The Blueprint

by

Jay-Z

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After 5 CDs, Jay Z is trying to say that he has "The Blueprint" to the hip hop game. If you look at what Jay Z has done in the past few years, it's hard to argue with what he has to say. "Reasonable Doubt" clearly is his best release of all time. You had classics like "Brooklyn's Finest" w/Notorious BIG, "Can't Knock The Hustle" w/Mary J Blige, "D' Evils", "Can I Live", "Dead Presidents", etc. Jay Z has always found a way to reach hip hop fans. Even on "In My Lifetime Volume 1", when fans said that he was slippin' a bit when he tried to make a CD after his friend, Notorious BIG died. He still had classics like "Where I'm From", "You Must Love Me", "Imaginary Player" and "Streets Is Watching". Since then, Jay Z has been releasing his CD's on basically a yearly basis. He released the "Streets Is Watching" soundtrack and appeared on various songs. The best being "It's Alright" w/Memphis Bleek and "Murdergram" w/DMX and Ja Rule. The multiplatinum "Volume 2: Hard Knock Life" included "Can I Get A..", the impressive title track produced by the 45 King, "Coming Of Age (Part 2)" w/Memphis Bleek, and "Money, Cash,..." w/DMX. "Volume 3: The Life And Times Of Shawn Carter" was considered to be too commercial for some folks, but he still had the classic "Do It Again" w/Beanie Sigel and Amil, "Big Pimpin'" w/UGK, "Come And Get Me" and "It's Hot". The last 3 were produced by Timbaland, as well as the Nutty Professor 2 smash, "Hey Papi" w/Memphis Bleek and Amil. On his last release, "The Dynasty: Roc La Familia", Jay Z's CD featured Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel on various songs and was fueled by The Neptunes' produced 1st single, "I Just Wanna Love You" (Give It 2 Me). On "The Blueprint" Jay Z uses Kanye West, Just Blaze, and Bink for most of the production and he mixes some of the prior formulas used on his past few CDs for his new one. After one listen, you can tell that Jay Z was looking for a more soulful sound on this CD. This may be a disappointment to fans of Jay Z's hardcore sound. You won't find that on many songs on this CD. It seems like Jay Z is more relaxed and feels like he is #1 in the rap game and he can resort to that sound when need be. Clearly the best track on the CD is the Just Blaze produced, "You Don't Know". This song is one of the best tracks that Jay Z has ever made. Just Blaze created a great track and Jay Z takes it from there with his tale of hustlin'. "Renagade" with Detroit's finest, Eminem is also a nice track where the two go back and forth to the Eminem produced beat and tells how they have "Never been afraid to say what's on their mine now, any given time of day". This is a nice collaboration between the two rappers. "Girls, Girls, Girls" has Jay Z doing another thing that he does best and that is telling us stories about the ladies. He invites Q Tip, Slick Rick and the Diabolical Biz Markie to join him on the hook and the results are good. The most daring song on his CD has to be the Kanye West produced "Takeover" where he disses 2 of the best rappers out now, Prodigy of Mobb Deep and Nas. He dedicates a whole verse to each rapper. This beef apparently started with Nas apparently dissin' Memphis Bleek. Now it has escalated into Jay Z dissin' Prodigy and Nas for words they have said. This could get ugly eventually but I hope that everyone will keep this one on the microphone and in the studo and not out in the streets. Other highlights on this CD include "Song Cry", "Blueprint" (Momma Loves Me) which will remind folks of Jay Z's "Where Have You Been" and Beanie Sigel's "Still Got Love For You", "All I Need" and the bonus track on the end of "Blueprint". Overall, Jay Z fans will be pleased. This is another installment for Jay Z. Can he continue his run and stay on top? That remains to be seen.

Although IZZO, Renegade, and a few other tracks are all very good, the album as a whole is weak. It is, as the fast few Jay-Z albums have been, a album with a few good tracks and alot of filler tracks. Jay's first 3 albums, up to Volume 2, were generally solid. They were consistant and solid ablums, and showed that Jay still lived close to his roots. However, Blueprint, is inconsistant and weak, and represents a Jay-Z that has left the streets, but is still trying to rap about them. Leaving the streets is fine - in my opinion - as long as you don't try to pretend that you're still living ghetto. On this record, Jay is pretending.