Jay-Z: “BluePrint 3″ (Album Review)
In all honesty, this is probably the BEST review you're going to see online for this album...
I’m not the biggest Jay-Z fan, but you’d have to be an idiot to not realize whenever he puts out great music. He’s been able to accomplish this feat consistently over well over 10 years, which is essentially unheard of.
Other artsts have put out great music over that time span as well, but not as consistently. Eminem had a four-year layover. Dr. Dre needs at least 7 in-between albums. LL Cool J puts out music, but if it’s exactly “GOOD” is the issue to focus on there. So BluePrint 3 leaked about a week or so ago, and mostly everyone has heard it enough to garner their own opinion. Here’s mine.
NOTE: …Keep in mind that an album review is basically a GLORIFIED opinion in the first place before you leave comments…
The Good: It’s Jigga. If that didn’t win you over (and it shouldn’t have. If it did, maybe you should consider becoming less biased), then you could look at the fact that Jay still has his rhyme schemes (and more), and that his punchlines are as subtly vicious as ever. It’s all too easy to get lost in the way he says things and miss what he said completely. That’s always been a Jay-Z trait though, so it’s good to see that back into effect.
The production is eclectic at best, ranging from No I.D. to Timbaland to Kanye West. Each song adds a different feel to the album, which I personally thought kept the album fresh until the very end, where it as a couple of missteps.
There are a lot of cameos on this LP, but most of them fit perfectly into the mix of things. Drake, Timbaland, Kanye, Mr. Hudson, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, J. Cole… they all are present, but yet you never feel the feel that it’s NOT a Jay-Z album.
Sidenote: That’s something that Ludacris has MASTERED. Go and check his old albums, he always has several guest artists, but somehow manages to make sure you know it’s his. Not an easy task to accomplish, but Jay did well on that aspect.
The Bad: There are a few things a little off about this album. First of all, there were a couple of songs that just didn’t need to go on the album. “Hate” seems like it belonged on a mixtape instead of an album (although Kanye’s verse is growing on me. I like the lasers part, haha). “On To The Next One” has a garbage hook if I’ve ever heard it, but admittedly…the song’s growing on me. And the outro song “Forever Young” seems completely out of place as well. It completely clashes with the eclectic vibe of the album.
It’s an accomplishment if somehow you made a song that clashes with an ECLECTIC vibe of an album. Thank you, Mr. Hudson.
Jay-Z even addresses the "Camel" comparisons... How's that for a smoking hot line? Get it? Camel? Smoking? Camel cigarettes? Ha!
Secondly, even though 98 percent of the cameos fit well…there’s still a LOT of cameos on this album. If it was any other album, this wouldn’t be a problem…
But this album is named “The BluePrint 3” which means it automatically has a higher standard of singularity that most Jay-Z fans expected him to come through with. However, instead of going most of it solo, he brought guests. A lot of guests.
I don’t mind it too much, but it is something that somewhat diminishes the value of the “BluePrint” label he’s put so much work into. BUT that fact itself is MINOR if you consider that most of the people he worked with on the album (minus Alicia Keys, Mr. Hudson and J. Cole) he’s had huge success with in the past.
So in light of that, maybe it shouldn’t be as big of a deal for people as it is.
The “Death” of Autotune?: The biggest deal to me is that he had a song called “Death Of Autotune” and then enlisted Drake, Kanye West, Mr. Hudson, and Kid CuDi for guest slots on the album…all of who are HEAVY Autotune users. At least they kept the effect off of the album…
Bottom Line: It’s Jay-Z, so there’s definitely a quality in everything he does. Sometimes everyone can’t appreciate it, but Jay has always been the one to go against the grain and try new things. I think that this album (like the other BluePrints) will garner more steam over time.
However you want to dissect the album, the wordplay is there, the cameos fit, and barring a few songs being a complete waste of time on the album, most of the album flows together pretty well.
It could be worse, but it’s not. It also could be better…but not by much.
But as I’ve said, this is just a glorified opinion. You owe it TO yourself to go and listen to it FOR yourself. Formulate your own opinion, because that’s really what intelligent hip-hop is about…
—–> Final Rating: 4/5 <—–
My Favorites:
- “A Star Is Born” feat. J. Cole
- “Already Home” feat. Kid Cudi
- “Real As It Gets” feat. Young Jeezy
- “Off That” feat. Drake and Timbaland
- “So Ambitious” feat. Pharrell
