Let's Talk about Blueprint 3

The knee-jerk response to the…advance copy of The Blueprint 3 that…uhhh, the label sent me over the Internet…yeah…
Anyway, it’s been fascinating to observe.  Before I even took the (virtual) plastic off my copy, I’d been told how mediocre the album was.  That’s always possible with Jigga.  He’s dropped his fair share of stinkers, perhaps a natural byproduct of dropping an album every year.
(FYI, Prince dropped an album just about every year from ’79-92, and Jigga probably dropped more ughhh records from ’98-2000 than Prince did over those 14 years.)
Now, when I used to say that Vols. 2 and 3 were wiggy wack, people would say I was a hater.  I had to admit that part of why I’d diss those albums so gleefully was because of how the fuckers from New York at Clark talked about him, as if that Hovah thing was on the birth certificate St. Pete keeps on file.  Drove me crazy.  Absolutely mad.
But here’s the thing…I go back and listen to those records now, and they’re still extra average.  I think I passed the hater test.  Few of the four million people (!!!) that bought Vol. 2 are bumping it now.  Vol. 3?  Keeps the rings off your table when you set your drink down.
That said, I ask this question to those dissing Blueprint 3 — WHY ARE YOU HATING?  
One of my boys came through, and we started the record on track 1.  After track 2 — the incredible “Thank You” — we wondered what people were talking about.  When “Off That” came on, we noticed it wasn’t that great…and then we noticed that was track 8, and we hadn’t said that yet.  We got to “Young Forever,” and we’d found our very first, no-questions-asked skipper.
But see, that’s the last track on the album.
So I ask again — why are you hating?
Jigga’s only compared to himself at this point.  He’s become so many people’s emcee messiah.  It makes sense, after all — he’s the bridge between the early ’90s and the new millennium.  His longevity is unparalleled and, at his best, he’s as good as anyone can be.
Plus, he’s won the game of life.  At this point, we don’t just figure he’s gonna roll a 7 every time.  We think he should be able to call five-deuce when he blows on the dice.
At least that’s what I think it is.  I really have no idea.
I’ve gone from thinking BP3 is a good record, to think ing it’s a very good record, to thinking it’s below the top Jigga tier (Reasonable Doubt, Blueprint, Black Album, American Gangster), right on line with the wildly inconsistent Vol. 1.
But this is better than Vol. 1.  BP3 has “Young Forever.”  Vol. 1 has like three “Young Forevers.”
I don’t feel like writing paragraphs, so I’ll go through track by track.

