Alright, so were finally going to get this shit started. I've dabbled into the career of Shawn Carter several times over the timespan of this blog, but shockingly enough, his debut has never graced the cover of Hip-Hopinionated. Why is this such a surprise? Well, its Jay-Z. He's undoubtably one of the most famous figures in all of music and frequently referred to as one of the best to ever pick up a mic. That's a reasonable claim too; he's certainly in my top ten, regardless of how uninspired he sounds nowadays. But even beyond hip hop, Jay has become a larger than life figure by becoming CEO of Def Jam, creating his own clothing brand, Rocawear, owning a portion of the Brooklyn Nets, and yes, marrying Beyonce.
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Talk to your average hip hop fan over an extended time period and you'll get the sense that Reasonable Doubt is the greatest album ever recorded. For those unfamiliar, that's the title of Shawn Carter's debut album. With obvious exceptions, most artists never recapture the glory achieved on their first effort. Whether it be the dreaded sophomore slum, or disappointing third, fans gradually lose interest with rappers they once claimed to love. That's not the case for Jay Z. The before mentioned debut was well received, critically and commercially, but he was still just a rapper. Think of him as more of a current day Kendrick Lamar. One three part series and collaborative effort later and we find ourselves in 2001. The media may not have realized, but Jays musical output was obviously on the decline. Someone must have got the message, though. Jay released one of the most famous and admired albums in our genres history.
I just love when these intros write themselves. Jay-Z's sixth studio albums was surrounded by hard hitting story lines, media attention, and slight controversy. It's legacy has been lifted to the status of a magical unicorn, but lets focus on what was going on during its release: Jigga vs. Nas. The feud is widely regarded as the greatest hip hop beef on wax, or at least the one with the most attention. There's no getting around Nas, as his presence looms over Jay throughout the album. "The Takeover" held the fans over, but eventually led to Jay's career being "ethered". Sure, an entire new verb had been added to he dictionary at his cost, but so what? After inviting Eminem to the studio, (an act I'm sure he regrets) he was "renegaded". There's another one. Despite creating two new words in his spite" "The Blueprint" is considered a classic album, right up there with his debut. It was released on September 11, 2001. I hoped you've realized my stubborn habit of starting artist discographies from the start. The fact that I still haven't reviewed Reasonable Doubt is simply mind blowing, but that's not the point. The reason I chose to jump over five albums is to celebrate the album's twelve year anniversary. Using the word "celebrate" and September 11 seems rather terrible, but something was telling me to review this project today. I'd appreciate if you don't impugn my decision. Most hip hop fans remember this album and the date very well and hold this album in a different category. I can just imagine picking up a new album from one of my favorite artist, only to hear word of the events in New York. I have no crazy anecdote to help you understand, but I'm sure you see where I'm going. It's crazy to think about the music while knowing of the world's havoc, but that's exactly what happened. If only for a sense of normalcy, fans still picked up plenty of copies, making The Blueprint one of his most commercially successful albums to date. Critics weren't sitting around either. They made sure the world knew they still had a constant: Jay Z makes good music. Like I said, I could write a damn book filled with the details of this album without getting redundant. But why do that when you can listen to the crowning achievement of hip hops biggest star? Good question... 1. The Ruler's Back Damn, I almost thought I threw in my Slick Rick disc. That's not the case, but I don't know how well I take from Jay completely jacking Rick's moniker and song title. I promised myself I wouldn't get worked up over these frivolous side stories, but what can I say. I'm a nitpicker. Anyways, the beat drops and you get an overwhelming feeling of cinematography. I can clearly see Jay rolling down the streets of New York during the opening credits of said movie. Even more shockingly, he actually thanks us for our purchase! Call me crazy, but that may be the first time I've heard an artist be appreciative to the people spending money on their shit. Very nice way to kick things off. 2. The Takeover I'm going to guess you've heard this once or twice, but I've been wrong before. This was Jay going all out against Nas and Mobb Deep, throwing the first haymaker of the