Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3

I loved it! i mean it could have knocked a few features but to me its the lyrics that are essential. And he brings it in a laid-back i got it locked esque manner. The 1st two songs are classic, and the rest follows suit in a new school kinda way.

I feel you on that one, major_hitz. I mean I agree with the higher standards thing too but for Jay to had a little of that new sound to it, made it all worth the wait. Jay has this untamed swagger and I think he showed it on most of the songs. My favorite track has got to be Young Forever. It's a laid back album with songz that I would most definitely bump and for all the reasons I named, it's a classic for me.

being the first part of this review is purely personal opinion i'll hold my comments on who i view is the best alive & why. aside from that, i'll give this banger status.

i'm not a jay fan, never have been. i can, however, admit when i hear a great piece of work. this album, while not the classic i think most are hyping it up to be, is hardly lacking in terms of lyrics & production. jay is a man of many talents and while i'd never give jay a top spot on any list i make concerning emcees or records, he gets my respect for doing what he does with passion & respect for the art and his fans.

he isn't the best of all time but he most definitely gets the respect a heavy hitter deserves.

wow i cant believe you gave this 3 spins and rated it the same as pitbulls rebulation hahaahh wow
and that barack obama line claiming hes the best wow

other than that this album is fire, stop missing the old lets go forward please

jay killed it, i know you all love it

This is going to be the rare occasion that I dissagree with Nathan. I thought this album was a "Near Classic" at best. What I think you thought Nathan is that you wanted a classic, and nothing else so thats why you gave it such a low rating.What I don't get is that for years Jay has been making songs like "Venus Vs Mars" with lyrics like those. (i.e. "Big Pimpin" and "Give it to me") so I don't see why you thought that it was so odd for him to do that. Also the production on this album was outstanding, so that alone would have made me give it a 4 stars. Sure there are some tracks on here that are just awful, such as "Young Forever" and "Reminder" but the first six tracks are classic.

4.5 . . . err nathan? production off the chains.. really enjoy the kid cudi track and off that

PS DJBOOTH.. feature fear (drake) tonight, i am curious to see how the community will respond

Nice review, but I disagree with the 3 spin rating as most of the others do. Little breakdown below:

My 3 most disappointing aspects of the album -

3) No real hard swings at the GAME! Whatever, beef is overrated anyways.

2) No NAS! I thought that they might get down on another track b/c they are on the same team now. This goes along with there being a lack of any classic MC on the album (other then Jay himself). I've always dreamed of a JayZ ft. Rakim/KRS/Andre3000/Ghostface etc. - on one of his albums. It didn't happen, kinda disappointed.

1) Kanye's songs! "Run this town" is just okay, nothing really to it and it definitely lacks any creativity. Does anyone else think that Rhianna is annoying on it? "Hater" has a horrible beat - but I have to say that their beats on it are pretty ill. I was kinda hoping for a ridiculously tight Kanye song to cruise to or one that is just a little less sleepy. Ain't no love in the heart of the city!

My 3 BEST aspects of the album!

3) Giving the new school some props! J. Cole, Drake, Jeezy, Cudi - I like the fact that he took time to make some ill tracks with them. Not sure which one of the songs is the best - might go with the Jeezy. "A Star is born" gives props to the old school and then explains who's next, well done on that one.

2) Empire State and Thank You are straight classics. Alicia Keys is amazing. Laid back songs perfect for the end of the summer chillings.

1) You can basically listen to this album straight thru - no song is THAT bad to everyone. Kind of has something for everyone in that sense.

PEACE!

i agree with nathan, its a good album but this is not the same level as reasonable doubt, vol 2, blueprint and black album, and american gangster so its not a classic but then again i thought kingdom come was a good album, not great but not horrible either. i put this on that level. it full of good songs and different concepts but its not a great album to me

Appreciate the responses people. I get more emails about ratings than anything else, so let me make something clear: when I rate albums I factor in that artists' ability, not just how they compare to other albums. For example, if Lebron dropped 20 points in a game you'd go, "that's an average game for Lebron." And if Anderson Varejao dropped 8 points in a game you'd go, "Yeah, that's an average game for Varejao." Does that mean that Lebron and Varejao are equivalent players? Of course not, but it does mean for at least that one game they turned in comparable performances. Now substite Jay for Lebron and, for example, Pitbull for Varejao. That's my point. Individual performance isn't my sole consideration when I rate albums, but I defniitely factor it in.

