JAY-Z Shared Some Behind the Scenes Details of His Marriage to Beyoncé

JAY-Z accomplished an emotional feat with his new album 4:44 by delving into the intricacies of a high profile and, yes, human marriage with fellow superstar Beyoncé. While much has been made of his lyrics addressing infidelity, Jay's been getting even more in depth about the music on his Tidal series "Footnotes."

"4:44," perhaps the most baring of the album's songs, is the latest song to get the "Footnotes" highlight. A Greek chorus of famous men of color, including Chris Rock, Jesse Williams, Aziz Ansari, Will Smith, and Mahershala Ali opened up about their relationships, particularly with the women in their lives. Jay played his part, sharing:

"This is my real life. I just ran into this place and we built this big, beautiful mansion of a relationship that wasn't totally built on the 100 percent truth and it starts cracking. Things start happening that the public can see. Then we had to get to a point of 'Okay, tear this down and let's start from the beginning' … It's the hardest thing I've ever done."

The entire video is candid, but because of the public nature of Jay and Bey's struggles, it all feels like peeking behind a curtain you've been told never to touch. But as weird as it is for fans of either and/or both musicians, it was obviously a much stranger and difficult process for the people involved:

"We just got to a place where in order for this to work, this can't be fake. Not one ounce. I'm not saying it wasn't uncomfortable because obviously it was."

Watch the video on Tidal.

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