Blueprint 3 was an awkward ass album
- Thread starter THE 101
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MicIsGod
They like what that mean
Don’t know if it’s real, but there’s a version of reminder with a whole different beat by I think just blaze. And if it is, he chose that bullshyt
I always liked Hate thoughA Hov album executive produced by peak Kanye should've been a slam dunk. Ye released MBDTF a year later and Watch the Throne came out 2 years after but somehow this didn't live up to expectations.
Jay was so out of sorts on this shyt. So many corny ideas and song choice....Venus vs Mars, Hate, Off Dat
It was like Jay couldn't figure what to do as a rapper. He knew he couldn't just repeat the mistakes of Kingdom Come and just strictly rap mogul shyt, but he couldn't do another American Gangster and do more drug dealer street rap. So he tried to combine his money talk awkwardly with this psuedo-arty hipster shyt that was big at the time but he just wasn't cut out for it. Camel was showing to Grizzly Bear shows
He was the living embodiment of this:
Even the two hits were on some corny stadium rap shyt and he was totally overshadowed by Rihanna and Alicia, to the point where people now don't even consider Empire State of Mind a Jay song. But that shyt was trash anyway.
There was a handful of nice songs but mostly for the production......I like Thank You, DOA obviously (although how you gonna say autotune is dead and then have autotune throughout the album), On To the Next One kinda slaps....Swizz came through for once.
Shoutouts to Timbaland for serving up some straight up microwaved ass juice on this album. Been mostly trash ever since and somehow did a worse job on MCHG.
#neverforget
Weird album though. Not even bottom 2 Jay album. Doesn't get the hate of other albums but not one worth remembering either.
Actually, this album repeats the same mistakes of Kingdom Come: Jay attempting to "rewrite the rules" to stay relevant. MCHG suffers from the same.
And its like Jay Z took cues from T.I. for both Kingdom Come and BP3. Kingdom Come dropped the same year as T.I.'s King and Kingdom Come was like Jay Z answer to King being the only rap album to go platinum that year. Then T.I.'s Paper Trail started this trend of these huge stadium sized power pop rap records i.e. "Live Ya Life" feat. Rihanna.
Then there's the weird futuristic sound he was going for with the Timbaland tracks. Timbaland was struggling to find his sound after having a monster two years with Justin, Nelly, and his own Shock Value album, but the chemistry with Jay was off. MCHG was a better album IMO, but Jay was lazy lyrically and his once elite flow was showing signs of fatigue.
Then there's the Kanye/No I.D. songs, which were dope for the most part, but there was still "Hate" and "Young Forever". Awkward time for Kanye too as this was in transition from 808's going into the MBDTF era. Hip Hop was at an awkward phase as a whole. The Hipster/Blog era was something else with Wale, B.o.B, Kid Cudi, and them coming up. That whole Travis Porter, J-Money style comingnout of Atlanta. Flocka debuting. Gucci Mane breaking through the mainstream. Drake becoming the biggest rapper out. Cole impacting. Nicki Minaj impacting.
this plus run this town. most people also hate young forever but that was decent to me
. however, reminder, off dat, hate and venus & mars are WOAT hov song contenders.
Mac Ten
Class of 97 !!!
BP3 was Ok…
Jay wanted to capitalize off of Kanye’s wave. Everyone says that BP2 and Kingdom Come are the worse but those albums have more replay value than BP3.
Venus vs Mars was my favorite track off that album.
I was bumping Gucci that year along with Drake and OJ Da Juiceman.
If u wanted to hear some classy gangsta music from Jay, you wouldn’t get it on this album.
Go check out American Gangster.
Jay wanted to capitalize off of Kanye’s wave. Everyone says that BP2 and Kingdom Come are the worse but those albums have more replay value than BP3.
Venus vs Mars was my favorite track off that album.
I was bumping Gucci that year along with Drake and OJ Da Juiceman.
If u wanted to hear some classy gangsta music from Jay, you wouldn’t get it on this album.
Go check out American Gangster.
Eh I feel 2 ways about this album
on one hand in reality it was incredibly successful...it featured a huge hit (run this town) an absolutely colossal hit (Empire state of mind) and a song that whether you like it or not had its time (young forever) which was essentially jays new version of beach chair 3 years later.......on to the next one was alright ...for swizz of the era it was actully dope..
the other side is that the album has some truly horrible songs and horrible music...prolly some of the worst that a goat tier rapper ( nas jay big pac scarface kendrick kanye ect) ever made.....
1. reminder is so stupid and so bad
2. hate is awful
3. ghetto techno that didnt make the album is straight up funny bad, hilarious
4. so ambitious is ass to me
5. off that is ok at best but really pretty awful post that era....
star is born is a cool concept but like someone else said its really almost a sneak diss and jay trying to cement himself as the goat at that time
overall super forgettable ..personally I only go back to already home and real as it gets and empire state of mind gets its props
side note: this is also when jay started to really lean into the weird devil worshiping chit of the era 2008-2014 from his dressing to his music videos ....take from that what you will
on one hand in reality it was incredibly successful...it featured a huge hit (run this town) an absolutely colossal hit (Empire state of mind) and a song that whether you like it or not had its time (young forever) which was essentially jays new version of beach chair 3 years later.......on to the next one was alright ...for swizz of the era it was actully dope..
the other side is that the album has some truly horrible songs and horrible music...prolly some of the worst that a goat tier rapper ( nas jay big pac scarface kendrick kanye ect) ever made.....