I liked BP3, I did, but when put in the context of what Jay is capable of, it's about average. Reasonable Doubt was a classic, The Blueprint was a classic, American Gangster was a near-classic. Go listen to those albums - to say BP3 is on the same level is to forget just how good Reasonable Doubt/The Blueprint, etc. really were.

As always, it's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. Believe it or not I love when folks disagree, hip-hop needs more discussion not less, so keep it coming.

I dig it Nathan.

but Jay-Z is old, he's not in his prime anymore! Or is he? Is he Jordan at the end of his career with the Bulls or at the very end with the Wizards? Favre with the Packers in 2007 or with the Jets last year?

If Jay is Lebron, I think BP3 is a 25 pt. 7 reb. 12 assist game - really tight.

Thanks for your feedback!

Honestly, i totally agree with this review though my favourite track is Empire thanks to Alicia Keys. Just have to wait for the rest of this year's albums to make up for this OB4CL2...

After listening to this album all weekend and all last week (of course the DJbooth team gets everything early!), I must agree with you Nate 110%! This album only had about 5 songs that I would listen to, and 3 of those were previously released. The track with Swizz beats was corny and the one with Jeezy was Weak. That just leaves me with Thank you, DOA, the intro, and Run this town. Jay usually comes better than this...its only a few tracks to listen to and doesn't feel like a full album. On a side note, I didn't like American Gangster at all. I don't like the cocky Jay-Z on the life instruments. I think that was one of his weakest CD's. I thought Kingdom Come was better. Anyway, this is just an average album with some GREAT highlights to it!

I strongly disagree with this review, 3 spins, come on! This is CLASSIC! Best Hip-Hop album of the year, Love Vs. Money is still best R&B to me.

My Picks:
Venus Vs. Mars
A Star Is Born
Empire State of Mind
Thank You
One To The Next One

The only two he could have eliminated is the first and last tracks.

Average at best... never really been a fan of Jay-Z. I think he's like the Tiger Woods of rap in that he is really ridiculously full of himself.

Regardless of my opinion of him, the music was really lacking.

-Run This Town is definitely the best, but I heard it was originally a Rihanna track??
-The track with Drake was very disappointing

...eh basically just a disappointing album aside from a couple nice tracks.

I strongly disagree with Nathan's review; possibly for the first time. This album surpasses my expectations. As a huge fan of Jay's work, I can honestly say this ranks right next to the Black Album; a solid 4.5 out of 5. In my personal opinion, this was a stronger album than American Gangster and the first album since Theater of the Mind that I can listen to all the way through without skipping.

Not every track is a classic but they all have something memorable to beheld. When the lyrics falter, the production remains strong and vice versa.

I'm especially surprised at Nathan's "Mixtape Ready" picks; "Forver Young", next to "Empire State of Mind" and "D.O.A", is an excellent rendition of a classic oldie and is more than deserving of several replays.

Basically, all in all, I love this album; this being exemplified as its the first album in over a year I actually went out to buy a hard copy of.

BUY THIS ALBUM.

A design or pattern to be followed.
Jay Z is a very well and respected artist. He has paid his dues and others must follow his lead if that is they are interested inbeing successful. With that said,I view BP 3 AS A PLAN OR DESIGN TO BE FOLLOWED BY ALL OF THOSE YOUNG UPand coming artist. Why would Jay Z TRY TO DUPLICATE THE previous BP1 or 2 and this is 2009. This is why the albulm is so so versatile. He doesn't have to do that or prove anything to any one. He letting other share in Blueprint for the future of Rap and even brought in the young producers from

Va the Inkredibles. I personally feel that Blue Print 3 is sending a message to the Hip Hop /R&B WORLD. A change is comming so get ready. We can no longer keep looking in the past like 8 track mines when we have a CD in our hands.

