You Can Legally Download Jay Z's '4:44' For Free. Here's How

Image via Tidal/Sprint

If you're like me, you spent a good chunk of the wee hours of Friday, June 30 listening to Jay Z's new album, 4:44. Truth be told, I'd just gotten off recording this week's edition of blackrasslin and realized that it made more sense just to stay up to do a shit load of work on Hov's 13th studio album. I've listened to it so many times on repeat that I'm legit tired of hearing it, but as the days have gone by, I realize that, because of the Tidal/Sprint exclusivity on the album, a lot of people still hadn't gotten around to hearing the release. The thing is, you don't necessarily need Tidal to own the album; it's available for free FROM TIDAL, you just have to work the angles.

If you head over to 444.tidal.com, you will see that it says "Download Album," and if you scroll down, it asks for a voucher code. Just enter Sprint, your e-mail address, and complete the CAPTCHA, and boom, you can download the album (in MP3 and FLAC format), for free! (Shouts to Ketchum for the hat tip.)

Now I know, I know, "I already got this for free a minute after it dropped," because that's how it goes. And Tidal probably sorted this out to combat the rampant piracy of the release, but again, this is what happens when you ask consumers in an internet age to switch streaming services (and phone plans!) to listen to a 35 minute album. Fair play to them for allowing people to get the release. Sure, this probably means you're going to get Tidal emails in the future, but that's what burner accounts are for.

One of the album's crowning achievements is "The Story of O.J.," which also got its own video. It's important, and should be viewed outside of a Tidal paywall, so here it is.

The video for 'The Story Of OJ' track from 4:44 is so sick pic.twitter.com/ym5I9vdlcd

— ㅤ🇨🇩🇸🇱 (@FlavsNB) June 30, 2017

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