Blueprint Vol.1, The [PA] - Jay-Z > Reviews > Jigga made a crossover smash this time

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	So many hit songs !  plus hidden bonus tracks
Disadvantages:	nope !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

In my own personal opinion,The Blueprint is the best crossover album of all time even more than BIG's Life After Death!

I say this because Jay has made himself appeal to the masses by successfully combining commercial hit records with street anthems.

The Blueprint starts off with The Rulers Back and Jay raps that hes back to run the show with triumphant trumpets bellowing in the background.
Next up is The Takeover which in my opinion is the best diss track of all time he slates Nas and Mobb Deep from start to finish with heavy samples from The Doors and has a great Rock beat. He rips Mobb Deep's Prodigy to shreds with:

"When I was pushing weight back in 88,
You was a ballerina I got the pictures I seen ya! then you dropped shook ones and switched your demeanor,
well,we dont believe you you need more people!"

He smashes Nas's credibility by personally and comically running through his poor lyrics of late, poor record sales and totally mocking him giving him advice on how if he barks up this tree that it will fall on him!(in his words).

Next up is IZZO the summer anthem that Jay blazes with Kanye West production with a sample from the Jacksons thrown in. Jay raps regally on this track as if he is the true king of New York now hes beaten the court case over the Un Riviera stabbing at the Kit Kat Klub and the track is fire. The video is outside the courtroom like John Gotti and riding through the town on a carriage while all the fans are out.

Next up is Girls,Girls,Girls which I think samples Marvin Gaye and is a comical track with Jay describing the different women he has scattered acroos the world. A very creative track.

Other good tracks are Renegade ft Eminem over a spooky Eminem beat where Eminem raps way above his whiny average and does really well and Jay raps about the strains of hustling.

Song Cry is a souful Motown inspired track where he raps about the rejection he used to get and that girls used to call him ugly until he bought himself a car and that it didnt make him cry which I doubt very much!

U Dont Know ft MOP is fire and he runs through how he made his money step by step and the beat is amazing. Boastful lyrics
like:
" Put me anywhere on God's green earth,"
" I'll triple my worth"

Aint No Love is another soulful track by Kanye West and here he describes the jealousy of other rappers towards him and he throws subliminal jabs at D-Block (Jadakiss in particular) where he says he has been holding NY down for 6 straight summers and he is still not getting the respect he thinks he deserves.

Never Change is an excellent track where Jay raps about growing up poor, not being able to afford things other kids had and that he had to start hustling when his older sister was still playing with Barbie. Great lyrics, great song.

At the end of the album Momma Loves Me is him reminiscing about his tough childhood and all the people who was there throughout the hard times with him and it is quite a personal track.

If that wasnt enough there are 2 hidden bonus tracks that dont show up on the album but if you let the last track keep playing you will uncover these gem's! The first is called Lyrical Exercise where he has superb wordplay rapping using exercise metaphors into a sentence that makes sense, and the other is a remix of Girls,Girls,Girls with new verses.

This album is just over an hour long and it leaves you wanting more it is very easy on the ear and it appeals to nearly everybody as the beats are all soulful,melodic and easy listening and the ones that have more bass have great lyrics.

Jay's wordplay on this album are second to none and the beats make this album SO easy on the ear it proves he just maybe be the best rapper out there he is that consistent. If you like Hip-Hop and havent heard this album before I would highly recommend it.

Hope this helps,

Adam