P.S. "Hov on that new s***/N****s like "How Come"?/N****s want my old s***/Buy my old album"

"Men Lie. Women Lie. Numbers don't."

at open mic, if u been listen to artist like kid cudi, b.o.b, bobby creekwater, fashawn, uni, xv, wale, asher roth, blu, casey veggies, play boy tre and so on u would know that hip hop is already changin. but i do agree that it needed a person like jay-z to try and usher in that new era, maybe cuz he got wale and j.cole under the roc nation umbrella and it would be easier to get there sound out. whether thats it or not the change has already started before jay z.

At sylnc, I actually do agree with you in some respects and I have been listning to these and other artist for quite some time. Your point regarding Roc Nation was well taken. THE PAST, THE PRESENT , THE FUTURE. It's all there!!! The past, if not forgotten can serve as a guide for the future....Hu Jintao
Peace

YO NATHAN S........WHERE THE OB4CL2 REVIEW??????

This is NOT a classic album, especially when you compare it with other albums Jay has released (The Blueprint & Reasonable Doubt are miles better then this).

To summarize my opinion about this album, I thought the production was average through-out (besides on Off That & All Ready Home). Lyrically, Jay hardly delivered to the levels that are expected from him (besides on D.O.A & Thank You).

I still believe Jay is a great artist, though his skills as a MC are starting to fall.

Top 5
1. Already Home
2. D.O.A.
3. Off That
4. Empire State Of Mind
5. Run This Town

ive never been a jay z fan, but i kept my mind open

i only listened to the songs on hotnewhiphop, and the only thing i liked about all of them was the hooks, Young Forever had a good hook, So Ambitious had a good hook, Already Home had a good hook, for some reason i liked Off Thats hook, this album was one of the most anticipated this year but it didnt live up to that

Run This Town was made by Kanye and Rihanna, Jay Z spit a couple off well below avg verses

DOA was overrated, the verses werent that good, a couple a pretty good lines, the concept was good, but again he didnt do that great on it

but i guess i shud listen to Empire State of Mind cuz thats suppose to be good

2.5, but i wont be the first 2...

Ive been listening to this album for just about a week (I got the album leak), and i LOVE it! its nowhere near a classic Jay-z album, but its still great! Just about all the tracks were good except Venus vs Mars and On To The Next One. at least a 4 out of 5, maybe 4.5

Favorite tracks:
1.Already Home
2.So Ambitious
3.Hate (even though kanye's verse sucked)
4.Real As it Gets or Empire State of Mind
5.Reminder

P.S. I think this is the first time i've EVER disagreed with a Nathan S album review!

Wasn't that great. People are just giving this good reviews because its Jay-Z. People are just too afraid to say that Jay-Z didn't make a great album. Its not a bad album but nothing special at all.

Top 5:
1. Empire State of Mind
2. Already Home
3. As real as it gets.
4. Run this town.
5. Thank You

I Liked Da Album...
SWAG 24 ENT - www.myspace.com/greenguy24
www.myspace.com/swag24ent

"A Dreamer’s Perspective” Album Review
Album: Jay-Z, The Blueprint 3

Written by Mike Dreams (Michael A. Hannah)

So I’ve acquired a new rap moniker and haven’t wrote anything for a while on the journalism side of my love for music, so what better to break the proverbial ice again with one of the most anticipated hip hop albums of the year “Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint 3”. Everybody’s talking about if Jay still has it, if he’s washed up, old and should stop rapping and concerned if he can still make classics like the original “Blueprint” proved to be. Well, let’s talk about it.
I must say that the intro utterly blew me away. I was able to hear these intro verses on a few live performances of the acapella. I always liked what was said and thought it was really dope. Lines such as “They keep saying Hov take it back, I‘m doing better before, why would I do that“ and “Talking about revenge while carrying his casket, all teary eyed, bout to take it to a mattress” really stuck out. These are the insightful, observant and “I scoff at em” attitude type lines that we know Jay for. It‘s like he‘s saying “Who‘s opinion really matters except for mines?” The intro was certainly Jay in his element over a production that you had no choice but to give your full attention to. One word to describe the introduction: Captivating. Now, in contrast to how you feel about “The Ruler’s Back” on BP1 based on how long you’ve been listening to it and the classic position is has, I actually really prefer this more epic approach to an intro that BP3 presented. It definitely fits with the status that Jay-Z contains in the hip hop world.

