blueprint 3 review thread...

[THE REED]

This album gets better every time I listen to it. Empire State of Mind may well be the best Jay Z song ever.

Ive been listening to it all day in hope that it would grow on me more... it has been.

Although I still think "What more can I say" is Jays best song ever.

[Texasboy34]

Apparently at some point we've decided to let hip-hop diverge and to call some artists 'rappers' and some as doing 'hip hop'. I mean, really it all used to just be 'hip hop' and people were rapping and the music was about struggling, or life, or had some sort of message. Now if a guy just grabs the microphone and says nothing but spits it with a little swagger we eat it up and say 'well, he's rapping. He's no politician. He's not a philosopher. Let him talk about making money and being the best. It's fine.'

Well, I've listened to all of the Blueprint 3 and I think that it's obvious Jay is aiming this at the younger kids of the game. It's the only reason you'd pretend to be critiquing rap and then put the internet born- De Grassi rich kid who says nothing- Drake on a track and rep him repeatedly. Drake says nothing, either- and that's the downfall of the BP3. Jay mixes up his flow a little bit at times, and seems less lazy than on Kingdom Come, but really he's just full of hot air.

Does it sound nice? Sure. It has some catchy singles like Run this Town and Empire State of Mind- which Alicia Keys makes- and D.O.A is getting good play, but I find the album pretty ironic.

Jay spends a lot of time on this new Blueprint telling us what's wrong with Hip-Hop today. Just look at the following songs and guess their messages; 'What we Talking about', 'Death of Autotune- D.O.A.', 'Real as it Gets' and 'Off That'. These tracks are about how other rappers have no message, how gimicks like Autotune are running the game, how Jay considers himself more real because he tells you his life is all ease and money now rather than being in the ****** and how he's "Off that" bandwagon of talking about rims and chains; while having media-created, marketing driven Drake supposedly backing him up.

Problem is, Jay isn't a hungry young MC, or even a hungry old MC like the boys in Slaughterhouse. When they critique the game it's during a barrage of amazing lyrics and some deep, real stuff. When Jay-Z spends almost a 1/3 of BP3 talking about how rap is shallow and there's nothing to it- and then the other 2/3's reminding us that we're listening to Blueprint 3 and how he's amazing and ahead of the game....it comes off weak. He's talking about not saying anything while not saying anything other than that he has issues with the rap game.

Jay knows that songs like Run This Town and Empire State of Mind are just meant to be club tracks. He's not even trying to critique the game in those, really. He's just making a couple nice singles - which is funny when he talks about how other MC's can't do that, but let's give the legendary Hov a pass, right? Wrong.

Jay is old, rich, and considered one of the greats. While Nas's last album was spit full of deep content regarding the race relations and state of black America to such an extent that he originally called it '******' and then had to release it as 'Untitled', well, Jay's lyrics looks plain silly in comparison.

Hovva keeps telling us he's the best, though, and how he's ahead of the game- but who else had an English teacher than said 'show, don't tell'...that if we want to make a point we shouldn't just say something, we should describe and show it. If Jay Z wanted to make the rap game look weak, all he had to do was put out the type of release, start to finish, that he likes to say the other rapper's can't; but he doesn't. Instead, he throws out a bunch of tracks dissing rap and how fake it is, mixes in a few radio singles, and doesn't round it out by having enough really unique lines, flow or content to make us sit back in awe.

I'm not saying it's a bad release- it's not. Jay Z is still a conssumate professional who is at the top of the industry if just because it comes so natural to him. This isn't the same type of lyric driven fire I'm hearing from a Slaughterhouse, K'naan or Nas, though, either. Jay Z marketed this album well, called it BluePrint 3 to remind us where he came from, and then showed he's almost done with the game, offering a few chastising remarks before he bowed out like an old, grizzled high school teacher- but without ever doing anything himself to change or display an alternative, either.

I didn't rate American Gangster too highly because it was a concept album- which is the type of fake, fantasy driven bull**** he seems to have instantly turned on with his remarks in BP3. Kingdom Come was a let down. That means this is the best Jay Z release in quite a few years- so if you're hungry for new Jay and like his style, I'm sure you'll gobble it up. If, like me, though, you just want good hip-hop and hope for something more than a slick, smooth talking professional you'll realize it's a pretty alright release, but nothing to write home about.

Go get Slaughterhouse, K'naan or find someone like Brother Ali who is trying to say something before you go giving Jay-Z more money. That's my take. Unless you love Jay, it's just alright.

[Truth]

I respect Neil's opinion. hes very critical of jay-z, and he liked it.

[The Brahma Bull]

its the worst of the blueprints


the album is still good... but its not as good as 1 or 2

The Rock didn't really care for BP2.. BP1 is a classic though.. BP2 had alot of dumb songs. Bp1 was perfect. Kwest was great on the production. If only that jabroni could stick to producing instead of killing hip-hop and everyother music genre