Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3 Review [2]

Posted by Fred Richani on 09.11.2009

Is Jay-Z's newest album more like the original Blueprint or recent efforts such as Kingdom Come? Click here to find out!

Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter’s legacy in hip-hop is definitely intact. Since 1996, Jay-Z has always been an artist that has led/set trends, transcended into pop culture, and around to offer his esteemed opinion when it comes to the state of hip-hop. Heck, he’s even dabbled in political affairs, showing support for President Obama, donating seven figures to Hurricane Katrina victims, and helped inform the unknowing people that there is a water shortage crisis in the world. In a way, Jay-Z is a one man version of The Beatles. Not necessarily in terms of style and music, but sales-wise and overall impact in the world—not just in the music industry.

In 2001, Jay-Z released The Blueprint, a now classic hip-hop album that serves as the schematic for a classic record. From top to bottom, the album was a hit on the charts and with hip-hop aficionados. It’s still one of my favorite albums. A year later in 2002, Jay-Z released the double album The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse. While its predecessor was practically devoid of guest stars (minus Eminem on his produced instrumental for the song “Renegade”.), Blueprint 2 was the opposite. As I counted via the track listing, the album had 24 guest stars (including bonus songs). That’s right, 24. However, I must point out that the album did contain 28 songs and was comprised of two discs.

While it was a very good album, it was nowhere near as popular as the original with critics. Then again, there are great rappers that have never had that one career defining album (Ludacris and Eminem come to mind.). Jay-Z has been lucky enough to have two—Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint. You can even make the case for The Black Album being a near-classic. Will The Blueprint 3 be more like the original or closer to Kingdom Come? Let’s find out!



Tracks

1. What We Talkin’About Ft. Luke Steele
2. Thank You
3. D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)
4. Run This Town Ft. Rihanna & Kanye West
5. Empire State Of Mind Ft. Alicia Keys
6. Real As It Gets Ft. Young Jeezy
7. On To The Next One Ft. Swizz Beatz
8. Off That Ft. Drake
9. A Star Is Born Ft. J. Cole
10. Venus Vs. Mars
11. Already Home Ft. Kid Cudi
12. Hate Ft. Kanye West
13. Reminder
14. So Ambitious Ft. Pharrell
15. Young Forever Ft. Mr. Hudson

This week, The Blueprint 3 is officially in stores. It’s only natural that on September 11, 2009, eight years after the release date of the original, that I review The Blueprint 3. The first thing I noticed was the abundance of guest stars listed on the album. I can’t complain about the talent as most look good on paper—Mr. Hudson, Pharrell, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Swizz Beatz, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, and Young Jeezy. Unfortunately this album looks to be suffering from over-saturation with the amount of guest stars. Some collaborations work. Others not so much.

The album starts off with “What We Talkin’ About”, which samples samples "Spirit" by Frederic Mercier. The song can best be described as it being like Hova rapping over a Final Fantasy instrumental. Sounds different to say the least, but a solid intro to a highly anticipated album. Could Jay-Z be hinting at another hip-hop hiatus with the line "I don't run rap no more, I run the map."? I guess that remains to be seen. Onto the rest of the album!

The track “Thank You” samples "Ele E Ela" by Marcos Valle. It is an okay song, but the repetitive chorus, an annoying theme on this album, brings the track down.

Thank you, Thank you, thank you You're far too kind
Hold your applause This is your song not mines
Thank you, Thank you, thank you You're far too kind
Do me a favor, don't do me no favors I'll handle mines

Yeah, it hurt my head. The next song is produced by No I.D., who collaborated with Kanye West on a majority of the tracks on this album. “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)” samples "In the Space" by Janko Nilovic and Dave Sucky and is one of the best tracks on Blueprint, featuring Jay-Z paying his respects to Auto-Tune at its proverbial funeral. I’ve heard critics say this song makes Jay-Z sound bitter and old about the current state of hip-hop. Well I’m 20-years-old and smart enough to know when one of the best rappers on Earth offers his opinion on the genre he’s commanded and conquered, he’s probably making a good to accurate observation on the state of the game. Let’s face it, outside of a handful of people that include T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and a few others, there is no need for every artist to utilize the auto-tune. Artists like Kanye use the auto-tune in conjunction with their exceptional talents. Jay-Z is talking about those that utilize the once-trend-now-gimmick to hide their futility (I’m talking to you, DJ Webstar). And if someone’s going to be critical of hip-hop, it might as well be one of the greatest rappers alive. I’m just sayin'!

