The First 48: Fresh Squeezed Lemonade, Anybody?

What’s on tap for this go round? Why, it’s everybody’s favorite or not so favorite force of nature known as Beyonce. That’s right – Beyonce is getting The First 48 treatment with her latest (surprise? not a surprise?) “visual” album known as Lemonade. It’s been a while since we last heard from Queen B, but we knew something was coming after starting a commotion with “Formation” and it’s performance at the Super Bowl. This album is supposedly driven by the alleged cheating of her husband Jay Z.

Without further ado here we go the First 48 on Lemonade.

1. *looks at album art* Yea…no B. Just no.
2. Only clocking in at a meager 12 tracks. Short but sweet?
3. The Jack White feature is the only one that seems surprising.
4. There better be a significance behind every title being in all caps
5. An album about Hov (allegedly) cheating. Let’s find out if it’s good.
6. “You can taste the dishonesty. It’s all over your breath.” SHIT she’s coming out shooting from the hip.
7. The piano on “Pray You Catch Me” is amazing. Great opener.
8. “Going thru your call list, i don’t wanna lose my pride but i’ll fuck me up a bitch.” Say hi to the Houston in Beyonce. Guess she bout that life after all.
9. The beat on “Hold Up” has that early 00’s Sean Paul sound to it.
10. “You can watch my fat ass twist boy. As I bounce to the next dick boy.” Sweet Jesus who did Hov (allegedly) cheat on her with?
11. Jack White is perfect for “Don’t Hurt Yourself”. Perfect.
12. “Sorry” an accurate title for this track.
13. She should be sorry. It killed the momentum this album had.
14. “He better call Becky with the good hair”. Oh my
15.  The start of “6 Inch” is epic.
16. Also is it just me but are all the songs with The Weeknd starting to have same sound/lay out?
17. The samples used on “6 Inch” may be the best flips of those samples I’ve heard in awhile.
18. Beyonce just did a folk song with flawless execution.
19. Like “Daddy Lessons” could not have been better executed by any country artist known for that style of song.
20. I can see this being played on a country radio station right after Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats.” This song is gonna be a top 40 hit. Easily.
21. “Love Drought” is very vintage Beyonce with the more slow and relaxed feeling.
22. A little over halfway through and as someone who hasn’t been a big Beyonce fan this is one of the better albums I’ve heard from her and in general recently.
23. “Sandcastles” is a great ballad. A little out of place here but still great.
24. “Forward” is great for as short as it is. Feel like it should’ve been before “Love Drought”.
25. Also that all with get from James Blake?
26. Somebody tell Just Blaze that what he did with the beat for “Freedom” just wasn’t fair. At all.
27. “I break chains all by myself. I won’t let my freedom rot in hell.” That may be one of the realest things she has ever said.
28. Why does this kind of sound like her version of “Song Cry”?
29. “I’m gonna keep running cause winners don’t quit on themselves.” This album is full of quotables.
30. I can easily see this song becoming the theme song of any movement and also being used in trailers for movies.
31. King Kendrick coming thru with a nice blistering verse. The ability to do a theme verse and not make it painfully obvious is amazing.
32. “I was served lemons but I made lemonade.” Now we know the meaning behind the album title in case it wasn’t clear by now.
33. “All Night” is a perfect example of why you should never judge a song by just its title.
34. She is definitely a woman torn on this song.
35. The sample of Outkast’s classic “SpottieOttie…” is amazing.
36. Also fitting how both members of Outkast helped write the song.
37. I feel like this song should’ve been the closer considering how it ties the whole theme together of her finding out he’s been cheating and her fighting through it and deciding to stay.
38. “Formation” really just could’ve just been a loose single or a bonus track.
39. It just doesn’t fit with this album at all.
40. Props to those Sremmlife boys tho. You can tell they definitely helped write this and that’s a good thing.
41. I still don’t care for “Formation”. However, it is a great anthem for empowerment.
42. Beyonce definitely had a lot to get off her chest with this album.
43. This album is a perfect example of how to create a theme for a work of art and how to stick to it all the way.
44. The production on this album from the start with “Pray You Catch Me” all the way to “Formation” is amazing. Great way to navigate through multiple genres of music and still feel cohesive.
45. Great use of samples and interpolations on this album. Everything from Outkast to Isaac Hayes to Soulja Boy to Led Zeppelin was perfectly executed.
46. This album shows that a focused Beyonce is still a force to reckoned with.
47. A Jay Z sample would’ve have been the icing on the cake.
48. One last thing: The album dropped exclusively on Tidal. Jay Z still won.

There we go people. Definitely better than her latest effort despite what the Beyhive may tell you. Full review coming soon.

The thoughts of this article resonates the authors thoughts, not a general consensus of the website.