Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3 - Album Review

Jay-Z
The Blueprint 3
Release Date: September 8th, 2009
Atlantic Records/Roc Nation

Jay-Z as hip hop is concerned is royalty and in some circles considered to be the king. I've spent every hard earned dollar in my years as a fan to proudly say that i own all of his albums and my dollars will add this one to my collection as well. The recent push for the 11th to the 8th may be due to the BP3's bootleg debut just a couple of days ago. I support the hood so i copped it for early listening but will still cop the original to keep the collection looking good. My expectations for the record was set way too high to say the least. The album definitely isn’t perfect but after a few spins in the ride it could grow on me unlike its predecessors.This album didn't bridge the generation gap as expected but jay may acquire a few new fans along with Oprah. I going to break it down for you track-by-track to get the "why are you being a hater" thought out your mind.



01. What We Talkin’ About (featuring Luke Steele of Empire of the Sun) (Produced by Kanye West & No I.D.)
Hov starts the album with a rhyme previously played live on other blogs which sparked the beef between him and The Game which set to a track will catch your attention for the moment, before sounding dry before its departure. Jay spits the "facts" again dissing his mentor jaz-o and Dame but the Game I'm not sure about that in my book it was a play on words. Jay contradicts his earlier album "Reasonable doubt" with less than grimy narratives in his rhymes.I guess you can say Jay is looking to let the past be the past with this one but still throwing jabs. Jay rhymes “Talkin’ ‘bout music, I ain’t talkin’ ‘bout rap/” meaning he's back seating the action to rhyme for the boss seat and the chess game. Speaking of hypocrisy, it’s more than a bit odd for Jay to argue that he’s “not talkin’ bout” Jimmy, Dame ,(may be) Game and Jaz when he’s blatantly stirring up there cages. We all know at this point in his career none of these cats can put a dent in the Roc empire, so why even bother bringing them up? "you talk'n bout fiction hold up pardon my back" but with the jabs it seems they're talking to your front Hov.

02. Thank You (Produced by Kanye West & No I.D.)
The production on this track has a Dr. Dre 2006 just quite didn't make Kingdom Come mastering session track. The drums and horns have a Dre sound to them. It’s a solid Dre style, but far from vintage. Like Jay’s bars on Kingdom Come, it’s formulaic Jay style, but far from memorable. There’s really not much to see here. On one hand, Jay is thanking his fans and on the other hand he’s boasting about the fact that he “tipped the waiter $100 to keep the ice cold”. Jay’s empathy towards his fans is almost courteous but also blatantly recession-proof. Condescending probably describes this track best.

03. D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) (Produced by No I.D.)
No I.D.’s sick usage of this klezmer-y Janko Nilovic sample is enough to keep this track spinning in the clubs and my ride. T-pain may lose some stock by this power house track burying the vacoder. As a matter a fact they stood side by side at power jam and recently T-Pain was heard DJing in a club chanting "Fu@k Jay-z", hmmmm.....

04. Run This Town (featuring Rihanna & Kanye West) (Produced by Kanye West & No I.D.)
Run This Town doesn’t contain any explicit barbs directed at any other artist,but it essentially serves the purpose of glorifying the star-powered trio of Jay, Rih-Rih and Yeezy, effectively running the music scene with any lack of regard for casualties in the way. In short, it’s a bragfest. They run this town. We get it. Now one thing is for sure Kanye murdered Jay on this track. This is reminiscent to Eminem’s classic verse on “Renegade”. This is a song that should have featured Jay and hosted by Kanye.

05. Empire State of Mind (featuring Alicia Keys) (Produced by Al Shux)
Hands down one of the best tracks on this record,this is a hit! I don’t even live in New York and it makes me wanna throw on my Yankee fitted with pseudo-hometown pride. Jigga states that he made “the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee game” which is oh so true.This kind of track should be blowing up all over the city from the boroughs and tenement buildings to Broadway all the way to Seventh Ave. Hov wisely selected a beautiful siren of voice in Alicia keys to push this one to the limits. It’s triumphant and full of pride. It’s Sinatra 2009 catchy. It’s got an uplifting message and a strait up anthem. Five tracks in and this is by far the best offering on The Blueprint 3.