The second joint we moved into was “Thank You” On my very first listen on the album, I disregarded this joint as a good song, but for some reason, on the second and third listen through, it seemed like an entirely new song and I liked it a lot. The production once again was one of those attention grabbing beats. You can blame the ambient snares with the snapback reverberation effects for the concentration-capturing attraction to it. Jay exhibited sort of a whimsical, fun vibe on the track, that was sort of reminiscent to a Lupe Fiasco track I heard a few years ago called “We Love You”. It’s not that the songs sounded similar, but just the feeling I felt from both songs I deemed to be similar.

The third and fourth song we moved into on the album were of course the project’s first and second singles, “D.O.A” & “Run This Town. When you deal with reviewing a single for an album that’s been out for a while as you are talking about the album as a whole, it’s sort of hard not to be bias due to the fact that you’ve been able to get used to it through rampant airplay. Even while understanding that matter is very true, in my opinion personally, I felt these were two of the strongest records on the album. The production on both were classically gritty, but still held enough draw and demand for mainstream appeal. D.O.A was straight bars of something I’d like to dub as “braggadocios venting”. Jay spilled his dislike for the usage of the autotune tool as a gimmick within the hip hop world while reiterating that this might be the greatest hip hop record you’ve heard in a while, saving us from all the foolishness that’s been occurring in the industry as of late.

“Empire State Of Mind” was one of the shining gems on the album. I wasn’t a HUGE fan of the production on the verses, but the “Love On A Two Way Street” sample was decent enough to lace this epic joint featuring the loveliness of Alicia Keys’ presence on a powerful, bravado driven, yelling-style chorus. She clearly “Eminem-ed” Jay-Z on this record with her soulful hook. Jay presented a few stand out lines such as “If Jesus is paying Lebron, I’m paying Dwayne Wade”. I guess it’s not a bad thing if the best record on your album is not necessarily because of you rap lyrics? Is it?

I absolutely fell in love (PAUSE) with the production on “Real As It Gets” when it first came in. It had that “making of a classic” feel to it from the get go. Other than the incredible “Inkredibles” production, Jeezy’s introduction verse was definitely on point, as well as the inspirational style hook that we‘ve gathered as one of this trademarks. Some could say that Jeezy is the newest “D-Boy” rapper in the game that reflects the origins of Jay-Z’s music with a Southern twang and a raspy voice, so them linking up for a record together was simply bound to happen and be a success. In my opinion, this is one of the better street records that I’ve heard in a long time.

“On The Next One” was one of the worst productions I’ve ever heard from Swizz Beatz or heard Jay-Z spit over. The kicks and snare instruments sounding fresh out of FL Studio 7 and was just not good at all. It’s sad, because Jay-Z’s lyrics were wittingly superb. “N*ggas want my old sh*t, buy my old album” & “No I’m not a Jonas, brother, I’m a grown-up, no I’m not a virgin, I use my Cajones.” I would have been able to stomach it better if it was just a mixtape joint. I’m not a hater, but Swizz Beatz should go to rehab after this one. #RealTalk.

“Off That” is a record that certainly has to grow on you. Just like a handful of many others, when I first heard this record, I was a little disappointed for a couple reasons. #1: It’s a Timbo and Jay collab. It’s supposed to be epic, right? #2: You feature one of the hottest artists in the game right now and he doesn’t get a verse? #3: Are we still using cheap clap snares in 2009? Now this may come off as hating to many of you, but come on? Think about the past Tim & Jay collabs? This record certainly doesn’t hold a candle to “Dirt Off Your Shoulders”. But then I started thinking about what Jay said in the horribly-produced Swizz record that preceded this track and I realized, he’s on new stuff now. If we want to old Jay, go buy and listen to the old Jay. The songs swing grew on me and I can see it doing well in club settings. It still contains that uncanny Jay-Z candor and swag (we still need to find a word to replace this) that we all know him for and Drake equally presented his presence on the hook. In my opinion, it’s cool for Jay to branch out and do new things, but I still hope he brings those classic, soulful joints in the future. Let’s hope he’s not completely “Off That”.

