My Old Review for this album has thus been deleted and here is my update. Enjoy.

Since 1998, the name Jay-Z has been synonymous with commercial, sell-out hip-hop. Once upon a time he created a legendary classic called Reasonable Doubt, which attained a relatively successful sale-base, and an even larger cult following. Shawn Carter a.k.a. Jay-Z attained a humongous level of respect, so high that very few others can possibly achieve. Unfortunately, Jay-Z became greedy and decided to sell-out. The process began with Volume 1: In My Lifetime, where Jay-Z attempted to remain underground, but sell-out at the same time. The album was unsuccessful on both levels. He finally struck gold with Volume 2: Hard Knock Life, which was a commercial success, but alas, a terrible, terrible album. On Volume 3: The Life and Times of S. Carter, he sunk even lower into commercialism, thus displaying that he was never going to return to his roots. He sort of improved a tiny bit on The Dynasty: Roc La Familia, but still hasn't quite achieved that level of realness.

Then on September 11, 2001, Jay-Z released The Blueprint, which was said to be Jay-Z's return to his roots at last and to his Reasonable Doubt mentality. Amongst the infamous terrorist attacks and the fall of the World Trade Center, Jay-Z released an excellent album. He somewhat succeeded in capturing that mentality, but fell pray to jiggyness on a few occasions in this album. Instead of relying on clubbish beats and pop-rap gimmiks, he slightly returns to his roots on the majority of the album with excellent production and top-notch lyricism. The Bottom Line is, Is The Blueprint really worth buying? Or is Jay-Z trying too hard? Read on faithful Big D fan, and find out...


Track List & Rating

1. The Ruler's Back (****)
2. Takeover (*****)
3. Izzo (H.O.V.A.) (****)
4. Girls Girls Girls (******)
5. Jigga that N*gga (*)
6. U Dont Know (*****)
7. Hova Hovito (**)
8. Heart of the City (Aint no Love) (*****)
9. Never Change (****)
10. Song Cry (*****)
11. All I Need (***)
12. Renegade f/ Eminem (******)
13. Momma Loves Me (*****)
Bonus* Breathe Easy (Lyrical Exercise) (***)
Bonus* Girls Girls Girls Remix (**)




Jay-Z kicks off The Blueprint with "The Ruler's Back". Immediately, we are hit with something that has been missing from the majority of the past Jay-Z albums, which is a soulful, very underground sounding beat. The track uses a unique array of melodies including thumping drums, claps, scaling synthesizers, and loud, sort of heavily atmospheric horns, giving us a brand new, yet old-style feel to a Jay-Z track, almost picturing Reasonable Doubt being re-created, which is a good start. His lyricism is a tad bit better than what we've been accustomed to by the previous Jay-Z radio-friendly singles. Of course, its a tad too egotistical for me, as Jay-Z basically claims he is the "ruler" of hip-hop and demands respect. He also mentions his recent trial and allegations, claiming that he has dusted himself off and is ready once again, which i already knew. He brings his mind down to Earth as he mentions that he is "I'm representin for the seat where Rosa Parks sat, Where Malcolm X was shot, where Martin Luther was popped", which is a good thing in my opinion. This is a great way to start out The Blueprint

One of the most marketed and famous beefs in recent memory is the 2001 scuffle between Jay-Z and Nas for the throne of "King of the New York", after Biggie's Passing. This battle was humongous as two ill emcees battled it out. One of the main elements of that battle was the infamous diss track by Jigga, "The Takeover", which is the next piece on The Blueprint.

From the onset we are hit with a thumping synthesized drum, and a nice sample of the classic Doors song "Five to One". It kinda sounds like a video game beat for an apocalyptic final boss battle, which is a great atmosphere. Lyrically, Jay-Z turns up his battle juices to spit venom against all of his enemies, including Nas and Prodigy of Mobb Deep. Responding to the 'Stillmatic" underground diss by Nas, Jay-Z fires hard and opens the song properly by claiming "R.O.C., is runnin this rap sh*t". The majority of the punchlines are inside-jokes between hip-hop fans and rappers, so commercial and casual fans may not quite understand the impact of Jay-Z's rhymes. Jay-Z mentions several occurences with Prodigy, including the fact that he was jumped, had his chain stolen, and was, at one time, a ballerina. Many remember SummerJam when Jay-Z actually showed a picture of Prodigy in a ballerina outfit... which adds to the humiliation.

