Jay-Z has released yet another visual for a track off his 4:44 album, "Blue's Freestyle." It comes after the star-studded Ava DuVernay-directed visual for "Family Feud," which was released recently.
This time, however, it's an animated music video for none other than Jay-Z and Beyoncé's daughter, Blue Ivy. In the cutesy clip, set in a school talent show, her parents plus the Carter twins are seen from the crowd beaming at Blue Ivy.
Blue Ivy is supposed to perform a ballet performance. But she's much too swag for that kind of thing. Instead, she drops into a freestyle, proving that rapping skills are hereditary. That's right, Blue Ivy — show them some rhymes.
"Blue's Freestyle" is a bonus track from the physical edition of 4:44. The song was released on Jan. 7, Blue Ivy's sixth birthday.
With a music video for "Blue's Freestyle," nearly every track in 4:44 now has an accompanying music video, save for the Frank-Ocean featuring "Caught in Their Eyes," which will probably get a visual treatment, too. With that in mind, why didn't Jay-Z release 4:44 in its entirety as a visual album instead, similar to Beyoncé phenomenal and poetic Lemonade? We have no idea, but no complaints here.
The animated clip for "Blue's Freestyle" follows the visuals for "Family Feud," "Legacy," "Smile," "Marcy Me," "Moonlight," "Bam," "Kill Jay Z," "The Story of O.J.," "Adnis," and "MaNyfaCedGod." Between all these, there have been all-star casts, short films imbued with poetry, and sly but clever criticism of white predominance in pop culture.
All those videos were expertly shot and masterfully directed. Truth is, this "visual" movement in music videos is really exciting. Hopefully other artists follow suit and find ways to create creative visual components of their music.
4:44 was released on June 30, 2017. The tracks along with their music videos are now available to stream on Tidal, but the visuals are also on YouTube for those who aren't signed up on Tidal yet. 4:44 is included in our best albums of 2017 list, and it's nominated for eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best Rap Album, in addition to Song of the Year and Best Rap Performance for the titular track "4:44."
You can watch the animated clip for "Blue's Freestyle" on Tidal. Thoughts about 4:44? As always, feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