“And you say New York City!” [In Autotune]. Okay, now that we got that out of the way, “A Star Is Born” was a great record for me, because it really exhibited how Jay-Z is sort of passing the torch to these newer artists emerging into the game. I recall reading blog comments from people when they saw the track list and them being disappointed when they didn’t see the Part 2 to some classic collabs that Jay had in the past (Jay & Em, Jay & Nas, etc). For Jay-Z to be the “Best Rapper Alive”, it’s only right for him to have to be the one to really cosign these new cats and pass the torch. Regardless of anyone hating, you can’t deny that Jay-Z’s voice and opinion is one of the most powerful, if not the MOST powerful in the hip hop scene. “If you can’t respect that, your whole perspective is wack”. I thought this was a very commendable record, where Jay sort of put himself on the back burner to show appreciation to his peers who have accomplished great feats. He sort of took some of his losses with a grain of salt, (such as Eminem’s outshining verse on Renegade). Now some people will chalk this up for him trying too hard to not sound like a hater (what some people called him after D.O.A), but I say it’s sincere. Take it or leave it. The new Roc Nation signee “J.Cole” takes the song out with a pretty ill verse that showed off some of the reasons why he’s one of the next “stars” to shine in the rap game.

“Venus vs. Mars” was Jay back on his super cool swag. Over what I can clearly say is one of my favorite productions on the album, Jay gets on his “Blue Magic” style flow, sort of with the lower tone and vocal swing, as he talks about the differences between him and his lady companion. Beyonce does his response vocals on the hook. All in all, I felt this was a fun track that Jay executed well.

“Already Home” is the next record we embark on this journey. Kanye’s production was decent, and Kid Cudi’s hook grew on me, though I felt the engineering effects on it could have been a little better. But aside from that, the record was decent. Jay-Z had an exciting flow on it and there wasn’t much about it to hate on. (Even if I wanted to)

“Hate” was a record that really caught me off guard. The production was quite weird and some of the lines were very elementary “I’m never sprung, but I spring-er, JERRY”. (Really Kanye? Is this what we are on? LOL.) It’s sort of a record you might HATE on the first listen, and then when you listen again, you will change your mind. This is what happened to me. You certainly can’t say the production sounds like anything out there right now. You will either love or hate the production. Jay shined creatively on this one. It also sounds like somebody’s been listening to the “UKNOWBIGSEAN” mixtape recently. He should have featured on this track in opposition to Kanye (Who was already featured on “Run This Town“ with a verse). I see J. Cole, Kid Cudi & Drake getting shine on the album. What’s good with Big Sean not getting his?

“Reminder” was another low-grade production from Timberland and the girl signing the hook sounded like someone punched Rihanna in the stomach (No Chris Brown) and told her to sing the hook through her nose, and then they pitch shifted her vocals to be higher. Other than those obvious horrible things, Jay-Z’s lyrics was on point. “Tell them ordinary Joes Budden (button) up”. Somebody pray for Timbaland.

While “So Ambitious” is certainly not “Allure”, it was a decent “diet” version of it. You can’t go wrong with a Pharrell/Jay-Z collab, (unlike some other producers who seem to be too busy bringing “Sexy Back” to produce hip hop music). It wasn’t a STANDOUT track, but certainly better than a couple of the previous joints.

We finally wrap up the 3rd Installment of the Blueprint Trilogy with a classic sounding “Young Forever” which samples a song with the reverse title. Jay acquires that European installment of G.O.O.D Music that lives in the 80s and travels through time to do music now, for the song’s vocals and hooks. (By the way, Mr. Hudson sounding like he’s still in the 80s is not a bad thing at all. That era was timeless). Kanye recruited his “Coldest Winter” snare for this joint. I would have preferred a different snare but I guess that’s just me. (I’m a snare critic…I know. LOL.) It was a decent joint to take us out with. It reminded me of that “History” track Jay leaked a while back, but this version was just executed incredibly better. I throw my Roc sign in the air for this one. (Lighters and cell phones are allowed to go up as well.)