feud. Loyal fans of Mr. Carter will tell you otherwise, but this isn't even touching "Ether". Worth a listen, but let's be realistic for a minute. Jay talks shit for nearly five minutes, throwing in more than a few quotables. The instrumental is interesting, a rarity among diss track, as it samples The Doors. I never got the feeling of a knockout punch, but this is still fine. 3. Izzo (H.O.V.A.) Kanye may have lost his fucking mind, but even he had to start somewhere. I'm sure you've heard of his talent behind the boards, but he sounds even better on The Blueprint. The soul samples he eventually became known for are used brilliantly here. Anyways, this was a pretty damn humongous single that basically guaranteed the album would go platinum. I'm not used to complementing Hov's commercial success, but this shit is still great. 4. Girls, Girls, Girls (Feat. Q-Tip, Slick Rick, & Biz Markie) Well I'll be damned, here's the Slick Rick I've been looking for this whole time.As cheesy as the concept sounds, it's actually performed nicely. The more and more I listen to this song, the more it grows on me, but I'm still disappointing. I mean look at that fucking guest list. You've got all the talent in the world and you relegate each feature to the hook. Sure, it was entertaining, but this could have been so much more. This just could have been so much more win (for lack of a better term) for everyone involved. At least we got an update on Biz Markie. 5. Jigga That Nigga Another one of Jays famous songs that got tons of commercial success. Unlike everything else we've heard to this point, this track fucking blows. It's mind boggling to think a radio station settled for this particular song when nearly every song in the man's catalog sounds better. I shouldn't be surprised, though. It's not like the radio sucking is some new thing. I just don't understand why it has to be that way. *Sigh* 6. U Don't Know Although Kanye was the biggest contributor in the production area, Just Blaze gives over his instrumental to our host. That ended up being one of the best moves of his career, as I would still say this is the most underrated Hov song ever recorded. Hey radio station, this would have been a nice one to play instead of it's predecessor. Just throwing it out there. The beat's great, but Mr. Carter's performance is just as good. I really hope he pumps out something like this again in his lifetime. The more I've listened, the more I've realized how terrible Magna Carta...Holy Grail sounded. 7. Hola Hovito Another case of a star producer, as Timbaland steps onto the scene. Jay's best songs have always been produced by Timbo, a statement that still holds true today. Something about them just clicks. It's a damn shame that this song doesn't fall under that category. Timbo's beat is still incredible, but these are some of the worst lyrics I've ever heard from Jay. There was no commercial appeal either, so I'm dumbfounded as to why this made the final cut. Oh well, next! 8. Heart Of The City (Ain't No Love) One of my favorite Jay Z songs ever. The soul samples on here are unmatched and I still consider this to be Kanye's finest work. I gravitated towards this instantly and was more than satisfied when it popped up on a Chrystler commercial. Along with being catchy as fuck, Jay also drops some of his most famous and quotable lines. Can't you just imagine bumping this while driving through New York City. You meet up with Jay Z, find Aesop Rock walking his cat and everyone starts solving mysteries. Or is that just too ridiculous? 9. Never Change I've never liked this song, but that might be because of it's sequencing. It's hard to follow such a great track, but I doubt I would enjoy this even by itself. I'm usually a fan of 50s' samples, but the singing never clicked for me. Jay is interesting enough, but it's not like I'll ever want to hear this again. 10. Song Cry For an album with such praise and media hype, it's odd that most of the album's production is fairly reserved. Obviously I'm a fan but I never though it would catch up with the general public. It's rare to find an album that you can get hyped to and fall asleep in a recliner to at the same time. In this case, it's actually Just Blaze behind the boards again, giving a performance that's almost as good as his last. Jay sounds much better than he did on the last song, and it's an overall win for the entire hip hop community. I don't remember this track being a standout, but it's always weird to see which songs hold up best. 11. All I Need Conveniently enough, here's another case where a song sounds completely different than the last time I listened. Unfortunately, I enjoyed this track the first couple of times, but something went awry. It's still not awful, but I was just expecting more. We're not talking "Jigga That Nigga", though. That's a shit stain on Jay's entire career. 