Jay-Z's HBO docuseries drops new episodes today and critics can't agree on whether Hov is being real

Jay-Z's HBO docuseries drops new episodes today and critics can't agree on whether Hov is being real

Two more episodes of JAY-Z in 8 land on HBO and Max tonight at 8 p.m. ET, and the debate they're walking into is already louder than the show itself. Since the premiere six days ago, the rap internet has been locked in a running argument about whether Shawn Carter is finally pulling back the curtain on thirty years of work, or whether he's just doing a very expensive version of explaining his own jokes.

The setup is deceptively plain. Set inside Paris' Palais Brongniart, the series pairs Jay-Z with producer and industry legend Rick Rubin to dissect both hits and deep cuts from his discography. The eight-part series follows the two in an extended conversation about the rapper's music, lyrics, life experiences and creative process, thirty years after the release of his debut album Reasonable Doubt. No archive footage. No talking heads. Just two men in a room, playing songs and talking about where they came from.

The series is a Tetragrammaton production, directed by Rubin and executive produced by Shawn Carter, Daniel Kaluuya and Rubin. Kaluuya, the Academy Award-winning actor whose credits include Get Out and Judas and the Black Messiah, has spent recent years moving between performance and production on projects positioned at the edge of film and music culture. His name on the credits got people's attention before a single episode aired.

Across the series, Jay-Z revisits different stages of his career and explains the experiences and ideas behind songs including "99 Problems," "Brooklyn's Finest," "4:44," "The Story of O.J.," "No Church in the Wild" and "Family Feud." Carter and Rubin make their way through Carter's highlights, song by song, in eight beautifully shot black-and-white episodes.

What critics are saying

The Hollywood Reporter called it a mixed bag. THR's verdict: the series will be "essential viewing for passionate fans of Shawn Carter," but for general appreciators, "the series' excesses and redundancies are likely to be frustrating, as are its frequent lack of focus and general sense of over-sanitization."

Variety's take leaned skeptical. The question of whether anyone tuning in is missing the meaning behind the lyrics is, the outlet argues, "purely rhetorical" when it comes to JAY-Z in 8, calling it "a thoroughly technical yet often superfluous exploration of the rapper's life and career."

THR also noted specific problems with pacing. Sometimes Carter's version of textual explication amounts to "nothing more than reciting the exact same lyrics we just saw onscreen, only slower and without the backing track." Rubin nods along to those moments, THR writes, moments that could have been "trimmed and transformed JAY-Z in 8 into JAY-Z in 6 or maybe JAY-Z in 4."

But there's a counter-argument. Sometimes, THR concedes, Carter is "perceptively attuned to his own lyrical gifts, explaining bits of wordplay or complicated references to an impressed Rubin." And Billboard, which had access to the first three episodes ahead of the premiere, found enough to fill an entire feature on revelations from the series. One of Jay-Z's biggest selling points as a rapper has always been the depth of his storytelling and lyricism, and over thirty years into his career, fans are still breaking down his bars and uncovering meanings.

THR frames the series as a companion piece to the 2021 Hulu docuseries McCartney 3, 2, 1, in which Rubin and Paul McCartney discussed the former Beatle's career for director Zachary Heinzerling. That series wasn't exclusively aimed at music nerds, "but a certain measure of nerdiness was ideal for appreciating" its deep dives into lyrical analysis. The Jay-Z version asks the same thing of its audience and then some.

The rollout

The first two episodes debuted back-to-back on HBO on September 18 at 8 p.m. ET, with two new episodes releasing every Friday. The run continues until the finale on October 9.

Before the premiere even happened, Jay-Z hosted a red carpet screening. A special screening was held on September 13 at the Metropolitan Opera Museum in New York City, beginning with a red carpet where celebrities including Jermaine Dupri, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, Skylar Diggins and Neil deGrasse Tyson attended and spoke to media. The Roc Nation leader himself showed up and took time to speak with nearly every outlet present.

What he told Billboard about the process was telling. When asked if there was anything hard to reflect on while putting the documentary together, Jay-Z said: "Nothing was difficult." That answer, as much as any single episode, is what critics keep circling back to. The Hollywood Reporter's reviewer said the "over-sanitization" feeling is hard to shake, the sense that a man known for lyrical specificity is, in this format, choosing his words very carefully.

NPR noted this week that it's been thirty years since Jay-Z's acclaimed debut Reasonable Doubt, and he celebrated with a series of concerts at Yankee Stadium before the HBO docuseries arrived, in which he dissects his catalog with Rick Rubin. The series, NPR observed, "hopes to further cement his legacy as one of the most revered lyricists of our time", though whether it succeeds is exactly what tonight's new episodes will keep arguing about.

Tonight's drop covers episodes five and six. The finale, whenever it arrives on October 9, will be Rubin's call. He directed every frame.

Sources

• Variety: 'Jay-Z in 8' Review
• The Hollywood Reporter: 'JAY-Z in 8' Review
• Billboard: 11 Things We Learned From the First Three Episodes
• Variety: Jay-Z Documentary Series Sets HBO Release Date
• NPR Pop Culture
• Eastern Herald: JAY-Z in 8 on HBO
• Reelgood: How to Watch Jay-Z in 8