Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3 review

Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3
RocNation, 2009

Just in case you missed the first two installments, the Michael Jordan of rap has returned yet again to map out another blueprint for the industry. The Blueprint 3 tries to stack up against its predecessors, but falls a bit flat of rewriting history. Don’t get me wrong, Jay-Z is arguably the best to ever do it and there’s definitely a good chunk of solid music here to sink your teeth into. Unfortunately, the overall experience feels more like a Chinese buffet than a square meal—initially satisfying but leaving you hungry for more almost immediately after consumption.

When I first listened to The Blueprint 3, it was hard to ignore the initial assessments, printed reviews, and forum banter. The overall consensus is that The Blueprint 3 is an exceptional album, but perhaps this is actually just an indication of how stagnant the game is in 2009. Although this isn’t Jay’s best work, it still manages to stay afloat in today’s watered down market. Don’t get it twisted; Jay is a beast, combining his airtight cadence with clever wordplay and veteran charisma, but something is missing here. Although Jay tries to shift create an album suitable for old school heads, the underlying themes here don’t feel mature or inspired.

That being said, The Blueprint 3 is still an enjoyable experience, even if it does fail to harness the replay value of efforts like Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint, The Black Album, and even American Gangster (which is a far more enjoyable experience in terms of content). The Blueprint 3 opens with the ambient Kanye West/No I.D. production “What We Talkin’ About.” Here Kanye swaps his traditional time-shifted vocal samples for atmospheric chords and plodding drums, creating a subtle backdrop for Jay to address critics, the game, politics, and the current economic situation.

The rest of the album flirts with this type of mellow production: beats are stripped of typical head nodding drums and orchestrated samples are often swapped for heavy synthesizers. This vibe carries over into “Thank You,” another Kanye and No I.D. beat collaboration that bounces along over a subdued big band loop and reverb-heavy snare. Although the production is far from lackluster, I can’t help but feel like Jay has recorded this song about six times already. You won’t find much replay value here minus some cagey lyrics like “Heaven knows that I've made my mistakes/ Thank God what a guy as I say my grace /Who woulda thought by making birds migrate/For the winter I be fly all summer might I say.”

In the grand scheme of things, the neck-snapping No I.D. produced single “D.O.A.” seems a bit out of place, especially when The Blueprint 3 isn’t exactly deprived of auto-tuned vocals. However, this is easily one of the better tracks on the album as Jay massacres the current T-Pain trend with scalding ferocity… uh! Here the album begins to gain some momentum with the second single, “Run This Town” featuring Rihanna and Kanye West and the NY anthem “Empire State Of Mind” featuring Alicia Keys.

“Empire State Of Mind” is arguably the best track on the album. Jay paints a vivid portrait of the Big Apple’s conflicting themes with commentary like “Hail Mary to the city you’re a Virgin/And Jesus can’t save you, life starts when the church ends/ Came here for school, graduated to the high life/Ball players, rap stars, addicted to the limelight/MDMA got you feeling like a champion/The city never sleeps better slip you an Ambien.” I also have to tip my hat to Jay for reaching out to the gorgeous and talented Alicia Keys. She sounds absolutely stunning on the song’s hook, channeling Broadway’s infectious blacktop energy with soulful passion.

“Real As It Gets” featuring Young Jeezy tries to keep the momentum going but fails to really make an imprint. This isn’t a terrible cut, but I was expecting something epic from Jay and Jeezy. Instead, we’re greeted with familiar ‘top of the world’ subject matter and production that sounds more like a movie soundtrack than a platform for two giants to scale.

The Swizz Beatz crafted “On To The Next One” is quite possibly one of the most irritating songs I’ve ever heard on an album of this caliber. Swizz often gets criticized for his lazy production, but you can’t completely discredit the guy. He’s definitely made his mark and created some memorable beats for the industry’s best... this is definitely not one of them. I can imagine Guantanamo Bay guards using this track to torture prisoners into revealing the location of terrorist cells on US soil.

Timbaland makes a few appearances on the album with the songs “Off That” featuring Drake, “Venus vs. Mars,” and “Reminder.” Even though Jay has received some criticism for the Timbaland tracks he selected for The Blueprint 3, I think all three are pretty fresh. On “Venus vs. Mars,” Jay flips a back and forth flow over filtered string samples, eerie synths, and hollow kicks. Here Jay uses a relationship with a female companion to construct some of the most jaw dropping lyrical content on the album. Instead of simply rehashing the typical “Me And My Girlfriend” format, Jay does his best yin and yang impression:

Hov’s a Blackberry Bold, Shawty’s a Sidekick
She used to have a man, I used to have a side chick
Shawty got wind, I had to blow the chick off
Got rid of him, they both took the sh!t hard
Shawty play the piano, me I play the white keys
Shawty from the south, oh I think she like me
Shawty like Pac, me Big Poppa
Screaming hit em up, I’m screaming who shot ya.

The rest of The Blueprint 3 is pretty hit and miss. On “A Star Is Born” featuring ‘rated rookie’ J Cole, Jay creates a timeline of his career, paying homage to the artists he battled and befriended along the way. “Already Home” featuring Kid Cudi and the Neptune’s produced “So Ambitious” show signs of life but are easy skips if you’re looking for something more uptempo. “Hate” sees a return to traditional Kanye territory as an auto-tuned vocal loop allows Jay and Kanye to vent their frustration for—yes, you guessed it—haters.

Borrowing a sample from Alphaville’s familiar “Forever Young,” the album closes with “Young Forever,” a nod to living a remarkable and inspirational life. Ironically, this could be the reason The Blueprint 3 doesn’t really fulfill my expectations. Instead of giving us a focused album, Jay tries to balance familiar ‘living large’ themes with the vision of a successful adult. Unfortunately, it fails to capture the true essence of NY hip hop or the maturity and hindsight of a grown man who’s seen the game from every angle. We know the architect is capable of crafting a monumental product, but attempting to build a revolutionary home from this blueprint will ultimately result in an unstable foundation.

As a rap album, 4 out of 5
As a Jay-Z album – 3.5 out of 5

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