12. Renagade (Feat. Eminem) The title is purposely spelled wrong, but that doesn't matter. If you chose to listen to this song, you'll witness the greatest load of ass fucking every recorded in one studio. I know it's the popular opinion to slam Jay on here, but I can't deny that Em absoluted ended his entire career within two verses. If you can look past all that, the song is still pretty damn good. The original version featured verses from Royce Da 5'9" serving in Jay's spot. I don't want to get too down on our host, but that version just sounds so much fucking better. It's a crime that no one's ever hear this song the way it was originally intended. Oh well, still one of the best songs on the album. 13. Blueprint (Momma Loves Me) Jay closes the show with a fairly emotional song, but I wasn't all that interested. That's no knock against the song, but I'm ready to go crazy after hearing that last one. Truthfully, this was a good way to end the album and I'm sure most of you'll enjoy it during the first listen. There's a twenty-five second silence at the end, leading into another song 'Breathe Easy", which is the epitome of average. After that, there's yet another hidden track (the song length gave all this away) titled "Girls, Girls, Girls, (Part 2)" I'll just say that there's a reason this track didn't make the full album. I'm still not sure why Jay didn't just throw these on as bonus tracks. Only The Roots are allowed to pull this shit. Rating: 4/5 Is The Blueprint on the same level as Reasonable Doubt? Not quite. I hate to get hung up on artist failing to match the success of their previous work, but sometimes it can't be denied. For what it's worth, this album is easily the second best effort from Jay Z and deserves an immediate purchase. A few of the songs don't hold up very well, but when this shit clicks, my God we get something special. I still find it odd that this album succeeded despite the mellow production. I've never heard a mainstream hip hop album with such soul influences. They're not just thrown in there for the hell of it either. Shawn Carter's all star lineup of producers knew what they were doing, creating a brilliantly crafted Soul composition with a contemporary feel. The big winner ends up being Kanye West, though. These are some of the finest beats he ever made and fans realized. Indirectly, Jay led the way for one of the most consistent and entertaining career we've ever seen. Hov has more than a couple missteps throughout the album, it his performance can still be considered a success. He was still spitting with the fire and desire, all while playing the cool character we've grown to love. It's unfortunate that i was released the same date as America's biggest tragedy, but The Blueprint has left a legacy of it's own. Shawn's shown glimpses, but this is his last truly exceptional piece of art. Classics week is over and now its time to start reviewing shit, or ugh new released again. I known I'm a little bit late on this album but oh well. I'm sure I was having a better time listening to Big Daddy Kane. Anyways, Jay Z's twelfth studio album, entitled Magna Carta... Holy Grail, was one of the most highly anticipated released of the year. On top of that, it went through one of the most bizarre promotions in recent memory, being given away for free to all Samsung Galaxy users. Not unlike his buddy Kanye West, no singles were released prior to the release and no hints were given to how the album would sound. This was even more mysterious than Yeezus, in the sense that Kanye had performed a few of the songs live. Magna Carta, on the other hand, only had small song clips shown on commercials and releasing some lyrics. Seriously, how the fuck is that supposed to help anyone. Not that any of that would hurt his album sells, the album went platinum the very millisecond it was released. (That's not even some insane exaggeration, Samsung bought a million copies prior to the release) So the album was already more successful than Yeezus, which sold around ten copies after the first week.
With so much Kanye up in the first paragraph, it worth noting that this is the first album since Vol. 3 to not include any fully Kanye produced tracks, although he co-produced a song on American Gangster. That's not something you can tell by listening, though. Kanye's influences are littered all over the album. Jay boasts even more than Kanye did, in the sense that that's all he ever talks about. And I mean all he fucking talks about. I'm not trying to give all that much away, but for the love of God can you at least be the slightest bit creative when you're bragging. I promise, no one cares. Whatever. The guest list is still kept fairly short, with Rick Ross, Justin Timberlake, and Frank Ocean being the only credited features. Beyonce and Nas both appear on songs but for some reason they