Jay-Z Reveals That He’s Actually Human on Tribute to His Daughter, “Glory” (Listen & Download)

Every rapper is legally obligated to do a "I love my momma" song, but if dads get mentioned at all its in reference to them being a generally shitty human being. As a father who is, you know, actually involved in raising my daughter that sucks. As far as shit rappers don't rhyme about, responsible fathers are just slightly rarer than rhymes about paying your taxes on time.

So I have to really give it up to Jay-Z and his new track "Glory", released in celebration of the birth of his daughter, Blue Ivy Carter. You know Pharrell was dying to get crazy with this beat, but he actually help things mellow with a miminal instrumental; as "Last Call" proved, on storytelling tracks like this you can't let the beat overshadow the narrative.

Lyrically this is the closest we've ever come to hearing Hova rap like an actual human being. He's always careful to keep his distance and maintain that sense of superiority, but "Glory" has broken him down enough to show some real vulnerability, particularly in relation to a previous miscarriage: "Last time the miscarriage was so tragic / We was afraid you disappeared / But nah, baby you magic."

I'm not going to be one of those people who suddenly feels like they're part of Jay and Beyonce's family, so congrats to them, but more importantly respect to all the dads out there. Raising a child is a harder grind than we ever get credit for.

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