A review of Blueprint 3

As the final sonic seconds ticked away on my inaugural listen of BP3, unequivocally the most anticipated/hyped/takeyourpickwithahyperbole release by any rapper in the cosmos this year (unless, arguably, Weezy actually spills Rebirth. D), my mind returns to one line: "Too many blueprints, not enough architects."

No, this line won't be found anywhere on BP3. It's actually 2 bars from Budden (doubtlessly a swipe at Jay) off Slaughterhouse's Microphone, and that shits reverberating like a banshee whisper in the back of my head now. Now, in no way am I tryin to juxtapose BP3 and Slaughterhouse's Lp. Most heads aren't even listening to Joey these days, considering him a washed up instigator or a one-hit underwhelmer or whathaveyou. But the simple fact is, I left BP3 feelin like Jay set out to 'follow the blueprint' and (re)create another album in the mold of BP2 as opposed to actually tryin to build something new for hip-hop. Dude's got a hit-making formula, dude followed it, that's his perogative, but when you continuously proclaim yourself to be in the same echelon of B.I.G., and you're following formulas, not innovating, fuck if I care what your soundscan numbers are, you are not realizing your artistic potential. I had hopes BP3 would be a culmination of the "trilogy," a forum where Jay really shared his dreams and ambitions and reflects on the state of hip-hop and how he thinks it can evolve. Dream deferred. Resoundingly.

I'll take this track by track.

1."What We Talkin' About" - So-so start to the album. Jay's first verse is a rebake of the acapella free that sparked the beef with Game nobody but Game seems to give a sh*t about. Lyrics consistently on point as per always but nothin showstoppinly ill. Also felt like a lot of the things he meditatin on I basically heard on BP and BP2. Production from Ye and No I.D. is understated, I guess trying to accentuate the lyrics but I basically found this track pretty boring from a production standpoint. Overall: 5 out of 10






2."Thank You" - Mr. West and No I.D. on the boards again. Although simplistic, I'm kinda feelin the beat on this one. It has a throwback, 9th Wonder/Premo/Kev Brown kinda feel to it. Lyrically, i feel like after a pretty hot first verse Jay spends the rest of the track reguritatin a pastiche of bars that could have come from Encore and/or Change Clothes but didn't; consistent, but so far Hov's comin a lil' lukewarm. For fuck's sake y'all, Ye/No/Jay on a track should be fire all day long - 2 tracks in and either the dynamic tandem is tryin to push the genre toward elevator hip-hop or a couple musical geniuses is sounding awfully lazy. Overall: 6.5 out of 10



3."D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" - First single. No surprises here. This cut is arson, or, as Jay puts it "practically assault with a deadly weapon." Jay is animated, drums are vintage kick, the guitar is dirrrrrrty and that horn just punctuates sh*t perfectly. For the first time on the album, when Jay asks "Im a multimillionaire, so how is it I'm still the hardest one here?" I believe the man. This track goes hard start to finish. I feel like the fuckin Russian figureskatin judge but part of me wanted to see Jay take it a little harder lyrically, but this one is a burner. Overall: 9 out of 10



4."Run This Town" - Ye shows some real animation after tracks 1-2 as "RTT" kicks in with another spiraling guitar ascent. Another hot beat. Rihanna doesn't really contribute much or detract from the song, just comes with the type of chorus hook vocals I would expect from her - overall so-so. Jay's verse is solid. Ye, who is a wildly inconsistent rapper [tangent: my boy and I have a longstanding debate over Ye as a rapper. His stance is, among the commercially acclaimed, Ye is one of the best spitters right now. While sort of conceding his point among the frequent radio-play ilk, I maintain that Ye's lyrical quality varies dramatically from track to track, and for every "Get by" you get some "American Boy" drivel, kinda like Lil' Wayne syndrome, which makes it really hard to assess whether he's actually nice on the mic or just kinda 'has his moments.'], comes both hard and quasi-reflective on this ("what you think I rap for?/ to push a fuckin Rav4?"). Overall: 7.5 out of 10




