My Bass Rocks

Advanced copies and leaked downloads have been running rampant since early this week, and since I was able to get my hands on a copy earlier than expected, I thought it only right to share my thoughts.  Blueprint 3 has been on everyone’s radar since first being announced last year, following his disappointing return to hip-hop with Kingdome Come.  The subsequent releases of “Jockin Jay-Z” (fire) and “Brooklyn Go Hard,” had Jay-Z fans foaming at the mouths, eagerly waiting to get their hands on the final product.  Once No ID and Kanye West were announced as Executive Producers, it seemed the stars had finally aligned.

Continue on for full review..

“D.O.A.” drops and people lose their cool.  Aside from the beat being unfuckwittable, Jay brings it like he hasn’t in YEARS.  The beat was so raw, that Jay-Z had no other option than to kick it up a notch, and single-handedly kill the autotune nonsense that has flooded hip-hop since T-Pain came on the scene.  Classic joint (yes I said it).

“Run This Town” featuring Rihanna & Kanye drops some months later as the official first single, to a slew of mixed reviews (myself included).  Apparently, this was intended for Rihanna initially, and with the amount of shine she gets on the track, it’s not surprising.  Plus, Kanye murders Jigga on his own shit.  How he lets that happen again (don’t forget “Renegade”) is a little mind blowing, especially since Kanye West hasn’t necessarily been the definition of hip-hop in the past couple years.

Let me first start off by saying, this album is big.  Not in the sense that it’s over-the-top epic or anything, but the beat selection is much more produced than any of his other projects in recent memory.  This makes BP3 seems more of an event in music, rather than another hip-hop album.  This doesn’t sway the overall impact one way or another, but it seems that this is what we’re getting from a 2009 Jay-Z.  Everything is a little more orchestrated, a little more universally listenable to the general music fan, and a little more on the grown-man rap tip.

However, the album as a whole is not the level we had hoped for.  So much so that “D.O.A.” is noticeably out of place.  That song is so anti-new wave hip-hop and stripped down to the essentials, that one would never imagine the album guest list would include autotune heavyweights like Drake, Kid CuDi, and Kanye “808’s” West.  This is where I get lost in the first place.  Aside from this, there are WAY too many filler joints that clutter the album, and depreciate the overall quality of the songs that actually do work.  Here’s a quick rundown of the good and bad:

Good:

“Thank You” – Classic sample rap, reminiscent of the genre that I initially fell in love with.  Beautiful sample choices, which creates an overall win.

“D.O.A.” – Classic business.

“Run This Town” – It’s taken a while to get used to this song, but in the context of BP3 this works extremely well.  The beat sounds much better on headphones too.

“Empire State of Mind” – Might be my favorite on the album besides “D.O.A.”  Alicia Keys really brings it here, not even really sounding like her usual songbird self.

“Already Home” – Decent song, decent beat, catchy hook.  Nothing too special here, but still works overall.

“A Star is Born” – Dope “T.R.O.Y.” type track, with Jay paying homage to everyone along the way that effected him musically.  J.Cole goes off on this one too, which is a nice little addition.

Filler:

“Off That (feat. Drake);” “Venus vs. Mars;” “Reminder” – Important to note that these are all Timbaland productions.  While it’s rare that magic doesn’t happen when these two create music together, this is an exception to the rule (3 times in a row).  For the most part, all three of these tracks are forgettable.  Not very inspiring for future projects with Jay and Timbo…

Bad:

“Hate” – 808’s & Heartbreaks throw-away?  I know Jay-Z promised no autotune, but this isn’t much better.

“So Ambitious (feat. Pharrell)” – BORING Neptunes beat, that leaves me scratching my head.  I just can’t picture Jay-Z sitting in Pharrell’s studio screaming “This is the one!  Let me get this for the album!”  This joint is completely disappointing.

“Real As It Gets (feat. Young Jeezy)” – I mean really?  A Young Jeezy mixtape-sounding track on your highly-anticipated solo album?  Beat is bland, Jezzy gives his standard grunts and groans throughout, and Jay-Z barely gets any shine.  No idea how this made the cut.

Ugly:

“Forever Young” – I literally laughed out loud when I heard this for the first time.  I can’t think of a more lame way not only to end a sub-par album, but the beat is over-the-top ridiculous (not in a good way).  Thank you Kanye for infecting this album wherever you don’t have No ID’s support.  I was joking with my friend when I first saw the track-list, saying “watch them actually sample that pop 80’s song.”  This has to be THE WORST Jay-Z song ever made (yes, worse than “Hollywood”).  I’m still laughing at how absolutely horrible this track is.  Terrible concept + bad production = fail.

Not including “Jockin’ Jay-Z” and “Brooklyn Go Hard” was a huge mistake by Jay-Z as well.  Both those tracks are better than most of this album, and would have uplifted a project that seems to walk a fine line between victory and failure.

While I did mention that this album is big, it doesn’t necessarily mean that this makes it better.  Blueprint 3 made me realize that the Jay-Z I have supported for over a decade is only a shell of his former self.  This is not the same man that made Reasonable Doubt, Blueprint, and The Black Album.  This is an uninspired middle-aged veteran, doing his best to stay relevant.  This is a former hustler MC from Brooklyn, who cashes in $80 million a year and hangs out with Oprah Whinfrey on the weekends.  What sucks even more is that I know the potential of this MC, and when he teases us with “D.O.A.” I start believing in something that isn’t true…This reminds me of seeing Mike Tyson lose to Lennox Lewis for the title.  While you root for the champ, and want him to get back to his old form, you know deep inside that this is not the same person that dominated earlier in their career.

Overall: 6 out of 10 (and that’s being generous)