The Blueprint

The Blueprint
Studio album by Jay-Z
Released	September 11, 2001 (2001-09-11)
Recorded	July 2001
Studio	Manhattan Center Studios Baseline Studios (New York, New York)
Genre	East Coast hip hop hardcore hip hop
Length	63:52
Label	Roc-A-Fella Def Jam
Producer	Jay-Z (exec.) Damon Dash (exec.) Kareem "Biggs" Burke (exec.) Kanye West Just Blaze Trackmasters Timbaland Bink Eminem
Jay-Z chronology
The Dynasty: Roc La Familia (2000) The Blueprint (2001) Jay-Z Unplugged (2001)
Singles from The Blueprint
"Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" Released: August 21, 2001 "Girls, Girls, Girls" Released: October 2, 2001 "Jigga That Nigga" Released: January 29, 2002 "Song Cry" Released: March 23, 2002

The Blueprint is the sixth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released on September 11, 2001, on Roc-A-Fella Records in the United States. Its release was set a week earlier than initially planned in order to combat bootlegging. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2001 at Manhattan Center Studios and Baseline Studios in New York City. Contrasting the radio-friendly sound of Jay-Z's previous work, The Blueprint features soul-based sampling and production handled primarily by Kanye West, Just Blaze and Bink, as well as Timbaland, Trackmasters and Eminem, who also contributes the album's sole guest verse.

At the time of the album's recording, Jay-Z was awaiting two criminal trials, one for gun possession and another for assault, and had become one of hip hop's most dissed artists, receiving insults from rappers such as Nas, Prodigy, and Jadakiss.^[1][2] The album is also famous for both its producers Kanye West and Just Blaze's breakouts as major producers. Kanye West produced 5 of the 13 tracks on the album, including the songs "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" and the controversial "Takeover," which included diss lyrics aimed at rappers Nas and Prodigy, while Just Blaze produced 3 tracks, "Girls, Girls, Girls", "Song Cry", and "U Don't Know", also including the hidden bonus track "Breathe Easy (Lyrical Exercise)". Upon its release, The Blueprint received universal acclaim, with critics praising Jay-Z's lyricism and the production. It is considered one of Jay-Z's best albums and has also been labeled as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.

Background

The Blueprint was reportedly cut in two weeks, with Jay-Z allegedly writing the lyrics in two days. At the time, he was awaiting two criminal trials for gun possession and assault. He was also engaged in feuds with various rappers, in particular Nas and Mobb Deep member Prodigy. In the song "Takeover", Jay-Z attacks the two Queensbridge rappers, using a sample of the song "Five to One" by The Doors^[3] and an interpolation of David Bowie's "Fame".^[4] On The Blueprint, Jay-Z and his producers used vintage soul as inspiration, including a vocal sample on almost every track from such artists as Al Green, Bobby "Blue" Bland, David Ruffin and The Jackson 5. Exceptions include "Jigga That Nigga," "Hola Hovito," and "Renagade," a track produced by and featuring the rapper Eminem, and the only track on the album featuring another rapper on verses.

Blueprint Lounge Tour

In late August, Jay-Z announced a September–October tour in small venues.^[5] Because of the September 11 attacks occurring on the same day the album was released, the first two performances were rescheduled. Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles were subsequently added, and Jay-Z donated a dollar of the cost of every ticket sold from the tour to relief organizations.

Reception and impact

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	88/100[6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Blender	[8]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[9]
Los Angeles Times	[10]
NME	8/10[11]
Pitchfork	8.7/10[12]
Rolling Stone	[1]
Uncut	[13]
USA Today	[14]
The Village Voice	A−[15]

The Blueprint received rave reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 88, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 12 reviews.^[6] It contains a unique and balanced blend of soulful samples that had both street credibility and mainstream appeal, thereby garnering praise from all quarters of the hip hop community and receiving special recognition from critics.^[16] Most consider The Blueprint to be one of Jay-Z's best albums, holding it on a level close to that of his debut, Reasonable Doubt. Upon its release, The Blueprint was hailed by Vibe magazine as Jay-Z's best album^[17] as well as the best album of the year, while The Source awarded The Blueprint a perfect 5-mic rating, a distinction reserved for hip hop classics.^[18]

The popularity and commercial success of The Blueprint established Kanye West and Just Blaze as two of hip-hop’s most celebrated producers. Furthermore, The Blueprint signaled a major stylistic shift in hip hop production towards a more Soulcentric and sample-reliant sound, creating a number of imitators who attempted to emulate the album's atmospheric style. Prior to The Blueprint, mainstream hip-hop producers had largely eschewed music sampling in favor of the keyboard-driven Timbaland sound (characterized by a shifting, syncopated rhythm, similar to samba or jungle music), due to the financial and legal issues associated with copyright laws. The Blueprint, however, revived musical sampling as a common practice in hip hop music and dislodged the digital keyboard-driven production style as the dominant sound in hip-hop music.^[19] Kanye West would later incorporate some of the production and sampling techniques he used on this album into his own solo albums. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "One of the greatest poets ever to pick up a mic released his magnum opus in 2001. One retirement and one un-retirement later, it's still his finest hour."^[20]

In 2003, The Blueprint was ranked number 464 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time;^[21] in a revised list in 2012, it was ranked number 252.^[22] Pitchfork Media named The Blueprint the second best album of 2000–2004, and in 2010, it ranked fifth on their Top 200 Albums of the 2000s list.^[23] It is ranked at number 4 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Best Albums of the 2000s".^[24] The album received a perfect "XXL" rating from XXL magazine in a 2007 retrospective article.^[3] The Blueprint was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.^[25]

Accolades

Album of the Year

• Ranked #4 in NME's 50 "Albums of the Year 2001".
• Ranked #5 in Rolling Stone's "Top 10 of 2001".
• Ranked #7 in Spin magazine's "Albums of the Year 2001".
• Ranked #12 in Wire magazine's "50 Records of the Year 2001".

