What's good, my fellow Trufe-seekers? I realize that this post is my first following another long hiatus from the blog world, and in that absence I have missed a lot of great, albeit became cliché in a matter of seconds, blogging opportunities. The most obvious of course being the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, which was the most entertaining awards show I'd seen in a while. From the overly talked about Kanye West-Taylor Swift incident to Lil' Mama invading Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' performance of "Empire State of Mind, to the bizarreness that is Lady GaGa to the incomparable beauty and grace that is Beyoncé, the '09 VMAs will stand out as one of the wildest in history. But fuck the celebrity scandal and the rest of the easy targets that most bloggers yap about, I actually blog to applaud celebrities for their efforts, with the exception of Soulja Boy Tell 'Em and Keri Hilson, but hey, they had it coming. So, I had the opportunity to listen to Jay-Z's latest album, The Blueprint 3, the third album of the Blueprint Trilogy and I must say, it does not disappoint by any stretch of imagination. Going back to my December 13, 2008 post, which previewed The Blueprint 3 based on the reviews of the tracks "Brooklyn (Go Hard)", "Jockin' Jay-Z (Dope Boy Fresh)", and arguably the hottest track of 2008, "Swagga Like Us" (none of which were on The Blueprint 3), I apparently had low expectations for The Blueprint 3. As it turns out, the three aforementioned appeared to be nothing more than refresher tracks for Hov to warm up the lyricism, seeing as how his lyrics on EVERY track on The Blueprint 3 are reminiscent of Jay-Z of the '90s. That's not saying that you'll hear the same Jay-Z from the Reasonable Doubt days, but it seems as if Hov has FINALLY shaken off the lyrical cobwebs he accumulated during his brief retirement, spitting lyrics such as "shorty like 'Pac, me, Big Poppa/ she screamin' 'hit 'em up', I'm screamin', 'who shot ya'" on the track "Venus Vs. Mars" (which is arguably the most creative, most lyrically complex and possibly the best track on the album), as well as "Please don't bow in my presence/ how am I a legend?/ I just got ten #1 albums, maybe now eleven/ more hits than a Now! 11/ that is no reason to treat me like I'm somehow from out of Heaven" on the track "Thank You". Jay-Z appears to be trying the most complex lyrics he's delivered in recent years, and I assume it's leaving fans of lyrics (i.e. writers who also emcee, such as myself) very pleased for the first time since The Black Album.
On to the production. Hov, as always, employs beats from the top producers in the game such as Timbaland ("Off That", "Venus vs. Mars", "Reminder"), Swizz Beats ("On To The Next One"), The Neptunes ("So Ambitious"), and most notably Kanye West ("What We Talkin Bout", "Thank You", "Run This Town", "A Star Is Born", "Already Home", "Hate" which also features Kanye and "Young Forever"). Chicago producer No I.D. as usual, frequently collaborates with Kanye on the album, being listed in the credits as the fellow producer for every track Kanye receives credit for, with the exceptions of "Hate" and "Young Forever". No I.D. also produced "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" by himself, which proves his worthiness of being placed in the A-list of producers that always provide half the incredibleness of a Jay-Z album. The combination of talented producers creates the unique sound that always separates a Jay-Z album from the rest of rap's albums. The album still finds the time to sound like one album, as opposed to an album sounding differently every track due to so many different producers, which is the norm for today's mainstream rap. Lastly, and possibly most importantly, is how, if at all, the album flows. This is a trait that's obviously overlooked by most of today's mainstream rappers, but Jay is not most of today's mainstream rappers, which is why The Blueprint 3 does just that. Every track on the album has a point, which sometimes is the point for consecutive tracks. "On To The Next One" and "Off That" both focus on how Hov is focused on what he's about to do in contrast to what he's already done, "Run This Town" and "Empire State of Mind" both address New York and, the tracks "Hate", "Reminder", and "So Ambitious" all focus on how people still hate on Jay even though he's apparently done all there is to do in rap, and how their slander only fuels him. This formula keeps the album flowing smoothly without sounding repetitive.
Overall, I agree with most of the critic reviews. While The Blueprint 3 is not perfect, it is still a much needed breath of fresh air for the mainstream rap industry. There are a few minor kinks that could've been worked out to make this a perfect album much like the first Blueprint, such as a definite conjunction between the aforementioned tracks that have the same premise, a la The-Dream, and I personally dislike when an album ends on a downer track like "Young Forever", but I'll save those, and more secrets for my album.
~Tha Trufe
