The Blueprint - Jay-Z

After the sophomore release of Reasonable Doubt, Jay-Z promised much to hip hop fans everywhere, he showed that even with minimalist production, his introspective lyrics and inspired path of thought were qualities which promoted him to a very high emcee status indeed. The release of the Blueprint is Jay-Z trying to return to his roots, the question is does he succeed? Surprisingly, on the Blueprint, Jay-Z decides to take a soulful approach to the Blueprint; with tracks such as Never Change and Song Cry the artist shows that despite the fact that producers have given him unfamiliar beats, his flow can ride any beat. The result is an album, which is honest, ...  Read the complete review

In theory, at least, 'The Blueprint' should be rubbish..... I mean how many artists make their most exciting and consistent album this far into their career? The answer is not very many. However, Jay-Z has managed to forge something of a hip-pop masterpiece, making 'The Blueprint' - if not highly innovative - very enjoyable. Many hip-hop albums recently have been trying to push the genre into the future, by putting weird spins on the sound. Outkast took the sounds of Prince and George Clinton, updated for the year 2030, and made one of the best albums of last year. On the more underground side, this year has seen albums from the likes of Cannibal ...  Read the complete review

Jigga couldn't wait. With a hot new album that was being widely bootlegged by street vendors and on the internet, Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter took a rare step for a rap artist -- he pushed UP an album release date. Usually when drop dates are changed they are inexplicably pushed back either for weeks or for months; and in some ill-fated cases (such as Cormega's "Testament") they never come out at all. Jay's decision undoubtedly pleased millions of his fans, and like them I eagerly waited for the stroke of midnight on September 11th to purchase his newest magnum opus - a tome he titled "The Blueprint" to show us the architecture of his ...  Read the complete review

Here I'll attempt to talk you through the latest offering from Sean Carter aka Jay-Z aka Jigga aka Jay Hova 1: The Ruler’s Back: This is a melodic 70’s soul/funk driven track in which the “Jigga man” flosses about.... well ... being the jigga man! Smooth Bongo drum, horn & string arrangements makes for a wicked retro 70’s style cut that rolls along nicely with a teasing bassline. 2: The Take-over: This is one of those hip-hop dis tracks ala “Hit ‘em up”, in which Jay-Z takes it (lyrically) to the heads of both Nas & Prodigy (Mobb Deep). The bass line is a gritty almost rock like riff & has a percussive ...  Read the complete review

The Blueprint is Jay-Z's (real name Shawn Carter) sixth studio album released on September 11th, 2001. The album sold 426,000 in its first week despite the tragedy on its release date, it was Jay's 4th consecutive album to go straight to the top of the album charts in America, and has since gone platinum. Many people view this album as Jay's best work but few realise this album was produced in the studio within 2 weeks, while it only took Jay-Z a reported 2 days to write all the lyrics, helped by the fact the man has a photographic memory and doesn't need to write lyrics down, so there was bounded to be some he already had in there. An album full of ...  Read the complete review