Jay-Z has opened up about some of his relationship troubles with the new D'Angelo collaboration "I Want You Forever."
The track appears on the soundtrack to Jeymes Samuel's new comedy-drama The Book of Clarence, which he also composed the music for, with D'Angelo providing the soulful bookends to a deeply personal verse from Hov.
“Life don’t taste the same without you/Tears in my champagne ‘bout you/Quit playing girl, you know I’m crazy ‘bout you," he raps on the verse, assumedly rapping about his relationship with Beyoncé. "You know that week you ran back to your mama house, ask my friend, they can vouch/Slept on the couch ‘cause the bed ain’t a bed without you.”
Jay closes the verse indicating that he's a changed man after wronging his partner. "Love you for my life, and I put that on my dead/Put that on my daddy's new porch, cigarettes/He blew cancer rings, I got toxic traits/Look who coaxed the ghost out my body, got me straight/I don’t want no smoke, baby girl you fire/Can’t end up like my folks, nah," he raps, as D'Angelo takes over again.
Jay-Z and Beyoncé have both been upfront about some of their relationship issues throughout their careers, perhaps most notably on Bey's Lemonade in 2016 and Hov's 4:44 in 2017, on which he confirmed his infidelity and profusely apologized.
She later referenced the rift on her 2022 album Renaissance with the track "Plastic on the Sofa." On the track, she sings, "I know nobody's perfect so I'll let you be, I'll let you be/It's the way that you wear your emotions on both of your sleeves, 'til the face you make when I tell you that I had to leave ... We don't need the world's acceptance. They're too hard on me, they're too hard on you, boy."
The soundtrack for The Book of Clarence, which stars LaKeith Stanfield in the lead role, is a star-studded affair with contributions from Doja Cat, Lil Wayne, Kodak Black, Jorja Smith, Kid Cudi, and Shabba Ranks. It's now available on streaming platforms, while the movie hits theaters nationwide today. Hov is a producer on the project, which he celebrated when he reactivated his Instagram to share the trailer for the movie last year.
