Jay-Z Album: “Blueprint Collector's Edition”

Despite all that Jay-Z has accomplished in terms of commercial

success, street credibiity and record sales...most hip hop heads

are reluctant to call him the best in the game.

Why?

Well, for two reasons:

1) No matter how good Vol 1, 2, 3 and the Dynasty were, they

never reached the classic level of Reasonable Doubt.

2) The material on those four albums seemed too geared toward the

MTV crowd than the underground peoples.

With album #6...the rap game has officially been put on lock.

The Blueprint doesn't boast the normal list of big name producers. It isn't filled with party joints and commercial

hits (besides H to the Izzo). It isn't a promotion for Jigga's

Rockafella family. Guest spots are limited.

It is JAY-Z, pure and simple. The result is his best album since Reasonable Doubt, hands down.

Surprisingly, most of the songs on this album are slow and full

of emotionally introspective lyrics (similar to some of his past

work like Regrets, You Must Love Me and This Can't Be Life.)

And of course, there is the outstanding diss track Takeover and

Eminem drops in for a couple verses on Renegade.

My favorite track is Song Cry, where Jigga recounts mistakes that

led to him losing the love of his life.

In summary, Jay Z can no longer be considered just a consistent

performer with one classic album.

It's time that even the underground fans start recognizing the

king.

Listen up Jay-Z fans....the only reason this CD got 4 stars if because no other Jay-Z cd will come close to reasonable doubt. Another reason is the obvious samples...but only Jigga could get away with sampling a Doors song and make it sound good. Only 2 collaborations on the whole CD also show that Jay-Z is self reliant and has some major staying power....however, the best track on the CD might be the huge collaboration on track 4 titled "Girls, Girls, Girls" in which Q-Tip, Slick Rick, and Biz Markie take turns spitting the chorus. The collaboration on track 12 with Eminem was different...a less flossy Jay-Z. I gave this CD 4 stars but if I could give it 4 and half I would. Next to Reasonable Doubt, this is some of Jigga man's best work. A must buy.

Jay-Z's Blueprint is a brilliant album. Everything just clicks right on this CD. The production is hot, the lyrics are original and thoughtprovoking, and the guest appearances are few. Of course, the stand out song on the album is "Renegades" which features Eminem. This song could be HUGE if released as a single and could really push this albums record sales up a lot. The album has fun party songs like "Girls, Girls, Girls" and the now overplayed "H.O.V.A.", but also gets serious on tracks like "Blueprint" and "Song Cry". If you like Jay-Z you will love this CD. I dont know if its his best ever, but its certainly his best in the past 3 years. Cop this album.

Jay-Z's Blueprint to Hip-Hop has positioned himself as the "King Of New York", this album to taken him one HUGE step further towards greatness. Starting off with the "Slick-Rick" influenced track, "The Ruler's Back" where Jay-Z tells the world why he is the best MC today and why nobody else comes close. It then follows up which started the greatest Hip-Hop fued, since Biggie and Pac, but without all the drama and violence, they kept it strictly on wax. "Takeover" takes a direct stab at Queensbridge's "Nas" and "Mobb Deep". "Izzo (Hova)" was takes Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" single to a new plato, following his lust for women in the single "Girls, Girls, Girls" where "Q-Tip", "Bizmarkie" and "Slick Rick" show a help-in-hand. As far as the production work goes, almost flawless as "Just Blaze" shows up for "U Don't Know", "Timbaland" shows up for "Hola' Hovito" and Kanye West shows up "Heart Of The City" and also "Eminem" shows up "Renegade" among others. The Jigga Man finishes off the album with the track "Blueprint (Momma Loves Me)" where Mr. S. Carter has to get somethings off his chest. Clearly Jay-Z's finest, scratch that Hip-Hop's finest.

When Jay-Z dropped "The Blueprint", needless to say, he cemented his spot as the top MC on the East Coast with this classic and proved that he was the ROC in physical form. And you'd be looking stupid if you doubted the fact. The production is probably the most memorable aspect of the album, since this had more soul and rock influences than any Jay-Z album in the past, courtesy of Jus Blaze, Timberland, and more notably, Kanye West. Lyrically, he's almost up there with "Reasonable Doubt" as he rips through his NYC affiliates Mobb Deep ("You are not deep/I hold triggers to crews/you little f*cks/I got money stacks bigger than you/when I was sellin' weight/back in '88/you was a ballerina/I got the pictures, I seen ya") and Nas ("went from Nasty Nas to Esco's trash/had a spark when you started, but now you just garbage") on the classic dis track, "Takeover". There's plenty of radio-friendly tracks, but Hov really shines on the serious tracks such as the tale of jealousy "Heart Of The City", "Songcry", and the somber story of his life up to this point, "Blueprint". Don't sleep on one of Hip-Hop's most recent classics, cop this ASAP. 1