Overall, I felt the album was decent. Some people were throwing the baby out with the bath water and saying it was a horrible album. I indeed think that there were some filler tracks that could have been eliminated, but it had it’s standout moments to shine. It was still Jay-Z and it was still better than most of the hip hop music that has come out and will come out this year. I think the problem is that we are spoiled now. Hip Hop fans have unreal expectations and closed mines to artists’ branching out and doing different things. These type of things are just what fans will just have to deal with on a personal level. Don’t criticize an artist for doing something different. Criticize yourself for being a closed minded aficionado. As for Jay-Z, by the looks of this album, he still knows how to craft a “Blueprint” for success.

And that was just my two cents…and then some.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars.

-Mike Dreams (Michael Hannah)
http://www.mikedreamsmusic.com
Mikedreamsmusic@gmail.com
AIM: mikedreamsmusic

1. What We Talkin About - The production is lush and layered, mixing in a variety of sounds, synths and a lot of ambient noise that surround a confident and assertive Jay-Z. And Jay quickly sorts out what really matters or doesn’t matter to him anymore. Jay-Z kills the beat discussing his current status and all the questions surrounding him .... BANGER!!!

2. Thank You - The horn-heavy production is addicting and Jay-Z handles it with aplomb simply unleashing handful of quotables, thanking fans and listeners for their continued support over the years. That better-than-you armor is all over this song. Verses are solid both delivery-wise and content-wise .... BANGER!!!

3. D.O.A - No ID deserves a Nobel Prize for this instrumental. INSTANT CLASSIC more so bcos of the production and the whole idea/theme of the track. Don't front! It was needed and when Hov says, people listen. But more importantly it succeeds as it serves its purpose of being a 'Lead-Single' to the fullest - Publicity? Check. Hype? Check. Beefs? Check. Debates? Check. YouTube hits? Check. Increase in sales of 808 & Heartbreaks? Check. Suspension on Ron Browz's features/joints on DJBooth.Net? Check.

4. Run This Town - Jay making an anthem/statement, that Roc Nation is here to stay. The beat is incredible; one of my favorite’s of the year. Jay attacks with double entendre lyrics/refrences
throughout but loses steam towards the end of the second verse with the rich man talk, but it’s not mailed in verses by any means. Kanye indeed outshines Jay on his own ish with his punchline heavy verse and is arguably the highlight of the song. Rihanna did her thing on chorus and having Jay in the background in parts added to the appeal and Rihanna (annoying voice or not) spelled hit for me ... BANGER!!!

5. Empire State Of Mind - Another Gem. Production is ‘creme de la creme’ as Jay delivers an ‘ode to his city and takes you around the 5 boroughs and the 8 million stories that rest among them with braggadocious boastings only Hova can pull off "I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can". This is that feel good music. Then Miss Alicia Keyes blesses the song with the Hook of the Year .... Near-Classic!

6. Real As It Gets - While this song sounds like it’s on the wrong album, it’s still a good one that delivers and serves its purpose to appeal to Dirty-South audience. And I can't deny the "Inkredibles" epic-sounding beat which is truly haunting/banging. I don’t really dig Jeezy’s voice, but the lyrics weren’t bad and Jay-Z ride this beat as well as anyone ... BANGER!!!

7. On To The Next One - Typical Swizzy signature bouncy production complete with the background
stylings of a clap beat, drums, a hint of snare, sometimes it works and lot of times it doesn’t – this time it f*cking does. So that's a plus and Jay-Z rides it till the wheels fall of with his good ole’ radio raps and braggadocio serving their purpose of how he’s always forward moving and never caught being in the same light as everybody else .... BANGER!!!