Then he turns his attention to Queensbridge Legend Nas, poking fun at the rapper for selling-out, creating terrible albums, and his hypocrisy, and how Jay-Z is basically, richer than Nas. Of course, Jay-Z can also be accused of all of these crimes, which makes him a hypocrit too. But that doesn't mean this isn't an excellent diss track as he lays down lines like ""Use your - BRAAAAAAAIN! You said you been in this ten, I've been in it five - smarten up Nas, Four albums in ten years n*gga? I can divide, That's one every let's say two, two of them sh*ts was due, One was - NAHHH, the other was "Illmatic", That's a one hot album every ten year average, And that's so - LAAAAAAAME! N*gga switch up your flow, Your sh*t is garbage, but you try and kick knowledge?"

Of course, a Jay-Z is never complete without commercial singles, and that is delivered on "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)". Jay-Z gives us the typical egotistical lead single, but this time, its actually LESS commercial than most of his stuff. This time, instead of going for a club vibe which is what we're used to from Jay-Z singles, we get more of an introspective, yet egotistical look, at Jay-Z's success at destroying all those oppose him and solving all of his problems. Jigga's lyrics are a big improvement for a commercial single, as he experiments on better metaphors and vocabulary, which is what he was missing. The beat is a light-heartedly produced track, very melancholy and epic. The chorus is also one of the most memorable of 2001. Only problem is, he takes Snoop Dogg's verbal style for the chorus, which is bad because it shows Jay-Z's true lack of creativity. However, he does drop some memorable lines like: "Hov' is back, life stories told through rap, N*ggaz actin like I sold you crack, Like I told you sell drugs; no, Hov' did that so hopefully you won't have to go through that, I was raised in the pro-jects, roaches and rats".

One of the most underrated tracks, from an underground fan's point of view, was the second single "Girls Girls Girls", which is surprisingly good to me. The production is simply beautiful on this song. The beat samples an old Tom Brock song here, which adds R&B flavor to the song. The beat is very romantic, even though its kind of a pimp song, with some nice background R&B vocals and perfectly orchestrated violins, giving it a soft, almost Reasonable Doubt style.

The song is itself VERY well-crafted, and perfect for a single, yet i love it. Jigga's delivery and lyrics are top notch, and i like how he flows for most of the verse, then reiterates what he said at the end. Basically the first 2 verses are about normal girls with lines like "I got this Spanish chica, she don't like me to roam, So she call me cabron plus marricon, Said she likes to cook rice so she likes me home, I'm like, "Un momento" - mami, slow up your tempo". But the girls he describes in the third verse are funny, and just plain weird. He throws in some jokes, and hilarious punchlines like "Got this weedhead chick, she always catch me doin sh*t, Crazy girl wanna leave me but she always forgets, Got this Chinese chick, had to leave her quick', Cause she kept bootleggin my sh*t" . He basically described nearly every type of girl on Earth. Im sure both men and women will dig this one. But thats not all, he brings back three of the classic rap icons. We see some pleasurable surprise appearances by Q-Tip, Biz Markie, and Slick Rick, some rap legends to drop in to do a chorus-a-piece for Jay-Z. Definetely underrated...

"Jigga that N*gga" is a terrible piece of commercial crap. With its overproduced Neptunes club beat, to Jay-Z's constant use of rhyming "Jigga" and "N*gga", to materialistic and selfish lyricism, this track is terrible. Be sure to skip over this....

Jay-Z returns to a humongous improvement with "U Dont Know", which finds Jigga returning to his Reasonable Doubt lyricism. Immediately, we get the super-high-pitched voice which is often used by Rocafella Records hits us, and we get a perfect piece of hip-hop production. With a laid back, extremely loud mixture of slamming drums, synthesizers, and up-tempo guitars, Jay-Z improves his lyricism tenfold. Jay-Z speeds up his delivery and flow, and adds in tons of lyrical complexities such as a multi-syllable flow, more diverse rhyme schemes, and heavy punchlines. Though its sped up and improved, Jay-Z still sounds laid-back, im the same way he did on his legendary debut. The subject matter consists of egotistical, yet clever rhymes about Jay-Z's importance to hip-hop music, sort of ripping apart those who do not understand his success. He explains his uprising, and how he has become such a hip-hop mogul in such a short time, not to mention his overall worth. His intelligence is much better than anything we've heard from him in a long time, not to mention he is very witty, with lines like: "I sell ice in the winter, I sell fire in hell, I am a hustler baby, I'll sell water to a well".

