The Blueprint - Jay-Z (2001)
Jay-Z is unquestionably talented, and he surrounded himself with a lot of talented people. And this is a very different record from a lot of NYC hip hop at the turn of the century. It gets away from the boom-bap sound with a more melodic approach–which, if we’re being honest, is often just cutting up an entire old song by the Doors or the Jackson 5 and rapping over it. You also can’t question the man’s knack for business sense, self-promotion, and hustle.
But as much as many like it, it just rings hollow to me. This record is part of string where he declares himself king of an entirely imaginary world that seems to exist mostly in the kinds of shit 15 year olds argue over before class, building complex charts of body counts and record sales to support their cases in between discussing pro wrestling and whether Batman could win a fight against Wolverine.
Even in the ego-centric world of commercial rap, The Blueprint is almost psychedelic in its solipsism. A mind-altering, reality-warping level of self-absorbtion, where everything is about how many different dimensions Jay has succeeded in. Introspection doesn’t exist in this bizarre world, and neither does absolutely anything else, except as it illustrates how much better Jay is than anyone else in the history of humanity.
None of this is to deny how influential the guy is, or even how this is a decent–if not amazing–record. But I can find better stuff to pour into my brain.