Best Album of the 2000s

• Ranked #1 in Complex magazine's "The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s".
• Ranked #7 in The Stylus Decade's "Top 100 Albums of the 2000s".
• Ranked #4 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Best Albums of the 2000s"^[24]
• Ranked #5 in Pitchfork Media's "The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s".^[26]

Top Album

• Ranked #6 in Billboard's Critics Pick of the decade 1999-2009^[27]
• Ranked #2 in Pitchfork Media's "The Top 100 Albums of 2000-04".
• Ranked #5 in Stylus Magazine's "Top 50 Albums of 2000-2005".

Best Album of the Decade

• Ranked #2 in Entertainment Weekly's Best Albums of the Decade.
• Ranked #42 in Paste Magazine's 50 Best Albums of the Decade.^[28]
• Ranked #4 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Best Albums of the Decade in 2009.^[29]
• Ranked #20 in Rhapsody's "100 Best Albums of the Decade" in 2009.^[30]
• Ranked #8 in Vibe's "The Greatest 50 Albums Since '93" in 2013.^[31]

Greatest Album of All Time

• Ranked #456 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003.
• Ranked #252 in Rolling Stone magazine's revised list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2012.
• Unranked in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

Commercial performance

In spite of its release coinciding with the 9/11 attacks, The Blueprint sold over 420,000 copies in its opening week,^[32] becoming Jay-Z's fourth consecutive album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart. It was certified double platinum as sales stand at over two million units in the U.S.^[33][34] Sales as of February 2012 stand at 2.7 million.^[35]

Track listing

Notes

• "Takeover" features additional vocals by Josey Scott.
• "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" features additional vocals by Demme Uloa.
• "Girls, Girls, Girls" features additional vocals by Q-Tip, Slick Rick and Biz Markie.
• "Jigga That Nigga" features additional vocals by Stephanie Miller and Michelle Mills.
• "Hola' Hovito" features additional keys by Scott Storch according to Ahmir '?uestlove' Thompson from The Roots.
• "Heart Of The City (Ain't No Love)" features additional vocals by Keon Bryce.
• "Never Change" features uncredited vocals by Kanye West.
• "Blueprint (Momma Loves Me)" features background vocals by Schevise Harrell and Luren Leek.
• "Girls, Girls, Girls (Part 2)" features uncredited vocals by Michael Jackson.

Samples

• "The Ruler's Back" contains a sample of "If" performed by Jackie Moore, and an interpolation of "The Ruler's Back" performed by Slick Rick.
• "Takeover" contains samples of "Five to One" performed by The Doors, "Sound of da Police" performed by KRS-One, and an interpolation of "Fame" performed by David Bowie.
• "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" contains a sample of "I Want You Back" performed by Jackson 5.
• "Girls, Girls, Girls" contains a sample of "There's Nothing in This World That Can Stop Me from Loving You" performed by Tom Brock, and "High Power Rap" performed by Crash Crew.
• "U Don't Know" contains a sample of "I'm Not to Blame" performed by Bobby Byrd.
• "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)" contains a sample of "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" performed by Bobby Blue Bland.
• "Never Change" contains a sample of "Common Man" performed by David Ruffin.
• "Song Cry" contains a sample of "Sounds Like a Love Song" performed by Bobby Glenn.
• "All I Need" contains a sample of "I Can't Break Away" performed by Natalie Cole.
• "Blueprint (Momma Loves Me)" contains a sample of "Free at Last" performed by Al Green.
• "Breathe Easy (Lyrical Exercise)" contains a sample of "Got to Find My Own Place" performed by Stanley Clarke.
• "Girls, Girls, Girls (Part 2)" contains a sample of "Trying Girls Out" performed by The Persuaders.

Bonus tracks

As with Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter, Jay-Z put two hidden bonus tracks at the end of the final track. "Blueprint (Momma Loves Me)" is 3:41 by itself. Twenty-five seconds of silence follows after and the bonus track "Breathe Easy (Lyrical Exercise)" begins. That song fades and is immediately followed by "Girls, Girls, Girls (Part 2)". It is reported that the latter song features uncredited vocals by Michael Jackson. The final track as a whole is 12:07. On the iTunes Store, however, these bonus tracks are released as separate tracks, thus making the album 15 tracks long. On the vinyl edition, there are no long gaps between the songs, but they are not printed on the back of the album jacket or record label.

Personnel

Chart positions

Year-end charts

Singles

Certifications

See also

• List of number-one albums of 2001 (U.S.)
• List of number-one R&B albums of 2001 (U.S.)

References

External links

• The Blueprint at Discogs
• The Blueprint at Metacritic
• Album Review at Blender
• Album review at Stylus Magazine
• Album accolades at acclaimedmusic.net