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Amidst all the hoopla JAY-Z proves again that he is at the top of his game with the release of his thirteenth studio album, 4:44. Can you believe that the June 30 release is already certified platinum in just one week?

How in the heck did he do that?

According to sources, JAY-Z being the savvy business man that he is did a similar play with his Magna Carta Holy Grail album, which went platinum on the day it was released due to a deal with Samsung. For this album he worked with Sprint, who purchased at least a million copies to give to their customer for free, in addition to having the album on his streaming service, TIDAL.

And the most impressive part is the streams have yet to be counted towards the platinum certification, but will be by July 6. Can you say cha-ching?

But much more important than the money, here are four reasons we’re loving 4:44:

1. Jay Comes Clean: When many of us heard the cheating allegations all up and through Lemonade, we wondered if Beyoncé was just being really creative or if JAY-Z really cheated. Let’s just say Jay finally addresses the elephant in the room, and he does so with an Eric Benét reference. You could guess who had an issue with that:

2. Nostalgic Samples: The album produced entirely by No ID features some undeniable classics like “Four Women” by Nina Simone, “Love’s In Need of Love Today” by Stevie Wonder, “Fu-Gee-La” by The Fugees, “Unbelievable” by Notorius B.I.G., and “Someday We’ll All Be Free” by Donny Hathaway, just to name a few.

3. Knowledge is Power: Like most JAY-Z albums, there are a few gems to uncover. In one example, Jay talks about the importance of establishing credit and making smarter business decisions. He also calls out people who like to flaunt their money, especially with those “money stack phone call” photos often seen on social media platforms:

4. Social Conciousness:  Of course, JAY-Z doesn’t miss an opportunity to be political, especially in his perspective on how people of color are mistreated throughout media. In the first visual from the album, “The Story of O.J.” he uses racist animated imagery found in early Disney cartoons to further illustrate his point. Using O.J. Simpson as an analogy, he reminds people of color to not forget about their roots.

TELL US: Have you heard JAY-Z’s lastest album? What are your thoughts on the new project?

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