weren't credited. If you've seen any of the the commercials you're familiar with a few of the producers, with Timbaland, Swizzbeats, Pharrell Williams all in the studio while Rick Rubin sits in the couch gasping for air. I'm a fan of everyone in that group, so I had moderately high expectations for the production. I can go on about all the bullshit surrounding the album but none of that is going to change the way people view this album. Hova has reached the point in which he can release whatever the fuck he wants and people will claim it to be brilliant. Luckily, I'm unbiased as hell towards Jay Z. I've got nothing against the guy, but I wouldn't classify myself as a Stan, although I've got all of his albums somewhere in my collection. At the end of the day, though, I'm just looking for something better than The Blueprint 3. So that means I'm not asking for very much. Continue... 1. Holy Grail Paying Jay back for his performance on "Suit & Tie", Justin Timberlakes voice is the first heard on the opener. I'm not a huge fan of Justin but he turns in a great performance here and actually outshines our host. The opening beat comes off as some weird type of love song but quickly shifts to something much more upbeat and catchy. Hovs rapping is the epitome of average. I guess it was good but I can't remember a thing he said other than the highly unnessecary swipe from Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Seriously, did that have anything to do with the topic at hand. As a whole, though, the song was fairly enjoyable but Jay Z is shockingly nonexistent on his own song. Also, if you saw any of the initial track lists, this was listed as a bonus track along with "Open Letter", which actually did appear as a bonus. The fact that they up and moved this track to the very beginning of the album gives me the feeling that this project will be horribly disjointed. 2. Picasso Baby After the first couple of minutes I was actually kind of pumped for this song, as it seemed like he was doing something different. I still like this song but repeated listens killed my feeling of Jay doing something creative. He's still talking about the same fucking thing. We all know how rich he is and the fact that he wants a Picasso in his house couldn't be more unappealing to me. The beat, though, is still pretty damn dope, courtesy of Timbaland. The instrumental actually samples quite a bit of an Adrian Young song. I can't help but think abut how much better this album would have been if Adrian got his hands on a few of these songs. Rappers need to start realizing that he's arguably the best producer in the game right now. Unfortunately, Jay keeps a tight circle and there's no way that would ever happen. Halfway through the song, Timbo changes up the beat and Jay sounds much more antagonistic for no real reason. The second half was just as good as the first and this song is ultimately enjoyable. 3. Tom Ford Expecting a new topic? Judging by the title alone you should have been warming your thumb up in order to skip this track with reckless abandon. Hov talks even more about his exponential wealth and his ability to spend it on Tom Ford clothing, while not popping molly. If it makes any difference, at least Jay can actually back up his shit talking. The man is nothing short of being rich as fuck. There's also an uncredited Beyonce that pops up in the middle to confirm that she is in fact a bad bitch. No offense but they're going to have some explaining to do to baby Blue Ivy when she growns up. They're also going to have to explain how fucking God awful this stupid ass beat is. Timbo may have produced it but this is nothing more than some shit that didnt make the final cut of Yeezus, which had some horrible beats. This was the first huge miss of the album and I'm comfortable calling this track complete trash. 4. Fuckwithmeyouknowigotit (Feat. Rick Ross) So apparently Ricky Rozay took a visit to the studio while Jays space bar was broken. The fact that this particular guest even appears on the album shows so far downhill this albums is going. I'm not trying to be judgemental, but its on record that I think Rick Ross is complete garbage. I promise that I listened to the track, though. As always, my pre-judgement was correct and Ross ruins the shit out of this song. I would have been fine if he was just relegated to the hook but he raps about twice as long as Jay does. The worst part is how much Jay dumbs down his flow. C'mon Jay, you sound like fucking Chief Keef on this joint. All is not lost, though. This instrumental is just fantastic. Rick Ross seems baffled at the pure thought of trying to keep up with the beat and Jay doesn't sound far from it. Despite my weird rambling, I don't hate this song, but that's only I because of the beat. 5. Oceans (Feat. Frank Ocean) So this song was actually recorded roughly around two years ago. If you are able to make connection, you can conclude that this was just a left over from the "No Church In The Wild" recording session. I've been making quite a bit of comparison with Yeezus so its worth noting that Frank Ocean also appeared on Kanye's album. Unlike Yeezus, though, Jay makes Frank Ocean do much more on this track. The Pharrell Williams produced instrumental is more miss than hit, as it goes for a way too epic feel, which ultimately fails. Hov and Jay both sound kind of insincere with Jay pretty much going through the motions. Not a terrible song but I'll certainly never listen to it again. 