"Hola Hovito" is a return to commercialism. The beat is produced by Timbaland, so you automatically know its going to be commercial. Do yourself a favor and skip this trash and head to one of the best tracks on The Blueprint, which is "Heart of the City (Aint no Love)"

Jay-Z returns to his days from Reasonable Doubt, giving us a street-smart, introspective, and honest look into the mind of Shawn Carter. We are immediately hit with a retrospective instrumental bringing us back to the golden age of hip-hop. The beautiful production found on here is nothing like anything found thus-far on this album. The production is a beautiful assortment of soft soul rhythims, with drums and claps, and a memorable, almost hypnotising flute melody, and a perfect soul sample for the memorable chorus. Jay-Z returns to his roots on this track, which is something hardcore fans have been waiting for. Jay-Z spills his brain onto the song, explaining his true feeling that he feels that he is no longer loved by the underground fans, which explains the metaphor "Aint no Love in the Heart of the City", as the "Heart of the City" is the urban areas where underground fans lie. Basically, Jay-Z speaks about how his old fans turned on him and gets emotional about it, as he reminisces about the past, all the way to the present, through his albums. Jay-Z sort of sticks it to those critics face, claiming that hes been reigning on top for the past "6 Summer". I give him lots of credits, but unfortunately for Jay-Z, the critics are correct. He is a sell-out, but at least on this track he proves that he is much more than cars and jewelry.

We continue on to "Never Change", which is another heartfelt look at Jay-Z's past. This track sort of bares a resemblance to "Regrets", from Jay-Z's debut. Jay-Z basically claims that he will never change, and sort of does a continuation from the last song. Jay-Z says that you can take him out of the ghetto, but you cant take the ghetto out of him. Jigga gets retrospective, mentioning many important moments in his past in which he has learned lessons and such. He returns to his past with lines like: "What, the streets robbed me, wasn't educated properly, Well f*ck y'all, I needed money for Atari, Was so young my big sis' still playin with Barbie, Young brother, big city, eight million stories, Old heads taught me, yung'un, walk softly, Carry a big clip, that'll get n*ggaz off me, Keep coke in coffee, keep money smellin mothy, Change is cool to cop but more important is lawyer fees" His lyricism is top-notch, and the soul samples and soft-oriented beat fit perfectly with the lyricism. But the track is not a classic due to the fact that it is a bit boring due to its production.

Hov' gives us one of the most heartfelt tracks of his career with the third single "Song Cry". Jay-Z opens up and shows his sensitive side about what success can do to a relationship. The chorus says it all: "I cant see it coming down my eyes / So i gotta make the song cry" We get storytelling, introspection, retrospective, and lyricism at its finest. Jay-Z's vocabulary is extended to a high degree as his complex rhyme scheme and punchlines are at its peak here. Sometimes i feel like this is an extended metaphor for his hip-hop career, but i doubt such a sell-out like Jay-Z would do something that creative (not to mention the video is clearly about a girl). Jay-Z raps about how he mistreated his former fiance, but she also mistreated him. He raps about good times and bad times with her. He claims he cheated on her, and asked for forgiveness, but she refuses to forgive, which is what most females would do. Jay-Z once again digs into his mind to pull out more regrets hes done in his life. The production is a soulful mix with background R&B vocals, haunting melodies, and beautiful piano loops. The chorus basically explains that he cant cry, so he'll let his emotions out on the music, which is very creative.

Usually, i skip right over "All I need". Its not a terribly bad track, its just some simple braggadiocio with some egotistical brag rap. The chorus and lyrics are uninspired and repetitive, not to mention the beat is kind of annoying. So basically, it has the premise to do a good song, but the production and lyrics are bad enough that its worth skipping over. But i suggest listening once.