1. “What We Talkin’ Bout.” Similar sound to American Gangster.  Similar vibe, too.  Except where AG was an O.G. dopeman record, this is an O.G. emcee album.  We’ll talk more about this later.
2. “Thank You.” Yeah, raise your hand if you thought that Jay would kill a track sounding halfway like Imani and/or Booty Brown from The Pharcyde (those two were almost indistinguishable to me).  To the crowd that says that Jay can do more — the man that, for better or worse, created the blueprint for the last 10 years of commercial rap does a song that sounds like the records from the good ol’ days that you fawn over, and you don’t call that an elevation?  How much sense does that make?
3. “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune).” The end of the No I.D. suite of the record (he and Kanye co-produced tracks 1,2 and 4, and ID did 3), where the stars of the beats are the snares.  I contend the 808 is the most perfect sound known to man, but I forgot how much I missed a great snare.  BTW, this cut works a lot better in the context of the album than standing alone.
4. “Run This Town.” The beat isn’t heat heat.  Rihanna never is, save for on her cameraphone.  But uhhhh, Jigga kills it.  Again.  Four tracks in, and we’ve got four different styles, and he kills every single one of them.
5. “Empire State of Mind.” Just listen to it.  You know it must be dope if I’m even considering honoring this “it’s all better in NY” nonsense.
6. “Real As It Gets.” Say Jigga didn’t elevate?  I guess.  But what you got to say about Jeezy?  The synths are perfect, giving all the energy you could ask for without stopping the song from floating.  This is cruising in a Lexus.  No noise from the engine, but you will get a ticket if you don’t watch out.
7. “On To The Next One.” OK, time for Swizzy and/or his keyboard to come up with a new drum pattern.  “Hov on that new shit/n ggaz like how come/n ggaz want my old shit/buy my old album.”  Yanno, that kinda defeats the purpose I started with when I wrote this.
8. “Off That.” Not really feeling this one.  Just a little too synthy for my personal tastes.  Where I dug the vibe of “Run This Town,” if not the beat, I just couldn’t get into this one.  Sounds like the obligatory Jigga “gotta make sure I can get at least one of these songs on the radio” track.  See “Jigga That N gga” from Blueprint, which has no business on that record whatsoever.  And just like “Jigga That N gga,” Jay kills this track.  Just ain’t for me.
9. “A Star Is Born.” You do realize he covered 12 years of raps ups and downs in two verses, covered just about every significant epoch in that time, all while managing to sell the fact that he’s been the illest without once sounding disingenuous?  “Prodigy took it too far/don’t fuck with Brooklyn.”  Just perfect.  And ummm, that J. Cole…Fayette-nam came down, Jack.  Dude’s off the chains.
10. “Venus and Mars.” This here’s a strip club song.  If you don’t like strip club records, you won’t dig this.  If you do…well, that “Daddy go hard” in the hook is perfect.  This also might be the “Mamacita” of this record.  Enough of a detour that you may not wanna jam it, like “Mamacita” on Aquemini, but that doesn’t change that the folks kill the track.
11. “Already Home.” Kanye sans No I.D., meaning the synths carry the track instead of the drums, which also means Jigga rhyming over the keys instead of with the rhythm.  Not sure who loves rap music and doesn’t think the way he rides the melody is f cking incredible.
12. “Hate.” Kanye’s back.  How crazy is it that Kanye can spit verses like those with Jay, so self-indulgent (of course), and actually kinda sorta sound like he belongs?  Lil brother done grown up!  Now, don’t think Jigga kills this?  Listen to “N gga What, N gga Who,” which is fairly similar in flow to this (though this isn’t as fast), and tell me he’s not WAY better now than he was in ’98.  Elevation, right?
13. “Reminder.” Hey, when you’re the O.G., you get to continually remind us of the fact.  It’s the perk of being O.G.  However, this track points out one legit complaint of this record — the hook is lazy, as are a few on BP3.
14. “So Ambitious.” Seventh different producer, sound still consistent.  Flow still consistent.  And it gives the proper falling action that a second-to-last track should have, especially on an easy-breezy affair like this?
15. “Young Forever.” Jay-Z’s worst song ever.  Putting this at the end is like putting Pras at the end of all those Fugees songs.  This follows the last track on UGK’s 4 Life, “Hard as Hell,” in a peculiar trend of soft-as-muffins closing tracks from otherwise gangsta individuals.  Tragic.

Or look at it like this — it’s a “just press play” album in an era when records seem to be sequenced and executively produced for tracks to fit in playlists.  The soundscape clearly has a vision, but the anchor is the flow.  And the flow is soooo sick on every track.
So what more do you want from Jay?  He’s actually done what he hinted at with The Black Album — now that he’s got the money and the crown, he’s doing what he wants to do.  He’s offered a legitimate artistic statement that is only in lockstep with commercial trends because of Kanye’s presence.  Save for the features, there’s minimal concern to whether the kids are into this.
But the best part of this album?  It can be appreciated in layers.  This isn’t just a sorta good album.  It’s not a banger, though.  It’s an album you can appreciate as easily as you can jam it.  Works as well on a car ride as a late night.
So please, tell me…what is it that you expected from Jay that you didn’t get?  I got a lot.
But then again, I wasn’t looking for anything in particular.  Guess that makes it easier to dig what you actually get.
You cats sound like I did in ’98.  The difference?  I had a point.  I can’t find yours.
Quit hatin’.