6. F.U.T.W. Timbo continues to hilight the album, as he again turns in another fantastic performance on the boards. The beat actually sounds pretty hypotonic and makes Jay Z sound really nice. Not to take anything away from Jay, though, because he really shines on this performance. I'm not try to say that fucking up the world is a groundbreaking topic, but at least we're not talking about how much money Jay has. Like most of the songs, the beat is pretty damn good but the lyrics are average at best. Now that I think about it, that's a running theme in most hip hop albums nowadays. In the world that we live in, all it really takes is some good instrumental if you want to make a high selling album. The decline of lyricism makes me want to cry, but I'll get over it. 7. Somewhereinamerica I have a hard time explaining this track, but stay with me. This instrumental is one of the most complete of the album, but the song as a whole feels very incomplete. Not just because the song is short, the whole thing feels like it is missing something. The hit boy produced track is just as catchy as his previous work, but like I said, its not a good thing when the producer is continuously out shining the actual rapper. Nothing Jay says is all that memorable other than the lines about Miley Cyrus still twerking. Not sure what he means by that but I thought it was fairly funny. 8. Crown Another track that fully focuses on the beat, although I really like this one. The whole instrumental is very interesting to me, as it was co-produced by Wondagurl, a sixteen year old female producer from Canada. Her original plan was to send her beat to Travi$ Scott in hopes that it could be used on a Pusha T song. To her surprise, Scott replied back saying that he wanted to use the instrumental for a Jay Z song. For what it is, the beat is stupidly good, but its the only thing that is interesting. When Jay comes in, this song sounds like every other damn song being played on the radio today, obviously aiming for a little bit of radio play. On that topic, while none of these other songs are any deep, they dont seem to be very radio friendly. I'm sure this will go over very well with the mainstream audience but I could give less of a fuck about this song. 9. Heaven If you're familiar with R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion", them you'll know how stupid that part of this song is. On the other hand, I actually liked this song to a degree. Timbo makes another brilliant appearence, again sampling an Adrain Young song. In an attempt to sound edgy, but not too out there, Jay talks about religion and the nature of free will. I have to praise his ability to bring all this up while not dismissing religion, which is the type of thing that alienates people. At the end of the song, you know what Jay believes in, which I'm sure was the goal of the song. This track could have been sequenced better in the context of the album, but this was still a pleasant surprise. 10. Versus Jay only sticks around for one verse, as he gets across just about half a thought. Not bad, but I just have no idea what this is doing on the album. Swizzbeats and Timbo turn in yet another good beat, only to be wasted on this short ass track. Hopefully someone will pick up this beat and use it on there mixtape, doing it a little more justice. All I really remembered from Jay is the Tribe Called Quest shout out and his laugh at the end. 11. Part II (On The Run) (Feat. Beyonce) Although not explicitly stated in the title, this is a sequel to "03 Bonnie & Clyde", which appeared on The Blueprint 2. He doesn't do it as much any more, but Jay used to make quite a bit of sequel to his popular songs, such as "Dead Presidents II", "Who You Wit II", and "Friend Or Foe 98". I can't remember the original version of the song being all that big, so I'm a little surprised to see this being revisited. I guess its cool and all to see these two saying they ride for each other, but I found this to be far too cheesy. I never liked the original, so its no surprise that I don't care for the cheesier, worse sequel. 