The Blueprint 3 (X 4)
Posted By Ben W. on September 15, 2009
Jay-Z returned last week with the third installment in his Blueprint series, aptly named The Blueprint 3.
And it’s only the most anticipated hip hop album of the year. So we thought we’d review it, not once, but four times. Four different writers, four different perspectives.
We’ve got myself (natch), Rob Dowdy, Hilly Kenkel and Chris Collins. You can’t disagree with all of us at once, can you? OK, I guess you could. But hopefully this format gives you a wider range of opinion as you check out the album for yourself…
BEN WALPOLE
In a nutshell? The new Jay-Z record is good. But it’s not as good as he wants you to think it is.
What’s exciting is he’s returning to the hardcore/mainstream formula that made him the most successful rapper of his generation. That perfect balance of skills and pop hooks is back. This record is less shimmery than 2006’s Kingdom Come, yet not as fans-only street as 2007’s American Gangster. And, what’s more, The Blueprint 3 is better than both of those records.
The run of singles at tracks 3, 4 and 5 — “Death Of Auto-Tune” to “Run This Town” to “Empire State Of Mind” — is jaw-droppingly good. This album’s first third just doesn’t mess around. You hear those first five songs and you know you’re hearing a record that is of a different class than nearly every other hip hop release of 2009. In 20 minutes here, Jigga has already achieved more than most rap artists even attempt on a record. And let’s not take that for granted. Eleven albums in, and two months shy of 40, Jay-Z still has such an easy way with lyrical content. “Empire,” especially, is a vintage Jigga anthem. I’ve never been the biggest fan of his flow (how can you be a fan of something that doesn’t exist?), but his ideas and wordplay are absolutely compelling on every verse. Even when his concepts are a little tired — yeah, we get it, haters suck and New York doesn’t — he delivers them with so much wit and panache, it’s impossible not to be engrossed. Still! At 39! It’s remarkable. I can’t think of many musicians, let alone rappers, who have remained so vital for so long.
But…
That being said, Jay-Z doesn’t want you to consider this simply as a solid Jay-Z album. That’s not good enough. Look at the title. This series of Blueprints is supposed to show other rappers out there just how to make the ultimate hip hop record. And that’s where our man gets in a little bit of a jam.
Remember, “Death Of Auto-Tune” was the advance single. Jay brilliantly aligned himself diametrically opposed to the conventions of current chart rap. And he was dead right in every word, and it’s a great song. Now that we have the CD, though, the question must be asked — Then why did you go and make an album that upholds almost all of those chart rap conventions you were just railing about?
The Blueprint 3 isn’t a blueprint at all. It’s a combination of blueprints — lifting the best elements of the three major hip hop albums of 2008: Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter 3, Kanye West’s 808s and Heartbreak and T.I.’s Paper Trail. “Run This Town,” with its big production and sugary pop chorus sung by Rhianna, could be the follow-up single to T.I.’s “Live Your Life.” We’ve got guest spots here from Kid Cudi, Mr. Hudson and Young Jeezy, all of whom appeared on 808s. Meanwhile, the Justice-sampling “On To The Next One” sounds like a cross between T.I.’s “Swagga Like Us” and Weezy’s “A Milli.” And best of all, “The Reminder” features, you guessed it, the auto-tune — apparently not so dead after all.
Hey, I don’t want to quibble too much. This is the best disc Jay-Z has made since The Black Album. It’s a very well-executed set of songs by an artist who shows no sign of losing relevance any time soon.
It’s just frustrating because Jay-Z sounds most ferocious on this album when he’s rapping about going against the norm and being different. “D.O.A.” and the futuristic Timbaland-produced “Off That” are fantastic. So why didn’t he spend more time actually going against the norm and being different?!!?!?
As a result, this record isn’t a Blueprint for others to follow. It’s a testament to Jay-Z’s keen skill at following other people’s Blueprints.
ROB DOWDY
During my first listen to Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3, I had mixed feelings. I thought the first four tracks were simply, “meh.” Not bad by any stretch, but “What We Talkin’ About” sounded uninspired, “Thank You” was as corny as the title and I had just grown to appreciate and not love “D.O.A.” since it had been released months ago.
However, tracks 5-13 had me chair-dancing and pounding beers like I was listening to “Big Pimpin” for the first time. C’mon, that was a big record.
Now, you may be wondering if that was due to an alcohol problem or because Jay-Z’s done it again. That’s fair. But upon a second, third and fourth listens — sans alcohol (mostly) — I can confirm: he’s done it again.
This CD is really good. Even the songs that didn’t impress on first listen (with the exception of one — I’ll explain later) get better when the album is taken in as a whole. And, speaking as a fan, it’s difficult to find a great album that doesn’t have a few lesser tracks on it.
It’s true that The Blueprint 3 doesn’t break any new ground, particularly for Jay-Z. He sticks to the themes that have fueled his massive success (Re: wealth, drug sales, being a swell guy, etc.), but the beats are better than the typical Jay CD and he switches up the style and flow to give listeners something new on each listen. Hip-Hop is a young man’s game, and Jay-Z has been fighting off the next generation for years. He brags about texting the president and being the best ever, and I know I’m not going to call him a liar. (Have you heard this guy’s disses?).
