Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3

leaked around Monday last week, so all of the songs are up.

I’m assuming a lot of the hip hop fans have heard it, so what did you think?

  1. What We Talkin’ About:
    - YouTube
  2. Thank You:
    - YouTube
  3. D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune):
    - YouTube
  4. Run This Town:
    - YouTube
  5. Empire State of Mind:
    - YouTube
  6. Real as It Gets:
    - YouTube
  7. On to the Next One:
    - YouTube
  8. Off That:
    - YouTube
  9. A Star Is Born:
    - YouTube
  10. Venus vs. Mars:
    - YouTube
  11. Already Home:
    - YouTube
  12. Hate:
    - YouTube
  13. Reminder:
    Jay-Z - Reminder [new august] (Full) - YouTube
  14. So Ambitious:
    - YouTube
  15. Young Forever:
    - YouTube

I’m surprised no one started a thread on this already.

A very meh album. There’s a couple decnt tracks, but there’s nothing real strong on here. There are a couple of awful songs on here, though. In some, it sounds like Jay’s not even trying anymore. Plus, the production is just shitty on most of these tracks.

It’s not a horrible album, but it’s no Blueprint. People will think this is a better album than actually is just because it Jay-Z.

Very good album.

I’m traveling so I’ll have to listen to it later, but I’ll be amazed if it stands up to Blueprint 2.1.

I’ve listened to a few of the songs thus far and love it, albeit I like almost anything Jay-Z puts out barring American Gangster.

Just heard it last night, I like it. Maybe I’m getting old, but I’m burned out on guns, drugs and killing in rap. This is ‘grown man music’. IMO

Couldn’t get past track 7…

It just didn’t sound like Hov. The production was shitty, his lyrics were horrible in his standards, and his energy just isn’t quite the same. It sounds like he’s not even really trying to be great anymore.

Some people gonna call this a classic just cause its jay-z. One of his worst IMO.

[quote]younggully wrote:
Just heard it last night, I like it. Maybe I’m getting old, but I’m burned out on guns, drugs and killing in rap. This is ‘grown man music’. IMO[/quote]

x2

I guess some people expect him to rapping about the same ol’ shit 15 years later. Hes not the same person he was in the past and his music reflects that. He always keeps it real.

I wasn’t expecting a great album, and yet I was disappointed as well.

I wasn’t expecting much lyrically from this album, since unlike the people who enjoyed “D.O.A.”, I actually listened to the lyrics and was thoroughly unimpressed. He barely said anything on that song, and just wasted a great beat. I was however, expecting the production to make the album, and between “D.O.A.'s” awesome beat and the fact that a killer songs like “Brooklyn Go Hard” got rejected it seemed that the albums would have the best big budget production since The Game’s first album (and almost sure better rapping, for that matter).

The production sucked for the most part. I knew The Neptunes were going to disappoint, they’ve been doing that for a few years now, but Timbaland’s beats were awful. And almost as bad were Kanye’s beats. “On to the Next One” isn’t even one of Swizz Beatz’ good beats but it’s probably the second best one on the album (“D.O.A.” being the best). “Hate”, “Reminder”, “Venus vs. Mars”, “Young Forever”, and “A Star is Born” are the worst offenders. These are what some of the most expensive producers in the game had for the biggest name rapper?

Jay-Z’s rapping actually wasn’t as weak as I’d been expecting. “Venus vs. Mars” was akward, and “Hate” was awful, but for the most part the rapping was better than what was on “D.O.A” and “Run This Town”.

Jay should’ve actually went for some smaller, lesser known guys for production. Supposedly Timbaland is saving his best stuff for his own album, and Jay got something less than that. Kanye’s been changing his sound drastically, and maybe he overreached. I was expecting more, since I absolutely loved “Brooklyn Go Hard”, and “Jockin’ Jay-Z” got rejected, but he really sucked. The beats on the songs that didn’t make the album (well they probably made it as bonus cuts) are way better than what was left on.

The big name guys don’t care as much about making good beats for rappers (except for Kanye, who just fucked up anyway), all the money and prestige is in R&B. Keri Hilson had better production on her album than Jay-Z did on this one. Good rappers find up and coming producer to get their beats, they don’t go to the old guard. Jay used to be the best at that, but he didn’t do it this time.

I guess Jay and Kanye tried to hard on this one. Only way to alleviate this is to do a Beggar’s Banquet return to form. If the Rolling Stones can do it so can Jay-Z.

i enjoy this album, theres been a slew of great releases recently.

now the timbo tracks and haters are the only songs on the album i really dont care much for, the rest of the album imo is spot on. This is what kingdom come should have been. Empire State Of Mind is probably my favourite track, Hova is just laying out the new sound.

Honestly if Jay-z released an album about selling crack etc it wouldnt sound right, the man is almost a billionaire - it’s no longer relevant too him.

7/10 - not his worst album by far but nor his best

Not to be rude, but whenever someone says that Jay-Z’s lyrics have gotten worse, people run to his defense with the whole “he’s rapping about himself and he’s changed, he can’t keep rapping about hustling anymore” line. It’s happened a few times in this thread.