1. reminder is so stupid and so bad
2. hate is awful
3. ghetto techno that didnt make the album is straight up funny bad, hilarious
4. so ambitious is ass to me
5. off that is ok at best but really pretty awful post that era....
star is born is a cool concept but like someone else said its really almost a sneak diss and jay trying to cement himself as the goat at that time
overall super forgettable ..personally I only go back to already home and real as it gets and empire state of mind gets its props
side note: this is also when jay started to really lean into the weird devil worshiping chit of the era 2008-2014 from his dressing to his music videos ....take from that what you will
Iverson_64
Superstar
Vol. 2 is Jay's most successful album.
Iverson_64
Superstar
I agree.
Jay was definitely trend hopping on this record. This was supposed to be his attempt at pop rap a la Graduation and Paper Trail.
It feels ironically quite dated because of this. ESOM and Run This Town are pop rap classics. Young Forever will always be trash to me though. The sample was too blatant/untampered and Jay didn't do the beat justice. DOA was also mid. On To The Next One was good but not an all time hit like ESOM/RTT.
The rest of the album is very hit or miss with some mixing issues.
That whole 2009-2013 era of Jay was weird in general. He was trying to be "Euro Hov" with all the socialite raps, dabbling in high arts/fashion, and acting borderline hipster.
Not a bad album by any means but that whole era of Jay was a huge shift from his 96-03 era. I think performing at Glastonbury and marrying Beyonce in 2008 played a major role in this shift too. He divorced himself from the "mob boss" image completely and rebranded himself to be more marketable.
Jay was definitely trend hopping on this record. This was supposed to be his attempt at pop rap a la Graduation and Paper Trail.
It feels ironically quite dated because of this. ESOM and Run This Town are pop rap classics. Young Forever will always be trash to me though. The sample was too blatant/untampered and Jay didn't do the beat justice. DOA was also mid. On To The Next One was good but not an all time hit like ESOM/RTT.
The rest of the album is very hit or miss with some mixing issues.
That whole 2009-2013 era of Jay was weird in general. He was trying to be "Euro Hov" with all the socialite raps, dabbling in high arts/fashion, and acting borderline hipster.
Not a bad album by any means but that whole era of Jay was a huge shift from his 96-03 era. I think performing at Glastonbury and marrying Beyonce in 2008 played a major role in this shift too. He divorced himself from the "mob boss" image completely and rebranded himself to be more marketable.
theres arguments for both...while id lean toward vol 2 maybe for the time....currently no songs on vol 2 stood test of time streaming or arena wise
ESOM is a diamond hit alone. BP3 could def have that argument
Mike the Executioner
What went on up there? Poppers and weird sex!
This album did for Jay what Recovery did for Eminem. It brought him back as a mainstream star and ensured his relevance with the younger generation. It wouldn't surprise me if Eminem saw how successful BP3 was and decided to use it as a blueprint (pun intended) for Recovery.
The album reminds me of Kingdom Come in that the first half is better than the second half, but it goes back and forth between having good songs ("A Star is Born") and bad songs ("Hate"). I unironically love "Reminder" and "Venus vs. Mars," but other than that, I feel like my opinions line up with most people here. BP3 is clearly meant to be bigger, to be more pop-friendly, to give Jay a place in the new era of hip hop. The production sounds more futuristic and electronic, he gives time to the new school of rap ("As Real as It Gets," "A Star is Born," "Off That"). At the same time, he's bragging about knowing Oprah and Obama, which means in some ways, he's above hip hop. If there's any album that established Jay-Z as someone your grandparents could listen to, it's this one.
It's better than Kingdom Come because I don't pretend half the album doesn't exist, but it's inconsistent and sounds very much like a late 2000s/early 2010s rap album. Certain songs, I'm fine with never hearing again, compared to the big hits from Kingdom Come. This is the beginning of Euro Hov and he stays like this until 4:44.
Seriously, it's crazy how similar the second half of Jay and Eminem's careers are. I didn't even realize it until now.
The album reminds me of Kingdom Come in that the first half is better than the second half, but it goes back and forth between having good songs ("A Star is Born") and bad songs ("Hate"). I unironically love "Reminder" and "Venus vs. Mars," but other than that, I feel like my opinions line up with most people here. BP3 is clearly meant to be bigger, to be more pop-friendly, to give Jay a place in the new era of hip hop. The production sounds more futuristic and electronic, he gives time to the new school of rap ("As Real as It Gets," "A Star is Born," "Off That"). At the same time, he's bragging about knowing Oprah and Obama, which means in some ways, he's above hip hop. If there's any album that established Jay-Z as someone your grandparents could listen to, it's this one.
It's better than Kingdom Come because I don't pretend half the album doesn't exist, but it's inconsistent and sounds very much like a late 2000s/early 2010s rap album. Certain songs, I'm fine with never hearing again, compared to the big hits from Kingdom Come. This is the beginning of Euro Hov and he stays like this until 4:44.
Seriously, it's crazy how similar the second half of Jay and Eminem's careers are. I didn't even realize it until now.
Awesome Wells
The Bobby Womack of Crack
Not true.
"N*gga What, N*gga Who" and "Hard Knock Life" haven't left his set list in decades.
He also keeps "Money Ain't a Thang" and "Can I Get A..." in the stash on tour.
Metal Face
Superstar
On to the Next One is classic
the rest of this album i never play
the rest of this album i never play
Reminds me of my time living in Bloomington IL when I worked at the Walmart in Normal. I remember the thread on sohh when run this town dropped. I was on my hour lunch break and went home to download it
Professor K.
rap game Paul Millsap
Hip-Hop Is Dead had Hip-Hop throughout, Jay still tryna be like Nashow you gonna say autotune is dead and then have autotune throughout the album
