It's not generally possible to quantify how long we mean when we call an album "long-awaited," but in the case of JAY-Z's 4:44, we can trace the waiting back to an exact moment. We've been waiting for Jay to say something for precisely 14 months and 7 days, dating to the moment BEYONCÉ unveiled LEMONADE on HBO and told her side of a story that may or may not have been about her and him. The best pop album of 2016 was about lots of other things, too, and whether Jay is responding directly to it, is inspired by it or is following a map of his own on 4:44 is something we may never have a clear answer to. But be prepared to spend the rest of 2017 debating it. (And if he isn't hella inspired by LEMONADE, that arguably makes him not only a bad hubby but a bad pop and hip-hop fan. Just sayin'.) The video teasers for the album have been intriguing in a mysterious movie-trailer kind of way, and while no one is expecting him to make the best pop album of 2017, 20-plus years into his career, no one has ever made a dime betting against him. So don't. Just don't... Oh yeah, it's exclusive to TIDAL and SPRINT customers. Boo... The implied rebuke of BILL MAHER (and many many others) in this incredible song and video is priceless, even if Jay does go on to slightly overstate the level of Jewish property ownership in the US... Fun fact of the day, courtesy COMPLEX's SHAWN SETARO: "Jay is only a year younger than BIG DADDY KANE, who hasn't released a new album since 1998, and whose frequent live performances are defined by songs recorded before 1990"... Crazy idea for a new music-discovery venture in 2017: a radio station with DJs who play whatever they feel like playing whenever they feel like playing it. A double devil-horns salute to my friends TYLER LENANE, JON MAPLES and the rest of the GIMME RADIO team, which launched this week as a really, really good all-metal station, with more stations promised in the future. They're not the first to think of this, obviously, but the execution is polished, promising and still metal. Nice bonus touch: A "buy vinyl" button next to most songs that links directly to a page to do just that... Speaking of vinyl: SONY is about to start pressing it for the first time in 28 years... I might have bought one of those KENDALL and KYLIE t-shirts if they said NEGATIVLAND on the back and NEGATIVLAND was getting the profits. Otherwise, um, no... Surprise!... It's FRIDAY and that means new music from the aforementioned JAY-Z along with CALVIN HARRIS, JAMES ELKINGTON, FLOATING POINTS, WASHED OUT, TLC, PUBLIC ENEMY, Z-RO, MC EIHT, BEACH HOUSE, LAPALUX, ACACIA STRAIN and BAIO... RIP KELAN PHIL COHRAN and ROGER D. ABRAHAMS... MUSICREDEF is taking an extended FOURTH OF JULY break. We'll be back Wednesday morning.