Disco de Jay-Z: “The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse”

...not as bad as people are making it out to be. Nowhere near as good as his last though.

Taking into account all of Jay-Z's previous efforts, this double album was a double disappointment. He needs to come up with a new formula...he's just become content with finding different ways to tell the same old stories over sampled beats. Originality is lacking. Now I see why it's 2 for the price of 1.

Jay-Z has been the center of criticism in the hip hop world ever since Volume 2: Hard Knock Life dropped nearly 5 years ago. Since then, Jay has been very inconsistent in the albums he's put out. Volume 3 blew up when Big Pimpin hit the airwaves, but it was critically panned. The Dynasty followed with some very deep songs, but way too much filler. Then came The Blueprint. An album so soulfully and beautifully produced that it was declared by many a hip hop classic. However, people soon realized that although it was the best album Jay had put out since Volume 1, it was by far his weakest lyrical showing. So now comes the Blueprint 2, an ambitious double CD album that hushes the talk about Jay falling off lyrically, yet leaves him wide open for some criticism once again.

The album starts off with A Dream, an excellent intro where Jay dreams about talking to BIG. Jay rhymes excellent, and Faith Evans sings a beautiful hook. From there fans are left to be confused. Hovi Baby is one of the best lyrical songs on the album, but Jay seems to have trouble catching a very complex Just Blaze beat. However, Jay takes full advantage of Dr. Dre's best beat in 2 years on the The Watcher Pt. 2. Jay comes off nice, and Rakim is nothing short of amazing here. But the problem with the rest of the first disc is how blatantly lazy it seems. You have the fantastic Poppin Tags mixed with the less than stellar '03 Bonnie and Clyde. There are no unbearable songs but with so much riding on this album, one would think that Jay would put forth a little more effort.

When the listener pops in the second disc, they will find the incredible lyrical skill that Shawn Carter possesses. Guns & Roses, a collabo between Jay and Lenny Kravitz, turns out to be an excellent song although Jay's verses could have been a little better. The highlight of the album comes with Meet the Parents. Jay one-ups many of Nas's great storytelling tracks with this phenomenal song. Speaking of Nas, he adresses him on the song Blueprint 2, where a haunting beat is complemented by some nice shots at his arch rival. Too bad he couldn't have done something about the hook. Other excellent tracks include the MOP assisted U Don't Know 2, Some How Some Way, Some People Hate, and A Ballad For The Fallen Soldier.

In the end, this album answers any doubts as to whether or not Jay could make a good double album. In many ways, this is a better all around album than the Blueprint with a few filler songs. Is this better than Reasonable Doubt? Not even close. Is it better than anything Jay has released since then? That is left for a heated debate.

Not since prog rock has a genre succumbed to such self-indulgence as hip-hop. Remember, this most resilient and evolutionary of musics, that started out from the streets of the South Bronx and clambered all the way to arrive at the pampered and pedicured dandy that presented the recent MTV Europe Awards, has tripped on its ego many times. This grossly over-inflated double album stands alongside the greatest excesses of ego ever committed to wax, a close cousin of flawed giants like 2Pac's 'All Eyez On Me' and Wu-Tang's 'Wu-Tang Forever'.

If the levels of US media expectation that preceded Jay-Z's 'The Blueprint' album at that time seemed bizarre to a European audience that knew him as the MC responsible for that 'Annie' abomination, now we're all party to the hype. Jay-Z was catapulted to levels of global fame (and self-congratulation) that only Eminem amongst his contemporaries can hold a torch to. But, 'The Blueprint' succeeded in keeping its focus tight, concentrating on New York and the sound that Jay-Z comes from. It's sequel attempts to prove the master can turn his hand to every style from stalking West Coast Dre beats ('The Watcher 2') to skittering Dirty South rhythms ('Poppin Tags').

It's a mistake. As is the absolute failure of this album to exercise any kind of process of selection. Lucky, then, that Jay-Z is working with some of the most talented producers in hip-hop and still getting grade-A beats from most of them. Timbaland once said that he was reserving the best of his work for a handful of artists, amongst them Jay-Z. On the evidence of his contributions to this album, the statement stands true. Both 'The Bounce' and 'What They Gonna Do' outshine almost every hip-hop production that the great man has put his name to (the majority of the recent Missy album included) since 'Hola Hovito'. Dre's here as well and Kayne West, Heavy D, Just Blaze and those Neptunes fellas. On the mic, appearances by Dre, Rakim and M.O.P. serve only to highlight the shortcomings of their host's monotone delivery.

But things get off to a terrible start with the saccharine soundtrack portentousness of 'A Dream', which, perhaps in deference to the master that Jay-Z dared suggest had been surpassed, gives pole position to a posthumous performance from Biggie Smalls. Then there's 'Hovi Baby', as daft as the name suggests, with synths that would make Jean Michel Jarre hang his head in shame. Too often the production is tacky with synths dominating where Kayne West's triumph on 'The Blueprint' was to reintroduce the organic euphoria of classic soul. This album bathes in the sort of studio polish that might be expected from a 40-year-old veteran grown aesthetically numb (just listen to the Sergio Leone-sampling title track on which Jay-Z falls painfully short of rising to the occasion).

But the weird thing is, as you plough on through this huge album, you discover that every other track is a winner. There's a good album in here crying to be let out. But, between that album and us, is '03 Bonnie And Clyde', 'Meet The Parents', 'As One', 'Ballad For The Fallen Solider' and, well, you get the picture. Clearly Jay-Z now works amidst such a huge circle of talent and congratulation that he's lost all ability to make the judgements needed to deliver that concise statement. That the supremely innovative minimal groove of 'The Bounce' can sit alongside the biliously self-aggrandising 'My Way' is just plain odd. Perhaps Jay-Z should have stuck more closely to the blueprint that he had established.

I have to be honest...I am a Jay-Z fan. I generally support and love his material. But in these hard economic times it is down right criminal to put out a double CD filled with filler and charge your fans for it. Jay as a fan I'm telling you...man that's not right...that' not right.

For those of you who want to support an artist who has earned his keep please check out 2 Pac's Better Dayz (R.I.P.).It's a nice piece of work.

Shame on you Jigga...you owe me $7 bucks...I got $6 back when I sold this Cd back to the store.