I’m not complaining about him not rapping about selling drugs. Most people who complain about him aren’t.

Dunno if any of the people rushing to his defense have noticed, but most of “The Blueprint” isn’t about selling drugs. And “The Blueprint” is a considered a classic, and one of the best albums of the decade. In fact pretty much since “The Blueprint” the overriding theme of Jay-Z’s rapping has been a mix of going after the naysayers and standard hip hop braggadocio with the occasional song for the ladies. The Black Album is similarly themed, and it is also considered a great album. I’d never say those two albums had bad rapping.

BTW…here are some of the songs that were rejected just for those who hadn’t heard/forgotten them:

“Ain’t I” (produced by Timbaland)- New jay-z Ain't I (Blueprint 3?!) - YouTube
^ This is way better than the beats he did that made the album. It sounds like the beats he used to do before he started working with Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake.

“Jockin’ Jay-Z” (produced by Kanye West)- - YouTube
^ It’s a good beat, maybe not great but it’s better than most of the beats on The BP3. And the third verse has pretty good stuff for post-retirement Jigga.

“Brooklyn Go Hard” (produced by Kanye West)- - YouTube
^The beat on this is AMAZING IMO. And aside from an awkward start, Jay-Z rapped very well on this. Best part was the Santigold verse, though. She killed it on this song.

I don’t know why these songs were rejected in favour of the songs that were left on…it’s just inexplicable.

[quote]B.L.U. Ninja wrote:
Couldn’t get past track 7…

It just didn’t sound like Hov. The production was shitty, his lyrics were horrible in his standards, and his energy just isn’t quite the same. It sounds like he’s not even really trying to be great anymore.

Some people gonna call this a classic just cause its jay-z. One of his worst IMO.[/quote]

THANK YOU…finally someone agrees with me… i thought his album was trash…i feel like he went too commercial on this one…

raekwons Cuban linx part 2 on the other hand is straight fire…

anyone know if “brooklyn we go hard” is a remix of “jersey we go hard” by nu jerzey devil or the other way around? its definitely the same beat and I figure that Jay-Z gets Kanye beats before NJD but I just heard of the NJD version a while longer and being from NJ think its better…

[quote]zbelair wrote:
anyone know if “brooklyn we go hard” is a remix of “jersey we go hard” by nu jerzey devil or the other way around? its definitely the same beat and I figure that Jay-Z gets Kanye beats before NJD but I just heard of the NJD version a while longer and being from NJ think its better…[/quote]

It’s a Jay-Z song, but a lot of rappers have done remixes. It’s just what you do when Jay-Z releases a new single :D.

[quote]JMac10 wrote:
B.L.U. Ninja wrote:
Couldn’t get past track 7…

It just didn’t sound like Hov. The production was shitty, his lyrics were horrible in his standards, and his energy just isn’t quite the same. It sounds like he’s not even really trying to be great anymore.

Some people gonna call this a classic just cause its jay-z. One of his worst IMO.

THANK YOU…finally someone agrees with me… i thought his album was trash…i feel like he went too commercial on this one…

raekwons Cuban linx part 2 on the other hand is straight fire…[/quote]

lol Most people are disappointed, man.

I haven’t actually checked out the released/leaked tracks from OB4CL 2 yet (I know, shame on me blah blah) but I’m gonna soon. Supposedly they’re amazing and we may have a classic on our hands.

[quote]LarryDavid wrote:

raekwons Cuban linx part 2 on the other hand is straight fire…

lol Most people are disappointed, man.

I haven’t actually checked out the released/leaked tracks from OB4CL 2 yet (I know, shame on me blah blah) but I’m gonna soon. Supposedly they’re amazing and we may have a classic on our hands. [/quote]

would not say that cuban linx 2 is a classic yet however it does sound like cuban linx pt 2

the irrelevance of him rapping about craack, it’s more on his energy, he isn’t hungry anymore he is making music he wants too hear.

this might start a flame war but this album is better than the majority of nas’ catalogue - nas can’t make complete albums, to me this album is a complete album everything meshes well togethor

I WAS actually on jayz’s side on the whole beef between him and The Game, but I’m starting to think Game was right.

I’m all for giving hova the respect he rightfully deserves, but this album is straight up WHACK. This might be the most disappointing, overhyped release in history. Even Eminem’s below-his-standards RELAPSE was ALOT better than this by a mile. You all know I’m a hardcore Em fan, but I’m just stating facts.

And don’t bring up the whole “immaturity” of RELAPSE because lyrically, it puts BP3 to shame. I guess I’m over reacting a bit but the expectations on this album was off the charts. If it was soulja boy, this album would be his best, but we talkin about one of the greatest here…

Jigga’s on some grown man shit. If your not over 30 it wont resinate.

[quote]BigSeen wrote:
Jigga’s on some grown man shit. If your not over 30 it wont resinate.
[/quote]

I know it’s more than a quarter-century old, but hip hop is still music for young people primarily.

If a rapper makes music for people in their 30s, he’s shit. Simple as that.