That whole 2009-2013 era was a low point for Jay.
He was making trendy pop rap albums that aged like milk. Even Watch The Throne is somewhat of a mixed bag despite being the best project he had in that era. The tour was better than the album.
He was heavy on the "Euro Hov" hipster/artsy vibe. He also was getting influenced by Kanye a lot during that era. Blueprint 3 was supposed to sound like Graduation and Magna Carta was supposed to sound like MBDTF. Of course, both albums were worse versions of them.
4:44 literally saved Jay's legacy. Prior to 4:44, he was becoming the "one hot album every 10 year average" rapper that he accused Nas of being on Takeover.