12. Beach Is Better Here's another one of those one verse wonder, but this one is just a little but better than "Versus". Jay Z just sound so uninterested that its hard for me to get into this. Mike Will Made It was the mastermind behind this production. I've never heard of him so I'm assuming that this is the highlight of his career. Overall, better than "Versus" but not great. 13. BBC I don't even know what this acronym is supposed to stand for so I'll just sit here and pretend that it means big black cock. More importantly, though, is that this song is actually pretty good. More or less a posse cut, quite a few of Jays friend are involved in the making of this. Its always notable when Jay and Nas collaborate when you take their legendary beef into consideration. They can do whatever but ill always believe that there is a little tension between the two. Jay is also on record for saying that "BBC" was the most fun song to record, which isn't surprising. Pharrells instrumental is a little cheesy, but its so up beat and happy that I have a hard time disliking it. Even Nas seems like he is having a good time for once. Even I can say that Nas takes this hip hop shit a little too seriously. Not sure why he wasn't credited, but yeah, I liked this a lot. 14. Jay-Z Blue Nothing much was given away in regards to this album but this was one of the most built up songs, as it deals with Jays fatherhood and other serious shit like that. Unfortunately, this is actually one of my least favorite songs on the whole album. All the Mommy Dearest references just become embarrassing and the biggie samples just sound out of place and unneeded. The instrumental is even worse than the lyrics, as the acoustic guitar strings seem to just have been thrown in there to make the song seem deeper. Some of these lyrics about the baby are so damn corny that I have to talk myself out of just turning this shit off. I know this was an attempt to make himself seem vulnerable, but its just not doing much for me. One thing I did like, though, is the last verse, in which Jay actually picks up his flow and the added strings give the song an epic feel. Overall, I have a hard time believing that jigga is that insecure and he just comes off as insincere. 15. La Familia If this song was recorded, say, thirteen years ago, then we would be sitting through a couple Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, and Rell guest appearances. But its 2013 and Jay was able to get the dynasty off his hands fairly quickly, so this is just another solo effort for Hov. He talks abut his friends that I guess he considers to be family, which is a topic that I'm just not in the mood to hear about right now. Oh well, this song is boring as shit and I can't see myself ever going back to it. Kind of pointless, as this type of thing has entire albums dedicated to it. Redundancy at its at its finest. 16. Nickels & Dimes If anything, at least Jay was able to end the album in interesting fashion. Kyambo Joshua's beat is different from the rest of the album, but doesn't sound completely out of place. Jay surprisingly uses that fantastic beat to his advantage, as he uses different variation of what the title of the song could mean. Its actually another serious track as Jay talks about how he does whatever he can to take care of his friends and family. We all know he could do this with some of his spare change, but he is still able to make this sound interesting. Nice way to end the show. Rating: 2.5/5 This album really pissed me off. Everyone knows how rich Jay is and I promise from the bottom of my heart that I don't care at all. If you're into that type of thing, then this will be album of the year for you, but normal people will be bored pretty quickly. Not that you have to make a bunch of deep songs to make a good album, but Jays life is so different from literally everyone else that's is almost impossible for him to release anything close to relatable. Thes still some really good songs on here, as it starts off very strong but is ultimately downhill after track two. It occasionally comes up for air but it ultimate becomes fully submerged in the waters of disapointment. The instrumentals are truly the only reason that this album gets this good of a rating. Jay Z sounds like he could give less of a fuck as to what he puts out and it almost feels like he just released this project so he could do the stupid ass Samsung promotion. Seriously, does anyone actually believe that he even owns a Samsung phone. I just don't get the feeling that he put very much effort into this, but I can't fault him as he is getting older and doesn't have much to talk about. If that is the case then I'm just going to ask him to stop making albums. On the positive side of the spectrum, Timbalands production is quite good, and even great at times. All I can really take from Magna Carta... Holy Grail is that I once again give a shit about Timbos career. I guess I asked for too much when I wanted something better than The Blueprint 3. |