![]() ![]() Having built such a buzz around the album, it seemed to Carter that, as per usual, album day would be a huge success. Aimed at Mobb Deep and Nas, the track began the legendary beef between Nas and Jay-Z. The infamous Jay-Z diss-track ‘Takeover’ was the first album cut given to radio. With the track being such a hit, Jay-Z even performed the track live at the first-ever BET Awards in June 2001.Īlthough ‘Izzo (H.O.V.A)’ was the album’s lead single, it wasn’t the first track from the album released to radio. Produced by Kanye West and recorded at Baseline Studios in New York, the song debuted in the top 10, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. However, some things are just out of the rapper’s control, and what happened on the day of his Blueprint album release was (unfortunately) out of his control.Ĭarter’s 2001 album rollout commenced exceptionally well when he released his lead single, ‘Izzo (H.O.V.A.),’ more widely known as ‘H to the Izzo’. Hov knows this, hence why every time he is set to release a project, the Brooklyn rapper makes sure his marketing and promotion are carried out meticulously and strategically, so he has a faultless album rollout. Operating at such a high level in the music business and with the world setting high expectations for every project you announce, you can’t afford to bungle album day. However, it wasn’t The Black Album that gave Jay-Z problems. After this body of work, the rapper began releasing more erratically. Hov maintained this streak until 2003, when he unveiled, The Black Album. And yet, in what could easily have been the twilight of his recording days, he's still standing, still striving, still shining.Following his 1995 debut album, Reasonable Doubt, the rapper relentlessly released a new project for fans every year and did so for nine years. ![]() Jay-Z has outlived - literally and figuratively - so many of his peers. That's why The Blueprint 3's broad appeal is a powerful statement in its own right. Kelly), Jay-Z has attained the rap equivalent of Bruce Springsteen or U2 status each new album aspires to be "an event," but it becomes harder to reinvent yourself when you're this deep into a career. To be fair, when you're on your 11th release (not including collaborations with Linkin Park and R. There's also the matter of basing a song around Alphaville's 1984 hit, "Forever Young," a move that says anything but "forever" or "young." ![]() It lacks the singular cohesion of the original Blueprint album, and Jay-Z's once-unrivaled flow sounds more pedestrian at times. Though The Blueprint 3 is Jay-Z's strongest release since coming back from retirement in 2006, overall, it'd only rank somewhere in the middle of his catalog. All kinds of minimalist beeps, burps and claps bump alongside huffing synthesizer vamps and blaring banks of horns. But nowhere are the album's populist ambitions more clear than in its dance-friendly, electronic-infused rhythms. Jay-Z also invites on a few current 15-minute famers such as Drake and Kid Cudi. It helps that the songs are generally brighter, less violent and less drug-oriented than past efforts. The Blueprint 3 is easily one of his most commercially savvy albums to date, aiming for relevance in Walmart kiosks, Hollywood clubs and Brooklyn bodegas alike. If anything, now that he's signing multimillion-dollar deals with music promoters such as Live Nation, he's more of a global entertainer than ever - and he knows it. (Death of Auto-Tune)," critiques the ubiquity of the voice-altering software in today's pop music.ĭespite his disdain for Auto-Tune, Jay isn't anti-pop. The Blueprint 3 is keenly conversant with contemporary pop trends, though not always in a friendly manner. If Jay-Z can't decide whether to focus on the past or the future, he's clear on where he stands in the present. But elsewhere, Jay-Z flips things around, urging listeners to stop dwelling on his past. In the background plays his recent hit with singer Rihanna: "Run This Town." The commercial is all about reminding people where Jay-Z has been there's even a song called "Reminder" on the album. In a minute-long ad made to promote The Blueprint 3 and the music service Rhapsody, Jay-Z glides through a photo shoot, restaging every iconic pose from his previous 10 album covers. Jay-Z onstage in Anaheim, Calif., in August.
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