The Blueprint 3
Label: The Blueprint 3
Rated: NONE
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Blueprint 3, The
Composer: Jay-Z
Conductor: Atlantic
It’s a special kind of consumerist kismet that hip-hop titan Jay-Z releases his third installment of his seminal Blueprint series in the same week the Beatles storm back into the wallets of music fans. The two are inexorably linked, both through cultural importance and artistic controversy (production dynamo Danger Mouse made his name in 2004 by illegally mashing the Beatles’ White Album with Jay-Z’s The Black Album on the self-released Grey Album, earning Danger Mouse lawsuit threats and Album of the Year honors from various publications).
As the standard-bearer of his genre, Jay, like the Beatles, is revered worldwide for his supernatural lyrical ability and commercial sense. As he once noted, ‘I’m not a businessman; I’m a business, man.â?� And on The Blueprint 3, he foresees and cements the comparison: ‘Ten No. 1 albums in a row, who better than me? Only the Beatles/Nobody ahead of me. I crush Elvis in his blue suede shoes/Made the Rolling Stones seem sweet as Kool-Aid, too.â?�
For all his merited egomania, however, Blueprint 3 is yet another post-un-retirement disappointment. 2001’s inaugural installment showcased Jigga at his most hungry, and that album’s most-utilized producer, a then-unknown Kanye West, matched his ferocity. Eight years later, the God MC still shows signs of passion and second-to-none skill, but West, whom Jay-Z relies on more heavily than ever before, leaves him high and dry.
The first half of the album is devoted to lazy soul samples awash in horns and midtempo hip-hop lite. The first two tracks, ‘What We Talkin’ Aboutâ?� and ‘Thank You,â?� are total nonstarters that ease into the first two singles, the long-pilloried ‘D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)â?� and the radio-baiting bombast of ‘Run This Town.â?� For half of the disc, Jay and ‘Ye snooze through unchallenging tuning exercises until the rapper brings a relief pitcher to bat in the form of Timbaland. The superproducer who has absolutely owned the pop charts in recent years brings Hova back to life with three of Jay’s best songs in years: the immensely danceable ‘Off That,â?� a slinky, out-of-character battle-of-the-sexes jam, ‘Venus vs. Mars,â?� and the futuristically bonkers ‘Reminder.â?�
‘I’m so mental,â?� rips Jay, ‘allow me to rekindle.â?� Thank goodness for that, because unlike his Fab Four brethren, history has yet to reserve Jay-Z’s space at the very top.
This article appears in Sep 9-15, 2009.