When Men Give Birth to Intimacy: the Case of Jay-Z’s “4:44”

This paper examines how Jay-Z’s song “4:44” transforms male homosocial spaces into settings where men give birth to intimacy towards women. I argue that the album’s producer, No ID, provided the conditions for Jay-Z to reveal feelings that he could not express on his own. Interviews show that No ID acted as a midwife that induced the birth of Jay-Z’s disclosures about his infidelity that he wanted to discuss but did not know how. Moreover, the video footnotes to “4:44” feature a group of men nurturing each other’s ability to be vulnerable in relationships. This model of men using homosocial spaces to be vulnerable and honest about the hurt they caused is an important departure from previous research showing black musicians nurturing emotional intimacy at the expense of their female partners (Carby 1998).