The Tidal exclusive is now available for all.
Jay-Z has shared his The Story of O.J. video on YouTube. The four-minute animation was previously only available to subscribers of Tidal – the 4:44 album from which the track is taken remains a Tidal exclusive.
Directed by Jay-Z and Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo), the vintage-inspired video lampoons the racist minstrel animations produced by studios such as Warner Bros. and Disney in the early 20th century. As Rolling Stone notes, the name of the main character in the clip – Jaybo – is itself a play on the “Sambo” character from the children’s book The Story of Little Black Sambo. A reference that has passed into shorthand for racist portrayals of African-Americans in the media.
4:44, the rapper’s 13th studio album and the first since 2013’s Magna Carta Holy Grail was released on 30 June, with no indication of how long it would remain a Tidal exclusive. You can watch the video for The Story of O.J. above.
