Blueprint is a hip-hop album by New York rapper Jay-Z. Released on the morning of September 11th, 2001, it’s fair to say that this album hit at an interesting inflection point, both in American and Rap history. We’ve decided to take a look back at this album together, and see how it holds up 23 years later. We will alternate songs as we review the tracks one by one, with our initials marking whos is whos.
The Ruler’s Back, WB
Thick bassline. Triumphant horns. Telling district attorneys to go **** themselves. Hov’ is back, baby, hot off the heels of beefing with Nas and building the beginnings of a hip-hop empire, one that’ll span the airwaves for another 20 years. This song is like watching Babe Ruth point his bat to the crowd. You know that a home run is coming; all you can do is watch. “I got great lawyers for cops so dress warm. / Charges don’t stick to dude, he’s teflon.” A pretty unreal opener.
Takeover, ZF
Right into the disses after the opening track. A disstrack aimed at Nas, and Prodigy of Mobb Deep. This is also the first Kanye West produced track on the record. While it’s by all means a good diss track, Nas’ response, Ether, blows it out of the water. There’s a constant driving distorted bass the whole beat, and a sample of The Doors. “I don’t care if you Mobb Deep, I hold triggers to crews/ You little ****’s, I got money stacks bigger than you/ When I was pushin weight back in ‘88/ You was a ballerina, I got the pictures, I seen ya.”
Izzo (H.O.V.A.), WB
A Kanye beat? Yes please. Deep, soulful, rich, lustrous, a beat befitting the cautionary rags-to-riches narrative that Hov’ spins in this song. Though the beat may be glamorous, Jay-Z’s doesn’t glamorize the path he’s taken, with lines recontextualizing the traditional glory of a life built on illegal drug deals and crime: “Like I told you sell drugs, no, Hov’ did that. / So hopefully you won’t have to go through that.”
Girls, Girls, Girls-, ZF
At first glance, this song is awesome. Jay-Z, Biz Markie, Q-Tip, Slick Rick, and last but not least, the king of pop, Micheal Jackson are all on this song. The beat is a very well produced Just Blaze track, and the sample and background vocals are great. The problem is, these lyrics have aged really poorly, and sometimes are fairly sexist and racist
Jay-Z discusses his plethora of girls for four minutes and 35 seconds, and his description of them is… not the best. “I got this Indian squaw the day that I met her/ Asked her what tribe she with, red dot or feather.” What. “I got this African chick with Eddie Murphy on her skull/ She like, “Jigga Man, why you treat me like animal?”.” What.
This song just feels like Jay-Z generalizing women of all races, age, and professions. The production is so enjoyable, however. I love the beat, love the vocals, but the bad one liners are really bad.
Track Five, WB
This track isn’t really titled “Track Five”, but Zack and I decided to exclude it’s actual title, as it contains a word that neither of us feel comfortable typing, or having censored/starred out in our article. You can see the full title on the Spotify page. This song is a little uninspired. The production is stripped back to a fault, with 99% of the song hanging on the same plain bass thrum. Oddly, the monotony IS broken by a recurring sitar sample, underlined by some bloop-y synths. It sort of works for me… I don’t know, I hate to say I feel neutral about it, but it really is sort of a nothing song. It’s okay, I guess. There just isn’t much here lyrically, and I find myself pretty bored with Jay-Z’s self-aggrandizement by the 2nd verse. The man deserves his flowers, that’s for sure, but I don’t find anything particularly interesting in this song.
U Don’t Know, ZF
The beat on this grabs you right as soon as the chipmunk sample comes in. The pounding drums, Jay-Z is at his best at this. Give me the introspective Jay, or the Jay that throws a mean right hook. This song is a right hook, straight to the face. Jay talking about how different he is, as a rapper, and businessman. Classic Jay-Z. “The coke prices up and down like it’s Wall Street, homes/ But this is worse than the Dow Jones, your brains are now blown/ All over thay brown Brougham, one slip, you are now gone.”
Hola’ Hovito, WB
Production wise, this is probably the worst song on the album. I’ve struggled to articulate my problem with the otherwise stellar lyricism throughout the entirety of this listen-through, but this song (which, to me, lacks the witty punch that has doctored up some of the previous tracks) has really solidified what the problem is: a lack of dynamics. Hov’s flow in this whole song is flat! And worse, it’s consistently flat. Every enunciation, emphasis, and inflection bleeds together, and threatens to be suffocating at worse, and boring at best. This problem exists on other songs, but never to the extent it does here. Not great, and not typical of Jay-Z.