06. Real as It Gets (featuring Young Jeezy) (Produced by The Inkredibles)
This track was intended to be a Jeezy featuring Jay-Z record and no one could tell me anything different. It was put onto the album to attract down south listeners which will get the cut on a mix tape some where any ways. Production on this track is cool but easily forgettable. Jay and Jeezy could have came harder (pause) on the lyrics for this track. Can we say filler track any one?

07. On to the Next One (featuring Swizz Beatz) (Produced by Swizz Beatz)
Hov begins the track with “Hov on that new shit, n****s like "How come?’/ N****s want my old shit? Buy my old album/ N****s stuck on stupid, I gotta keep it movin’/”. Okay. This is The Blueprint 3, right? Shouldn't The Blueprint 3 continue from the Blue print 2? This is the same shit different toilet. And now things become a cliche and repetitive.

08. Off That (featuring Drake & Timbaland) (Produced by Timbaland & Jerome “Jroc” Harmon)
“Off That” sounds just like “On to the Next One”. In short he’s light years ahead of us and we’ll never catch up or so he says. It’s got swag status by the stacks. Timbaland provides a FutureSex/LoveSounds type track that’s hypnotizing but hardly captivating. It’s quite clear that Timbo keeps the hot tracks for him self. It’s hilariously ironic that one of the things that Drake denounces on “Off That” are Timbs "Timberland boots". My take is that they’re still on that until Drake drops his opus.

09. A Star Is Born (featuring J. Cole) (Produced by Kanye West & No I.D.)
Leave it to No I.D. and Kanye West when he’s in a soulful mood to drop a gem of a beat like this. Packed with lavish horns hard bass and peppy brush claps, this one easily makes you bop your head no question. Jay shows love to hip hop pioneers, peers and up-and-comers on this dedication track. Roc Nation’s new artist, the Fayetteville emcee J. Cole holds his own on the fourth and final verse of the track. If you're keeping count so far,this and “Empire State of Mind” are the hottest tracks from the album so far and we are walking up on track 10.

10. Venus vs. Mars (featuring Cassie) (Produced by Timbaland & Jerome “Jroc” Harmon)
The track’s low-key and enticing groove gives this cut the potential to receive crazy spins in the club even if T-Pain is DJing (pause). Jay’s lyrics are catchy and easy to remember,“Shorty like ‘Pac; me, Big Poppa/ Screamin’ ‘Hit ‘Em Up’, I’m screaming ‘Who Shot Ya?’/ … Shorty like Pepsi; me, I’m the Coke man/ Body like a Coke bottle, I crush it like a Coke can/”. This makes track number 3 that will get constant play by me.Jay and Timb did there thing on this one.

11. Already Home (featuring Kid Cudi) (Produced by Kanye West)
This feels like a College Dropout track. Again Jay puts a new spitter on hook duty. Kid Cudi’s chorus after a few spins became melodic. This track is“fun” and what kanye would tag as good music. It’s very fluid and features flamboyant Hov’ at his best. So tracks 5, 9, 10 and 11 are keepers.

12. Hate (featuring Kanye West) (Produced by Kanye West)
The beat is so clever and catchy that i find my self mumbleing the verses to this one. My only problem with this track is that it is too short. It leaves you wanting more. May be thats a good thing.

13. Reminder (featuring K. Briscoe) (Produced by Timbaland & Jerome “Jroc” Harmon)
The wavering synths and piercing strings on “Reminder” are truly monsterouse cue frankenstein and the wolf man but I like it. The weirdest thing about this track though is that the person singing the chorus sounds a lot like Madonna on Auto-Tune. “Reminder” is Jay addressing all the critics and bloggers like myself but i like it. As much praise as I can give this cut i honstly have to say it get's boring really quickly and probably wont get too many plays by me.

14. So Ambitious (featuring Pharrell) (Produced by The Neptunes)
Here we go with a kindome come like watered-down track. This track has that “Allure” from The Black Album feel. Right? That track was good at that time butthis one is flat. Pharrell singing...well you know. This is a skipper.

15. Young Forever (featuring Mr Hudson) (Produced by Kanye West)
Personally i would have found a producer to flip the Rod Stewart classic but this was good in it's own right. This is jays victory lap.
On a solely superficial level, the track is alright but not a good exit song, there’s hardly any substance to this track.It ends too abruptly and most importantly it leaves you wishing you copped the bootleg.



All and all:
If you are a fan you will probably cop this to keep the collection up to date but with the exception of a few tracks this album can get old quick.