The Rihanna and Kanye West-assisted song “Run This Town” has been the most successful single commercially thus far for Jay-Z’s newest LP. It samples "Someday in Athens" by The Four Levels of Existence and was produced by No I.D. and Kanye West. Rihanna is excellent on vocals as she sings her heart out, wondering “Who gonna run this town tonight?!”. Jay-Z is his usual good, lyrical self and Kanye West lives up to the moniker of Hov’s “lil’ brother” with a hot contribution by the Chi-Town native.

As far as other stand-out tracks go, that honor belongs to “Empire State of Mind”, “Off That”, and “Hate”. “Empire State of Mind” is a track Jay-Z called his favorite on The Blueprint 3. As you may be able to tell by the song title, the track is inspired by Hov’s home “The Empire State” New York. Alicia Keys is as illmatic as they come on the hook’s vocals. Unfortunately, the rest of the tracks don't follow suit. “Off That” has the potential to be a good Timbaland-orchestrated club banger, as Drake and Jay-Z tell people they're on the latest trends and well, you're not. The pair of 'Ye and Hov graces the mic on “Hate”, where the two diss all the countless naysayers of their work. Yes, Bill O'Reilly is mentioned.

The rest of the songs on this album don't fair well. “Venus vs Mars” suffers from the same repetition, questionable production, uninspired lyrics, and mediocrity that tracks “Already Home”, “So Ambitious”, and especially “Reminder”. Now that last track has an incredibly annoying hook. Annoying to the point that I won't use the word “reminder” in my vocabulary anytime soon (Wait, I just did. Dammit!). “A Star is Born” sounds like a generic Kanye West instrumental until J.Cole lit it up with a hot verse, speaking on coming from nothing to something. Jay-Z also gives other rappers like Lil Wayne and Outkast their due, acknowledging some of hip-hops biggest names and their success or in his words “clapped for 'em”.

Besides “Reminder”, Swizz Beatz's “On To The Next One” is super repetitive and head-aching. Some might enjoy it. Not my cup of tea. The final collaboration I'll cover is “As Real As It Gets”, which doesn't light the world on fire with Young Jeezy, yet it serves its purpose as a decent joint to bump in a bass-loaded whip. The Achilles heel (or heels in this case) is the repetition and guest stars not delivering. Drake, Kanye, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, and J. Cole hold their own with the great one, but I don't think having Kid Cudi, Mr. Hudson, Luke Steele, and Pharrell on the album was necessary. I'm not saying Mr. Hudson is a bad singer. He's a damn good one, but sometimes styles just don't mesh and his didn't with Hov. Pharrell and Young Jeezy's appearances left a lot to be desired. Kid Cudi and Luke Steele are solid, but could have been replaced with the likes of The-Dream and Mary J. Blige, who are much more capable contributing artists. Overall, The Blueprint 3 is a very good album. Longtime Jay-Z fans might not be too kind to an album that features guest appearances by relative newcomers Kid Cudi and Drake though.

Maybe the album would have gained more oomph had Timbaland executive produced it after all. Regardless, whether you're a rap fan or a casual listener that gets most of their music knowledge from mainstream radio, this album is better than most artists' work. Would you rather buy an album by Katy Perry that has a couple good songs and rest crap or a hot rap album with something for everybody?

The 411: As a Jay-Z fan, I have to realize this is the Jay-Z of 2009, not 1999. I also have to realize that compared to today's rap, this is most certainly one of the better albums of the year. If you're a Jay-Z fan, it's worth copping because even if Hova ain't on his 2001 s***, he's still Jay-Z, meaning that him at 80% of what he was is still better than guys like Flo Rida and Jim Jones (No disrespect to them. That's just a FACT.) And if you're a guy or gal that needs some good music to bump in your ride, cop it as well. Not Jay-Z's best outing, but not his worst either. This is not “The Blueprint” to a classic album like its predecessor. Rather it's the schematic on how to make a very good album. Everyone has flaws. So do albums. If you can look past 'em here, you'll enjoy The Blueprint 3.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]