Posted in: Hip Hop by cw00006 on August 26th, 2009 | 0 Comments
This is an article on a classic hip hop album by rap artist Jay-z. It was written, mainly, as a prelude to the forthcoming Blueprint three album but also as a salutory gesture to a fine piece of work by a living legend.
Image via Wikipedia
The Blueprint: Can it be repeated?On the Hip hop calendar, September 11th 2001 is more than just the day that one of the most atrocious terrorist attacks was executed on American soil, it is the day that, arguably, hip hop’s most critically and commercially successful rapper regained his grasp on the industry. Shawn Carter or Jay-z, as he is known by many, was back, packing a lyrically mean punch and a soulfully minted sound that would make even the most applauded church choir envious. Many would have questioned the motive behind hiring producer unknowns (Kanye West & Just Blaze) over industry veterans (Dr Dre, Timbaland) to do major production work on the album, at a time when a blonde peroxide dyed, WHITE rapper from Detroit was giving mcs a lesson lyrical wordplay. It didn’t help matters that on the day of Blueprint’s release, public attention was turned to the mayhem that had engulfed New York City.
In hind sight, I think it’s safe to say that we should never have had reason to fear. The Blueprint debuted at number 1 on the billboard top 200 earning both triple platinum and 5 mic status in the United States. “How,” an aspiring and unsigned underground MC would ask, “is that possible?” Good question, I’d say before adding that, I think that it was a combination of many unforeseeable and yet undeniable collusion of factors played that collectively played a part in Jigga’s birth as a mainstream multi platinum selling artist.
It would be unfair of me to start this list without mentioning unquestionable lyrical talent at the top of it. The Blueprint album was recorded in two days by an artist who is synonymous with ‘one-taking’ his work. I can tell that some of you reading this, you have in-avertedly hit a slang road block. Well let me hand you a ladder. One-taking is basically going to a studio with no pen or pad and rhyming to a beat in one take. Now, this would be a challenge for any rapper but imagine if lyrical exercise had to be repeated over and over to the tune of 15 different beats using 15 different rhymes in two days. I think my point has been made.
Beef or as I’d like to call it, YouTube marketing, also played nicely into the coffers of Def Jam and Columbia music executives. Hip hop fans were divided into two camps awaiting the verbal arsenal that was to come from rap royalty, Marcy project’s Morpheus and the Queensbridge kid Nastradamus aka Nas. The avid listener was left as spectator and judge as Jay-z to shots at Nas with the Takeover and Nas returned lyrical venom with Ether. With the jury still out on the winner of the bout, the public feuding served boost their commercial appeal into dollars, at least while it lasted.
Finally, with no disrespect to the rest of the production team on the Blueprint, Kanye West should take as much credit for the success of the album as Jay-z. His production work on the Takeover, Izzo, and Heart of the City was the foundation on which the album’s success was built. Izzo as a mainstream anthem and Heart of the City as a street classic acted as a blueprint to reach out to the audience the album was produced and structured for and it worked, really well.Fast forward nine years later and expectations are higher for the third instalment of the Blueprint Trilogy after an average commercial and critical performance of the second. With the same production and artistic presence at hand, one wonders if lightning can indeed strick twice.