8. Off That - The song isn’t as good as it looked on paper majorly because its not what we were expecting (a Drake verse) ... But after a few listens it kinda grew on me and has a slick! club bounce to it and definitely the best among the trio of Timbo's beats on BP3. Once again Hova rant against current fads (cos he already off that). On the lyrical tip, Jigga is reacting to the bullshit fads that are, in his opinion, flooding the market, not Hova's best but compare this club song with the rest this is way more lyrically superior. Could've have been more memorable but Timbaland's production is heard it all before status. Expectations: Sky-High. Outcome: Disappointment! but still enjoyable ... 3.5

9. A Star Is Born - Another standout track. Grade-A quality Yeezy's production punctuated by bouncy handclaps and the sampled hook wins in every regard. Jay-Z breaks down the strengths of all the great rappers of his time, and gives props to just about anyone who matters. J.Cole delivers an effective verse and holds his own on the track with Jay and makes you forget about Drake's limiting contribution on "Off That" .... Near-Classic!

10. Venus Vs Mars - A chick song in a different way. Timbo's minimalist beat works well, and Hova's verses are all intricately constructed, lots of double meanings here and colorful wordplay on the whole concept of Men Vs Women, but I have to say after few spins the beat gets just boring, nothing more, nothing less. The hook is kind of meh, but it's too short to truly hold a grudge against. Overall, the beat, well, Timba appeared to be doing his best 808s & Heartbreaks impression. It wasn’t an awful production, just nothing worth noting or more importantly wasn't worth going down on an album of such status/hype ... Rotation-Stuff.

11. Already Home - Catchy hook by KiD CuDi and Jay-Z provides enuff dope! lines to keep one hooked, rhymes are as pointed as ever and whose flow proves to be more flexible than ever before .... BANGER!!!

12. Hate - BP3 has a lot more surprising moments than we're used to hearing from Jay. Both Kanye and Jay goes back and forth over all-out futuristic production it’s like a battle of metaphors (but quite weak and fairly predictable lines), they not be saying anything new but the ways in which they say is compelling. Once again Kanye's part is the highlight of the track and the track would've been better on a ye' album ... Rotation-Stuff.

13. Reminder - Acapella please? This beat sucks so bad that even K-fed won't spit over this instrumental. I won't lie, cut it off halfway through. The hook is the equivalent of someone scratching a chalkboard and the whole track suffers in order to get the message across. Avoid at all cost. To all booth-heads if ya'll planning to hate, kindly begin with this one.

14. So Ambitious - Sonically - "Blue" Pt.2 which is a good thing in my opinion and lyrically Jay utilizes it to deliver a motivational track about how he never gave up his dreams and ambitions when others said he couldn’t + A Pharell hook delivered in his usual falsetto style equals nuthin short of ... BANGER!!!

15. Young Forever - Of course, this means that Jay will probably release more albums later on, but we'll pretend that this is the end for now, okay? ... BANGER!!!

Im.More.Than.Satisfied.

Top Picks:

1. D.O.A.
2. A Star Is Born
3. Empire State Of Mind
4. Run This Town
5. Thank You
6. Young Forever
7. On To The Next One

Hope this would beat volume2.Big up King of NYC

DAMN Nathan came hard! I was expecting a 3.5 rating, but a 3? Well it's pretty much the truth.

Not only do you have to compare BP3 to HOV's catalog, but to what he said himself in pushing the album back: he wanted to make sure it was "perfect." Who knows what "perfect" sounds like, but I was really disappointed with this. "What We Talkin About" set a great tone for what I thought would follow, but the album just retreads Kingdom Come. Examples:
Empire State of Mind = Hollywood
Young Forever = Beach Chair

And for so much talk about the "future," Run This Town is just Live Your Life part 2, so it's not surprising that it's a hit on the charts.

And I don't care if Just Blaze and other producers are the past. You brought back Timbaland and a bad Neptunes. I would have preferred more Diddy.

As for lyrics, he brought some clever rhymes many times, but even then they feel inferior to past offerings.

HOV said that if you want the past, go get his past albums. I gladly will.

Another thing I hope someone can address. I've never understood the talk about a rapper having diminished skills because he's old. He's not 90 years old and senile. It's his mind and tongue he's using, not his legs like Michael Jordan. I mean making a mental diminution comparison with a physical?? I don't get it.

Now I know some entertainers get all doped up and blow their brains out on drugs and alcohol, but I don't think this is Jay-Z.