5."Empire State of Mind" - I like Shux's lil bright keys loop, but nothin really special about this track. Alicia keys is an improvement over Rihanna but really isn't used to her full potential at all. This seems like a convenient vocal spot for her - I image her one-taking this and bouncing to go work on something more soulful. Hold up Jay's bars to "NY State of Mind" and Nas seems to be on some transcendental shit. Hell, this ain't even the best ode to the City to drop this summer. I give French Montana and Jada's"New York Minute" the nod (mostly on the strength of Kiss and the production) over "Empire State of Mind," nor does "ESoM" touch "Where it Stated At." Consider momentum album has built over tracks 3-4 to have hit a brick wall. Overall: 4.5 out of 10



6."Real as It Gets" - Listen to this track and then go listen to the "Go Crazy" remix. Afterwards, I suspect you will find the claim that this track could ever possibly be as "Real as it Gets" about as believable as everybody's concern over BP3 leaking (cause we all know Jay really still needs our $10.99, ha) . I need Jeezy on his pathos-filled trappin - when he gets on some really bright horns I feel like his creativity dissipates like fire product I like Jay's micro-tribute to his boy locked up, but thats the only redeeming quality in an otherwise forgettable track. Overall: 4.5 out of 10



7."On to the Next One" - Finally, some heat I haven't already heard. While a little repetitive, it sounds like Swizz has hijacked the little orphan Annie sample from Hard Knock Life and held it hostage in a maddening (but kinda ill) loop over some prototypically Swizz drum sequences. Aiight verses from Jay ("feelin on myself/ I don't even need an X pill"). On to the next one it is. Overall: 7 out of 10



8."Off That" - At this point, the most consistent theme on this album is A-list talent coming in like some 2nd-stringers (and I don't mean on some Ginobli or Jason Terry sh*t). Drake can't really help it, since he's confined to the chorus (and still manages to kind of shine on this track. Honestly, by track eight, if I were Jay and I'd been rappin like i'd been rappin on tracks 1 through 7 I wouldn't have let Drizzy spit a verse either), but Timbo, damn, like, the beat is a'iight, but this beat definitely ain't on some "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" or "Ayo Technology" sh*t. It's cool... it's just, you know, lackluster - again, not pushin the envelope, just stickin to Timbaland's sonic blueprint, as opposed to really tryin to innovate. I/WE WANT NEW JAY/TIMBALAND NOT RECYCLED-SOUNDING JAY/TIMBALAND. fuuuck.. I am over hip-hop? I am I listening to this record in a nihilistic period in my life? I'm eight deep on BP3 and I feel like it's fuckin amateur hour or this is like the b-sides disc or somesh*t... Overall: 5.75 out of 10 (you like them quarter points??? ha)



9."A Star Is Born" - Ok. Jay-Z's comin correct on this one. This is like the second track where I'm like really feelin the lyrics. Too bad the hook is garbage and Ye/No ID have reverted back to their "killin em with subtle horns" nonsense. With the exception of a few sublime moments like D.O.A., this whole album is sounding far too complacent. I'm sure there's a mad interesting story about how J. Cole got on this album. Is this like the "okay, let's try to give a [relatively] unestablished rapper a little shine" since none of the veterans sound very hungry moment on BP3? I mean, I think Jay's actually signed this guy, and I haven't checked any of his mixtape shit, but I absorb his verse and I'm like 'alright." Pas mal, you know? Overall: 6.5 out of 10


10."Venus vs. Mars" - Here we go. This is that understated-in-a-good-way-slow-builder-hardness. And if you're gonna rap about bling about the only way to do it and for me to still be feelin you is sh*t like "covered in gold like C3P0" (haaaaaa. That "apple/mac/PC" line was nice too). So overall track is pretty cool, good contrast-storytelling element from Jay ([sarcasm]I mean, what? holy shhhh some actual storytelling on a Blueprint album?[/sarcasm]) but hindered by a relatively unimpressive hook. Not bad tho. Overall: 7 out of 10



