So Beyoncé and Jay-Z just surprise-dropped a joint album

One of my issues with Jay-Z in the latter part of his career was how he seemed to care mostly about projecting an image of opulence and glamour, emphasizing his financial success as though that alone made him the pinnacle of hip hop (sure other artists brag about how rich they are, but not to such an extreme nor do they coast so long off just that), until 4:44 was a welcome return to form. Beyoncé can fall into similar trappings, but her ascendance to the point of celebrity hero worship (a trend that will never not be disturbing going all the way back to Elvis) came with her actually getting better, more personal, and better refined in her music rather than the other way around.

With this album, all of their worst traits are on display as this serves largely as a commercial for how awesome it is to be Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Well, mostly Beyoncé since Jay's vocal contributions are more dispersed than hers. That kind of self-mythologizing paired with the clean New York sound would have fit in just nicely a decade ago or hell even 5-6 years ago, but in 2018 and after each artist is coming off some of their best and most personal work, it feels like a hollow exercise in brand management.

Class is at the forefront of the album and all they have to say about that is "we're so rich we can do whatever we want." A few times they toy with the idea of political intrigue by again positioning themselves as icons of black glamour, addressing how they're both black and rich but instead of of actually touching on issues of race as they have in the past, they only reinforce capitalism by glamorizing their wealth and being very strategic regarding this album's release: right after their tour started and a month after Tidal was accused of fraud.