I could understand him being LAZY, just cause he's said it all back since the Black Album. But too old? Is Dr. Dre too old to produce beats? And I never hear people say Snoop Dogg is too old, and he LOOKS like he's done too much smoking. Help me out here people!

Listened to it 3 times and a single doesn't sound stand out to me.

Overall, it's all right, but no real bangers.
Disappointing, to say the least.

I've ben jockin this album since it came out yesterday. I went through the first eight tracks and I loved about seven of them. Then the second half came along and I as kinda disappointed. Some of the songs were really bad and some were okay. I was so surprised that the Timbo tracks weren't epic. Timbaland is still my favorite producer, but he needs to hurry up and reinvent his sound again. I somewhat agree with Nathan on that. "Hate" was just awful and the Swizz Beatz track was atrocious.

There were some awesome tracks on here tho. The track with Jeezy was hot! "Empire State of Mind" was cool. "Thank You" was a cool track. "D.O.A", "Run This Town" and "Off That" are hot! The Pharrell track was ok, but it was no "Allure" as Mike Dreams put it.

Overrall I enjoy this album. I threw some disses at it mainly because I expected something to compare to the first Blueprint album. This isn't Jay at his best, but its still better than most rap albums out here this year. There's definitely a few tracks on here that I'll play for a good while and add to my large Jay-Z playlist on my ipod lol. Don't stop makin music! Keep it comin!

The album was extremely hyped and turned out to be subpar: nothing more, nothing less. It starts out on a great note, but then production becomes stale and each track becomes hit or miss.

Kanye outshining Jay on a track should NEVER happen.... I don't care how much better Kanye has become. If you call yourself the GOAT, you better be able to back it up, time and time again. Period.

im not a big fan of jay. big ups 4 daring to be different with some of these tracks i just feel the beats would of been in better hands with some other artists. i mean its not a bad album its just not wat it was hyped 2 b,but i will say its the best album i heard in a while

jay - z you did it homie

I havent viewed Jay-Z as a Hip Hop ARTIST since Blueprint I. Hes more of a business man now, and all of you know it. He should have stayed retired after Black Album, cause that was a classic dope album. Period.

BluePrint 3 was a dissapointing album i would expect more from Jay-Z the album had a lot of poor production i mean from big names like Kanye and timberland the album was really WEAK! nothing compered to the other blue print albums or american gangster

3 spins? you gotta be joking, this album is a 4.5/5

It was good not better than American Gangster but it definitely had to grow on me

Growing on me already. Still not as good as American Gangster or Kingdom Come. You have to compare Jay-Z with his own work, not the trash of all these other artists. I agree this is more than 3 spins though. Every damn album on this site gets at least 3, c'mon.

hate & forever young = THE HOTTEST songs.

YEA Mr. Top Hat the beat to Reminder was trash, and I didn't really like On to the next one, but other than that, this album was straight. D.O.A is the headliner, but in my opinion Empire State of mind is the soul of this album. Already Home is heart of this album. So ambitious is the Inspiration here. Young Forever is the Gut of this album. Of corse you have the radio ready tracks like Off That and Run this town, which do bang without question. My favorite song however is none of these, my fav is the Weapon of the Album, What we talkin about. That song is so raw. A star is born, is simply on the album to win back supporters he may have lost with DOA in my opinion also not one of my favs. Already home is another classic joint that reminds us all that rather he is on top of rap or not, he has conquered it and so much more all b4 the age of 50. Love him or leave him alone. Regardless he is still the most powerful man in Hip hop, maybe in music period. This is not a classic album by any means, but it is a solid one, Sad thing about it, is not many of us can relate to Jigga anymore, he's in a atmosphere successfully that most of us will never see. I think that is why so many seem to resent him these days. Never the less after watching that concert 9/11 all his haters were silenced, doubters left believers, and fans left in awe. For that alone he gets a star. ( Where is Victory? He sung it for the President and didn't put it on the album???)
1.What We talking bout
2 So Ambitious
3 Empire State of Mind
4 Already Home
5 Run this town

this is like the best music by Jay-Z i have ever heard go and buy it!!