Jay z blueprint plus#

And if you were in NY when it happened you know why I mentioned it. I know people may be confused about the 9/11 talk but realistically that is partially always going to be tied to this album.

Like initial hijacking for all 4 planes, then tower hit, second tower hit, pentagon, etc. Shit I remember moments of silence in school we would have one for every major moment of 9/11.

And everyone was always serious, if you said the wrong thing who knows what would have happened.

Jay z blueprint plus#

Plus we had to stop speaking hindi at the airport. But after 9/11 obviously that could never happen again. Super cool experience, I wish we got pictures of it. Especially NY, I remember pre 9/11 I actually got to go inside the cockpit mid flight. Ik a lot of this sub is young or lives in like Idaho/the UK but 9/11 changed everything in the US. Definitely a classic album and a must listen.Įven crazier that it sold 427k first week when it came out on 9/11. Also brought Kanye into the Nas v Jay beef. People have pointed to the fact that it wasn’t obscured in the cultural discussion by the attacks to add to the mythos surrounding it, which may be true, but it’s a Jay-Z album in this prime so I’m not sure if there could be any sort of event that would have punted this or any other album into the dustbin of memory if said album is as damn good as The Blueprint is.Ģ0 years, wow. Couldn’t leave any of those out.Įdit: I nearly forgot, the fact that it was released on the day of the September 11th WTC attacks is something inextricably linked to this album, if not in any way too important at least. Jay-Z is my unequivocal GOAT and his top albums if I had to rank them at this point in time would be 1. Jay gets introspective on “Song Cry” and “Never Change”, the latter featuring an uncredited chorus feature from the song’s producer Kanye, and finishes off the regular album with the ice cold “Renegade” - one of the other comments went into the lyrical prowess Jay-Z shows on this song. “U Don’t Know” and “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)” feature Jay-Z at some of his best, espousing his business acumen and breaking down his unimaginable success or lamenting getting cold shouldered by fuckin’ everybody over a pair of extremely well produced Blaze and Kanye beats. The tracks that follow range in feel from soulful tunes like “Izzo (HOVA)”, “Girls, Girls, Girls”, and “Hola Hovito” where he sprinkles in lines of conquests and drug trades like the coke he himself was pushing. Not much needs to be said about “Takeover”, taking shot after shot at Mobb Deep and Nas, but the ending perfectly encapsulated Jay-Z’s attitude: “And all the other cats throwing shots at Jigga, you only get half a bar: Fuck y’all n*s”. The production, handled extremely well by Just Blaze, Kanye West, Eminem on “Renegade”, among others, certainly places this album squarely at the turn of the century but it does not sound yet dated today.įlipping Slick Rick on the intro “The Ruler’s Back” makes for a typical braggadocious Jay-Z track and one executed extremely well with a nod to the legendary storytelling MC. One of Jay-Z’s classics and a timeless album.

This isn't my personal favorite Jay-Z album (that would be Reasonable Doubt), but it's easily my 2nd favorite from him, as well as one of my all time favorite albums, and one of my all time favorites production-wise. While some songs have not aged well (Girls Girls Girls) or are weaker (Jigga, Hola Hovito), it still is clearly a classic for how good the songs on it are, especially the second half. The album has a large chunk of Jay-Z's all-time best songs, including classics like U Don't Know, Heart of the City, Song Cry, Never Change, All I Need, Renegade, and Blueprint (Momma Loves Me), as well as some of his most popular (Izzo) and most notorious (Takeover). One of the greatest and most important rap albums of all time, launching the careers of Just Blaze and Kanye West (obviously, both did production work for the Roc before, on The Dynasty and Beanie Sigel's albums), and helping pave the way for the eventual dominance of soul sample-based production throughout the mid-2000's (although while Bink's production on this album was good too, his career, sadly, didn't fare as well as Just and Ye's).