Heart of The City (Ain’t No Love), ZF
Two of the best, at their best. The Kanye beats bring something out of Jay-Z, something that remains true in any album after this. The horns, the Bobby Bland sample, with the sick guitar riff. Jay’s flow carries you through the first verse, then you get the raspy singing “Ain’t no love, in the heart of the city/ Ain’t no love, in the heart of town.” Kanye pulls out the best of Jay-Z’s flows, and Jay-Z’s rapping fits Kanye’s beats like a glove. This song was also in the NBA 2k17 soundtrack, so it is yet another song that makes me feel nostalgic. This song shows why he’s one of the best rappers ever. “Can I live? I told you in ninety-six/ That I came to take this **** and I did, handle my biz/ I scramble like Randall with his/ Cunningham but the only thing running is numbers fam/ Jigga held you down six summers, damn, where’s the love?”
Never Change, WB
Now we’re back to cooking. Hearing a Kanye beat from 2001 is like seeing an old (non-problematic) friend, and his signature style oozes the same endless repeatability that it does now, even though his production career as of this song’s recording was still in its infancy. Jay-Z makes his time on the beat count, too, riffing and pondering on themes of identity after his surge to Hip-Hop legend, with lines like: “Chains is cool to cop, but more important is lawyer fees / That’s how it is now, that’s how it always be. / I never change, this is always me.” Just a killer song, and among my favorites from my listen-through. Some online talking heads said this was the weakest track on the album. Seriously? Are we listening to the same thing?
Song Cry, ZF
Yet another great soul sample song, this time by Just Blaze. Introspective Jay-Z is my favorite. Reminiscing on days past, admitting hsi regrets on a screaming soul sample. I expect good, constent flow and the witty word play when I hear a Jay-Z song that sounds like this, and it delivers.
All I Need, WB
This song’s fine. All Jay-Z needs are his cool clothes, hot gals, and friends. Very nice! This song really drags around minute 2, though, and the production does little to recapture my ear once I start to tune it out. Not bad. Not great.
Renegade (feat. Eminem), ZF
Eminem both produced this song, and has a great verse to go along with it. The bass line on this gives me the “stank face” and never fails to get my head bobbing. Jay’s two verses are fairly good, but Eminem’s own verses are just a little bit better. I am not too fond of the Slim Shady act, and am thankful it is dropped in favor of delivering some good punches on this song. The two bring the best flows out of each other after each following verse. Nas did do some damage to this song’s reputation in Ether, saying Eminem “washed” Jay-Z on it. I think Eminem does outperform Jay-Z, but at the time, this song was like Kevin Durant joining the Warriors. KD scored 30, and Steph scored 28, both prefroemd great, one just a little better. “Do not step to me/ I’m awkward, I box lefty/ An orphan, my pops left me/ And often my mama wasn’t home/ Could not stress to me, I wasn’t grown/ ‘Specially on nights I brought somethin’ home to quiet the stomach rumblings.” “See, I’m a poet to some, a regular modern-day Shakespeare/ Jesus Christ, the king of these Latter-day Saints here/ To shatter the picture in which of that as they paint me as/ A monger of hate, satanist, scatter-brained atheist.”
Blueprint (Momma Loves Me), WB
The Al Green sample goes insane on this song. I’m still suffering from Hov’s occasionally meandering flow, and there’s little to liven up the song. However, the story that Jay-Z weaves across this song’s 3:40 run time is powerful, and shows a genuinely introspective, vulnerable side to the king of New York rap—a mode that he would return to as recently as his 2016 album 4:44.
Lyrical Exercise, WB
This beat is NASTY, with a piano trill being underlined by hi hats, which is followed by a killer breakdown section. Hov’s rapping here, too, is unreal. The entire album feels like a bit of a victory lap, but this song especially feels like Jay-Z flexing his lyrical prowess, and ability to run circles around any challenger. Pretty sick.
Girls, Girls, Girls Pt. II
Here we go again, except, this time the song is just a better song. More early Kanye West chipmunk soul production, more Micheal Jackson vocals, and a MUCH better flow, and lyrics from Jay-Z. I love the The Persuaders sample on this beat. I miss when Kanye wasn’t problematic and made beats that sounded like this. The chorus is much better in this version. Micheal Jackson vocals on a Kanye produced drumline gives me the “stank face,” every time I hear it. This song sounds like nostalgia and summer. This song grows on me more and more each listen. Really, this beat, the sample, and the performances, sick. “All they do is dish dirt and put a up on my latest/ Itinerary, but since I tend to vary see/ I tend to carry, more rumors than ten Mariah Carey’s/ Tend to hurries in ten places at once.”