grail, which was initially only made available to some Samsung users, also went platinum.

JAY-Z has generated a lot of buzz with his latest album, which has ten songs and appears to confirm that his mother is “in a same-sex relationship”.

Fans are speculating that elsewhere on the album, JAY-Z responds to Beyonce’s Lemonade album and apologises for cheating.

Is Tidal making waves?

The American rapper has been looking to translate his chart success to his music streaming venture Tidal.

JAY-Z has had 13 solo platinum albums, which his label Roc Nation says is more than any other hip-hop artist.

Last year Tidal said it had three million subscribers but some have questioned the accuracy of those numbers.

Spotify, which now has more than 140 million active monthly users, remains the market leader but has yet to turn a profit.

The number of subscribers paying for its premium service, which does not have advertising, rose by 20 million in 2016 to 48 million.

Apple Music, a key competitor, has doubled its number of subscribers over the last year to 27 million. Unlike Spotify it does not offer a free tier.

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Source: BBC

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Tidal — which Jay-Z acquired in 2015 but trails far behind streaming leader Spotify as well as Apple Music — has seen a jump in downloads coinciding with the release of Jay-Z’s “4:44” album on Friday.

Tidal on Friday and Saturday was the most downloaded app for iPhones in the United States, jumping 163 places from Thursday, according to tracking service App Annie.

It stood at number six on Monday, behind app stalwarts such as Instagram.

“4:44,” the first album in four years by the rapper who has devoted much of his energy to his business empire, came out to favorable reviews and a major buzz online over his unusually introspective lyricism.

On the album, he apologizes to his wife, pop superstar Beyonce, for infidelity and reveals that his mother is a lesbian who struggled in the closet.

Jay-Z chose to release “4:44” exclusively on Tidal, with the album promoted by telecom provider Sprint, which recently bought a one-third stake in the platform amid the rapid growth of streaming worldwide.

Jay-Z has not revealed whether the album will remain a Tidal exclusive. Other stars including Beyonce who released their albums through Tidal eventually made them available for download on Apple’s iTunes or on rival streaming platforms.

Tidal, a Norwegian company, said last year that it had three million subscribers, although a media report questioned the figure.

It is a fraction of the 50 million paying subscribers of Sweden-based Spotify, which said last month that an additional 90 million people used its free tier.

The exclusive arrangement has brought uncanny moments. When Jay-Z’s album was released, social media was abuzz with loaded lyrics which he supposedly made against fellow rapper Kanye West and his wife Kim Kardashian.

The lyrics turned out to be the musical equivalent of fake news — with Jay-Z taking West to task but more lightly. Some social media users acknowledged they could not access the album to verify for themselves.

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Source: AFP

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Telecoms company Sprint has forked out an estimated $200 million for the hefty share of the ‘Empire State Of Mind’s company.

It will mean that Jay Z will make an impressive return on the initial $56 million he invested into the company when he purchased Tidal – which also has the likes of his wife Beyonce, Madonna, Rihanna, Daft Punk and Kanye West on the director’s board – from Aspiro two years ago.

At the time of the acquisition, the 47-year-old rapper spoke about the importance of not “devaluing music”.

He said: “People are not respecting the music, and devaluing what it really means. People really feel like music is free, but will pay $6 for water. You can drink water free out of the tap and it’s good water. But they’re OK paying for it. It’s just the mindset right now.”

Whilst Alicia Keys added: “Our mission goes beyond commerce, it goes beyond technology. Our intent is to preserve music’s importance in our lives. Music is the language of love, of laughter, of heartbreak, of mystery. It’s the world’s true, true, without question, universal language.”

When Tidal was first unveiled, it was criticised by a number of stars including Noel Gallagher, The Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers and Mumford and Sons.

However, Madonna came out in support of the brand, insisting it was just the beginning for the streaming service.

She said: “It’s important that people understand we didn’t create Tidal, we didn’t put this together, we didn’t all join forces because we’re broke and we want more money.

“The idea is we want to support other artists and we want people to understand this is our heart, this is our work, and we want people to recognize that and we want other artists to have a chance.”

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Source: Capitalfm

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