JAY-Z fans won’t be waiting for much longer to hear new music from the rapper. On Saturday (Jan. 6), the Hip Hop icon and director Jeymes Samuel attended a panel to speak about their latest film collaboration, The Book of Clarence, where it was revealed that Hov would make a monumental resurgence to the music scene on the soundtrack.
And he’s not doing so alone. According to Samuel, the mogul enlisted R&B sensation D’Angelo for the track, but the title has yet to be revealed. Speaking to moderator Elliott Wilson, the filmmaker said the song was “so deep” and described it as almost 10 minutes of “soulful, biblical, bliss.” JAY-Z serves as an executive producer for the movie, which hits theaters next Friday, on Jan. 12.
The 24-time Grammy Award-winning artist has not released a new album since 2017’s 4:44, leaving many of his fans to wait out a drought with no clear end in sight. He touched on the possibility of making new music in October when he sat down for a rare interview with CBS’ Gayle King.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee told King “it has to be something important” to get him back in the booth. He continued, “I don’t wanna just make a bunch of tunes. That’s not gonna serve me, and it won’t feed me, first of all… I have to be saying something important. It has to mean something, you know? It has to mean something to a larger society.” Even without additional details about the forthcoming The Book of Clarence track, it is safe to say the song meets his requirements.
The first single, “Hallelujah Heaven” was composed by Samuel and released in mid-December. It is performed by Lil Wayne, Buju Banton and Shabba Ranks. “There was never a question as to whether I would compose the score and write and perform on the soundtrack, as well as write and direct the movie — it was all one amazing journey where one depended on the other,” the director told Rolling Stone in November when the first trailer dropped.
JAY-Z previously teamed up to produce Samuel’s acclaimed debut, 2021’s The Harder They Fall. He also contributed to the soundtrack with “Guns Go Bang” featuring Samuel and Kid Cudi.