I know this little review reads like I have a crush on Jay-Z, but that’s just not the case. I knew I’d have to come up with something to hate, and it took me ’til the last song to find that …. thing. This album contains perhaps the worst rap song and sample I’ve ever heard. “Forever Young,” the last song on the album, is cringe-worthy in some parts and vomit-inducing in others. I downloaded this album, and during the first 20 seconds of this track, I thought I’d been Rick-Rolled. Seriously, I think I aged 20 years waiting for this … this… thing to end. Luckily, it’s the last song, so you don’t have to pay much attention to it.
Overall, I’m impressed, and I’d recommend The Blueprint 3 to Jay-Z fans and fans of hip-hop alike.
HILLY KENKEL
I was sitting at my work desk the first time I listened to The Blueprint 3. My boss is a very nice man, and a bit conservative, and I wanted him to overhear the lyrics to “Venus vs. Mars” about as much as I’d want my father to overhear those lyrics. However, another minute into the song I realized I felt uncomfortable enough listening to that song on my own. As much as Jay-Z wants to be “Young Forever”, I don’t think he’s capable of standing the pedestal I’ve put him on and singing a chorus with his young wife that goes “Shawty get it in/Daddy go hard!” Isn’t he better than that? Shouldn’t he be dispensing wisdom onto us young folk blindly finding our way through the dismal modern music world?
And then, he did. In the very same song. “Shawty got Britney/shaved her whole head up, we used to make out/kissing each others face off, Fell for the Ponzi scheme/damn shawty just Made-off.” DAMN. Did Jay-Z just come up with the most obvious Bernie Madoff pun that the rest of the world never had the brains to come up with?
This is the kind of wisdom that I want from hip hop artists these days. Don’t give me an artist on a soapbox. Give me an artist that understands the intricacies of the English language; give me an artist that understands the how many layers of drums are required to complete a beat; give me an artist that understands that inflection is “urrthing.” (In case you’ve forgotten what I mean, you’ll find a remindurrrr in this song.)
Jay-Z works with some of the ‘most produced’ producers on the hip hop circuit right now, but he puts his stamp on everything they give him. “What’s that?” you say. “Young Jeezy is singing the only song he knows?” That’s okay, the Roc can cook ‘2009 dull’ into ‘timeless time-capsule.’ (We can only hope that Young Jeezy’s less-than-dynamic vocals are a passing phase).
Favorite track selections include “Already Home,” featuring Kid Cudi, “Run This Town,” featuring Rhianna and Kanye West, “On To The Next One,” featuring Swizz Beatz (and it samples D.A.N.C.E. by Justice, though I can’t quite wrap my head around how), and “Empire State of Mind,” featuring Alicia Keys. Songs that don’t do it for me quite as much include “Thank You,” which strikes me as just a little too disjointed to work perfectly, “So Ambitious,” which, ironically, could have been more ambitious given the combined talents of Jay-Z and the Neptunes.
Aside from a momentary cringe brought on by that hot-and-heavy chorus between Beyonce and Jay-Z, I can only say: It’s Hovie, baby! And it’s okay with me!
CHRIS COLLINS
I’m a Jay-Z fan, and for me, one of the most appealing things about him is his ability to inject his rhymes with a level of introspection absent from the work of many of his colleagues. The man can rap. Nobody is denying this. But Jay at his best is also witty and self-aware. This is what made the original Blueprint such a classic, and what makes this third iteration in the series a disappointment.
The Blueprint 3 features a lot of rapping that is interesting from a technical standpoint: a diverse, unique and sometimes bizarre cadence; tongue-twisting lyricism. He has 11 studio albums under his belt, and it shows. Jay-Z is a master craftsman, for sure, and he spins these complex rhymes so casually and consistently that it can be alarming. But without content to back it up, it just becomes this formalist exercise, the hip-hop equivalent of a sweet guitar solo. Impressive and masterful, but ultimately shallow. It’s Jay-Z rapping about how great he is again. He’s done this in the past, and done it much better. Like he says on “On To The Next One,” if I wanted his “old shit,” I’d “buy his old album.”
Aside from some standouts, the production on many of the tracks feels similarly thin. Again, he’s using some of the best producers, but because of the quality of their previous work, many of their tracks here fall short. One exception: No I.D. really shines, with the first two BP3 singles “D. O. A. (Death of Auto-Tune),” and “Run This Town” both sounding unique, fresh and current. But several of the Kanye-produced tracks sound like 808s and Heartbreak remnants or American Gangster outtakes. The Neptunes and Timbaland both seem like they’re sort of phoning it in.
And that Swizz Beatz track (yes, the one with the Justice sample) is just irritating. Really, Jay should be old enough to know better. An additional WTF moment comes with the Kanye-produced final track, “Young Forever,” which just sort of plays like a bad mashup.
Perhaps I’m being too hard on Hova. Part of the problem with releasing a classic album is that you will always be living in its shadow. I enjoy The Blueprint 3. It will likely be one of my favorite hip hop albums of the year. A sub-par Jay-Z is better than most other rappers at 100-percent. It just lacks a lot of the same depth, wit and bite as the original.
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