11."Already Home" - So, I remember seeing in an interview a little while back Kanye claiming that he had like "the best beat ever" or some ish and he would be unveiling it on BP3. Did he mean "Brooklyn Go Hard?" (which was cold/raw as fuuuuudgsicles). Cause as I vibe to "Already Home," which I think is my favorite Ye beat of the album (it's either this "Hate" or "RTT," think I need a couple more listens to really pick a winner). Good to hear some g.o.o.d music out of our man. Not really feelin Cudi on this song. Don't get me wrong, I'm lookin forward to the album, I like Cudi a lot, and he's had a couple moments where Mr. Solo Dolo basically taps the sublime (e.g., "Man on the Moon"), but his off-key crooning just doesn't fit the rest of the track and seems kind of abrasive over Ye's string section. Overall: 6 out of 10



12."Hate" - First listen I wasn't really feelin this beat, and i think it kind of ails from the same problem as Swizz's beat on on to the next one, but on 'spin-it-back' time it's growin on me. I applaud Ye for tryin something new - it's like hip-hop on some Blue Man sh*t. Ye and Jay both flow pretty ill over the beat, but no meat n' potatos to em. We've all heard this generic materialistic bravado-wordplay before and sadly I'm sure we'll hear it again. Overall: 7 out of 10 (most if I just light one up, vibe to the beat and kind of tune out what everybody's actually spittin)


13."Reminder" - Jay's a little ignited on this one, and Timbo's synthcrack seems like the right recipe for some quality [side rant: this bullshit chorus/hook nonsense though is just killin me. Like seriously, who the f*ck let this happen? somebody in classic album QC should get jumped. This ish is criminally bad...]. Jay actually sounds motivated on this one - pretty hard, methodical delivery, shot at Joe Budden - respectable track, although again subpar lyrically I feel. Overall: 6.5 out of 10 (I could see this being much higher with a better chorus tho)


14."So Ambitious" - I'm on the fence with this beat. I think I'm gonna end up decidin I'm feelin it. I really like Pharrell on this track. Like, he's exactly the right mix of personality, swag, sense of humor ("I'm so ambitious/ I might hit two sisters"), sincerity and slightly-off-key singing for those "heyy!!!"-horns that wins me over on this track. I don't know if this really has much repeat listenability (on my invented word ish), but it's cool. Overall: 7.5 out of 10




15."Young Forever" - I still fail to see what the hype is about Mr. Hudson. I mean, he has a kinda cool Brit vocalist thing goin on (inherently, as like, a standalone quality to his sound), but I wasn't feelin him with Cudi, wasn't feelin him with Kanye and I'm not really feelin him now. He's like a poor man's Chris Martin (without the ridiculous songwriting talent), and this whole joint feels like a poor man's "Beach Chair." I mean I guess this is the sentimental album close, but I feel like Jay could have been a lot more artistic about phrasing his acheivement of what I think he's basically tryin to say is artistic immortality (which, I mean, is pretty true, considering his body of works). [Overall: 4.5 out of 10] What this really is is the time where I reflect on an album of near-misses and what-could-have-beens. Would have been nice to hear Just Blaze, 9th or Premo on here. Nas' absence is a shame, ditto for Em, Wayne and Lupe. And, more than anything else, this album just needed some songwriting, some architecture - a structure to it, rather than a formula of "one sentimental track with a white British guy, check, one electrofunk Timbaland cut, check, okay we need one sparkly JazzePhe or Pharrel cut..." ad nausiem... Again Jay demonstrates he a rapper to be reckoned with and doesn't have a lot of lyrical peers (particularly in terms of just like, vocally becoming one with the beat in terms of cadence, breath control, etc.), but I was hoping he'd really try to push the needle and try to forward the evolution of hip-hop. Seems like contrary to what he says on "Off That," Jay isn't too interested about the future - only the present where he's on top...

BP3 in its entirety: 6 out of 10


Other over n' out..