Interestingly enough, the only guest appearance on Blueprint comes in track 12. This is unusual for a Jay-Z CD since everything after his debut that he has put out has been loaded with useless and uninspired guest appearances to brag and stuff. Of course, since Jay-Z decided to switch up the vibe with this album, he decides to include the illest lyricist, who also happens to be a commercial success, that being Eminem. Great choice for Jay-Z in my personal opinion, because Eminem is truly somebody who can make The Blueprint a stand-out album. Not only did Eminem rap two lyrical masterpiece verses in "Renegade", but he also produced it. A little known fact is that this track was originally an underground collaboration between Eminem and Royce da 5'9, but Eminem erased Royce's lyrics and modified parts and decided to give it to Jay-Z for the money that he was offering.

What can i say? The Blueprint is worth buying for this song alone. As Nas said on his diss track, Eminem did indeed outmatch Jay-Z lyrically and flow-wise on this track, as Jay-Z sounds extremely average compared to Eminem's superior verses, which is surprising for a lot of hip-hop heads including myself. Throughout the song, Jay-Z tries his absolute best to keep up with Slim Shady, but remains far behind lyrically, which shows how badly Jigga has fallen off. The subject matter on this track deals with the fact that the press and critics always bite into Eminem and Jay-Z (more on Em than Jay), and they explain that they aren't there to cause problems, but to just make music and tell about their childhood, which is something Jigga explores a lot on The Blueprint. Jay-Z brings us back to the Reasonable Doubt days of introspective lyricism, and Eminem brings his humorous punchlines to the table. Eminem's use of flow, delivery, wordplay, metaphors, similes, and vocabulary is intense, and could possibly be the best verse of his career, or at least a candidate. He also utilyzes a multi-syllable flow. As for the production, its very dark, atmospheric and saddening, with creepy violins, pianos, and drums, fitting perfectly for the feel of the song. Definetely, a classic, and the best song on the entire album.

The Blueprint ends with a look back at Jigga's Reasonable Doubt days. This is quite possibly Jay-Z's most introspective and honest track on this album. The production is soulful and deep, with some unique synthesized keyboard, piano, and background vocals, along with some drum loops and taps. Jay-Z retrospects and takes us back to his childhood, giving us his view of growing up without a father, becoming a better emcee, and eventually getting signed and starting a successful record label. Jay-Z is at his most honest on this track, with a great lyrical display as he mixes simplistic and complicated lyricism, but the story behind the words is what matters. With lines like: "Hootie babysitted, changed my diapers, Gil introduced me to the game that changed my life up, East Trenton grew me, had me skippin school, Valencia's boyfriend Vovo had me makin moves, Momma raised me, pop I miss you, God help me forgive him I got some issues" The track sort of reminds me of "Can I Live" from his debut. By waiting a few seconds after this track, we get to "Breathe Easy (Lyrical Exercise)", the first of two bonus tracks.

The production is excellent, with a nice high-key piano loop and double slam drum loop. Jay-Z goes on to spit a bunch of bars in succession, sort of like a freestyle. His lyrics are top-notch, as Jay-Z showcases his breathing techniques and his skills as a rhyme-spitter. We have a mix of battle rhymes and egotistical braggadiocio, but its forgivable here, specially with lines like: "Y'all ain't ready to workout with the boy, your flow is brain on drugs, Mines is rap on steroids".

"Girls Girls Girls Remix" follows, and its a terrible remix, at least in my opinion. Many people like this remix more than the original, but thats not the case in my opinion. The production is poorer, and the lyricism is worse in my opinion. You might as well push the stop button now.


Personally, I think that The Blueprint is an excellent album. Jay-Z attempted to return to his roots and succeeded, to a certain extent. Some poor production and the addition of commercial clubbish tracks ruins a complete return, but that doesn't mean that The Blueprint is a bad album, because it is not whatsover. In fact, Jay-Z gives us a handful of new classics, which is something that Jay-Z hasn't offered since Reasonable Doubt. However, this album is indeed overrated, and it does not deserve no 5 mics like the source gave it, but it is a humongous improvement over his past 4 albums.

4 Stars









Recommended: Yes