The Blueprint 3

by Jay-Z

Overview

When Jay-Z first made a series out of his best album, 2001's The Blueprint, it became a game of high expectations. The Blueprint of the first volume was Jay-Z as vital as he'd ever been, storming back to the hardcore after a few years of commercial success. The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse was a complete turn, a set of half-cocked crossovers, bloated to bursting with guest features that obscured his talents. The Blueprint 3 is somewhere between the two, closer to the vitality and energy of the original but not without the crossover bids and guest features of the latter (albeit much better this time). Kanye West is in the producer's chair for seven tracks, and it's clear he was reaching for the same energy level as the original Blueprint (which he produced). "What We Talkin' About" begins the album with a wave of surging, oppressive synth, while Jay-Z enumerates (with an intriguing lack of detail) what he's said and what's been said about him, ending with a nod not to the past but the future (and Barack Obama). West also produced the second, "Thank You," and while it starts with typical Jay-Hova brio, the last verse piles on the unrelenting criticism of unnamed rappers doomed to weak sales. There's plenty more lyrical violence to come, but most of the targets are much safer than they were eight years earlier. (Jay doesn't sound very convincing when he claims in "D.O.A. [Death of Auto-Tune]" that it's not "politically correct" to rail against one of the most reviled trends in pop music during the 2000s.) From there, he branches out with a calculating type of finesse, drawing in certain demographics via a roster of guests, from Young Jeezy (hardcore) to Drake (teens) to Kid Cudi (the backpacker crowd). The king of the crossovers here is "Empire State of Mind," a New York flag-waver with plenty of landmark name-dropping that turns into a great anthem with help on the chorus from Alicia Keys. The Blueprint 3 isn't a one-man tour de force like the first. Jay is upstaged once or twice by his guests, and while the productions are stellar throughout -- Timbaland appears three times, and No I.D. gets multiple credits also -- it's clear there's less on Jay's mind this time. Not tuned out like on Kingdom Come, but more content with his dominance as a rap godfather in 2009. ~ John Bush

Product Details

Release Date:	10/13/2009
Label:	Roc Nation
UPC:	0075678957529

Tracks

1. What We Talkin' About
2. Thank You
3. D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)
4. Run This Town
5. Empire State of Mind
6. Real As It Gets
7. On To The Next One
8. Off That
9. A Star Is Born
10. Venus Vs. Mars
11. Already Home
12. Hate
13. Reminder
14. So Ambitious
15. Young Forever

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Jay-Z   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals
Gladstone Anderson   Primary Artist
Mudie's All-Stars   Primary Artist
Jeezy   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals,Featured Artist
Spirit   Primary Artist
Alphaville   Primary Artist
Pharrell Williams   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals,Featured Artist
Kanye West   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals,Featured Artist
Luke Steele   Primary Artist,Vocals,Lead Vocals,Featured Artist
Athanasios Alatas   Primary Artist
Kid Cudi   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals,Featured Artist
Mr. Hudson   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals,Featured Artist
Little Peas in the Space   Primary Artist
The Moments   Primary Artist
Justice   Primary Artist
J. Cole   Primary Artist,Lead Vocals,Featured Artist
Mother Freedom Band   Primary Artist
Like Steele   Featured Artist
Alicia Keys   Lead Vocals,Featured Artist
Kevin Randolph   Keyboards
Angela Hunte   Co-Producer
Rihanna   Featured Artist
K. Briscoe   Vocals
Drake   Lead Vocals,Featured Artist
Janet Sewell-Ulepic   Co-Producer
Swizz Beatz   Lead Vocals,Featured Artist
Jermaine Cole   Featured Artist
Cassie Ventura   Vocals
Jeff Bhasker   Keyboards

Technical Credits

Jay Jenkins   Composer
Jordan "DJ Swivel" Young   Mixing Assistant
Al Goodman   Composer,Composer
Karl Heilbron   Engineer
Shawn Carter   Composer,Executive Producer
Janko Nilovic   Composer
Alicia Keys   Composer
Tony Dawsey   Mastering
Sylvia Robinson   Composer
Swizz Beatz   Producer
Paul Leka   Composer
Kevin Randolph   Composer
Angela Hunte   Composer,Producer
Chris Godbey   Mixing,Engineer
Ernest Wilson   Composer
Marian Gold   Composer
Bert Keyes   Composer
Fabian Marasciullo   Mixing
Marcos Valle   Composer
Greg Medoro   Composer
Bobby Keys   Composer
Ken "Duro" Ifill   Mixing
J. Jenkins   Composer
F. Mertens   Composer
E. Wilson   Composer
M. Jordan   Composer
Pharrell Williams   Composer
Jerome Harmon   Composer,Producer
Kanye West   Composer,Producer,Executive Producer
Luke Steele   Vocal Recording
The Neptunes   Producer
Jeff Bhasker   Composer,Producer
The Inkredibles   Producer
Andrew Dawson   Engineer
Jason Wilkie   Editing Assistant,Assistant Arranger
L. Mollings   Composer
L. Elliott   Composer
Nikesha Briscoe   Composer
Marcos Tovar   Engineer
N. Briscoe   Composer
Miki Tsutsumi   Engineer
Aubrey Graham   Composer
Scott Mescudi   Composer
Dave Sucky   Composer
Lanre Gaba   A&R
Jesse Chaton   Composer
Johnny Mollings   Composer
Xavier De Rosnay   Composer
Bernhard Lloyd   Composer
Frank Mertens   Composer
Gary DeCarlo   Composer
Janet Sewell-Ulepic   Composer,Producer
Harry Mudie   Composer
Dale Frashuer   Composer
Greg Gigendad Burke   Design,Creative Director
Hart Gunther   Editing Assistant,Assistant Arranger
Andrew Coleman   Arranger,Engineer
Lenny Mollings   Composer
Fabienne Leys   A&R
Jessie Chaton   Composer
Ramon Rivas   Mixing Assistant
Alexander Shuckburgh   Composer
Maurice Carpenter   Composer
Leigh Elliott   Composer
Gimel "Young Guru" Keaton   Mixing,Engineer
Frederic Mercier   Composer
Athanasios Alatas   Composer
Jermaine Cole   Composer
Shux   Producer
Maurice Jordan   Composer
Robyn Fenty   Composer
Ali Alatas   Composer
George Medoro   Composer
Nikeshia Briscoe   Composer
Jacob Lloyd   Composer
No-ID   Producer
Kenoe   Producer
Kasseem Dean   Composer
A. Goodman   Composer
M. Carpenter   Composer
Timothy Mosley   Composer
Timbaland   Producer
Gaspard Auge   Composer
Ann Mincieli   Vocal Recording,Keyboard Engineer
Dan Tobin Smith   Photography