Today (Jan. 12), Jeymes Samuel unveiled his new film, The Book of Clarence, and its accompanying soundtrack, an 11-song effort with contributions from Doja Cat, Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Jorja Smith and more. As REVOLT previously reported, Samuel — who is also known by his musical moniker The Bullitts — generated high expectations for a collaboration alongside JAY-Z and D’Angelo titled “I Want You Forever,” mainly thanks to its roughly nine-minute runtime.
JAY-Z‘s contribution to “I Want You Forever” turned out to be a departure from his usual hard-hitting raps. Instead, the billionaire mogul’s verse is much more poetic and off-kilter, with emotionally charged lines about his late father’s smoking habit a longing passion for someone presumed to be his wife, Beyoncé.
“Life don’t taste the same without you/ Tears in my champagne ’bout you/ Quit playin’ girl, you know I’m crazy ’bout you/ You know that week you ran back to your momma house/ Ask my friends, they can vouch/ Slept on the couch, ’cause the bed ain’t a bed without you/ Luther songs looped up in my head/ Love you for my life, and I put that on my dad/ Put that on my daddy’s Newport cigarettes…”
Much in the same way as the reception for André 3000’s New Blue Sun LP, Hov’s appearance on “I Want You Forever” left many on social media divided. “So JAY-Z [is] doing spoken word now?!” said Twitter user ShawnLaVie. “Honestly, I’m not mad [at it]… It’s the maturation of JAY-Z.” Meanwhile, another joked about Hov using his “sexy voice.” SecretAvenger22 took a more neutral stance while looking at the entire soundtrack’s connection with The Book of Clarence‘s story. “Some of the songs play better in context with the film,” he explained.
Check out additional tweets on “I Want You Forever” below.