After initial listens, my friend and I simultaneously emailed one another that it sounded like a Nas album except without the stunning lyrics to save it. Expect Swizz Beatz imitating the Neptunes ’01, Timbaland imitating Timbaland circa ’03/’06, Kanye imitating everyone EXCEPT Kanye West ’01… One of the shocks to the system is the middling beats that have snuck in. Don’t believe the hype: it is barely noticeable, as he doesn’t really commit to ANY style, preferring instead to genre-hop between hip hop, R&B and sample-driven dance. Much has been made of Jay’s flirtation with the indie-rock-hipster scene. In other words, Em and Jigga can take 8 years off between them and still be the two biggest rappers in the world (other MC’s need to step their game up next decade). The significance of this? They are the top 2 selling rappers this decade, even though they both took extended breaks. The last time that Eminem and Jay-Z released full-length solo LP’s in the same year? 2002 – “The Eminem Show” and “The Blueprint 2”. After all, this is a huge release from an industry giant. A select few are firmly hedging their bets – allowing themselves to actually LISTEN to the album more than once on their shitty laptop speakers. The diehard fan base has generally been pleased, declaring it another classic – the rest of the world thinks it a Roc Nation abomination. Since “The Blueprint 3” leaked just over a week ago, everyone has been rushing to post their own online reviews and the reviews have been incredibly mixed, perhaps forcing Camp Carter to bump up the release date to the regular Tuesday, as opposed to Friday 9/11. And here we go with another Jigga effort, his seventh proper one this decade and, for some bizarre reason, the last in the apparent “Blueprint Trilogy.” Make no mistake, though, this one has practically nothing to do with the original. Yet the rap game is in an interesting transitional phase – the old guard are still retaining much of their fan base, whilst dropping impressive efforts every now and then that make young critics swoon at how they are “rolling back the years.” Then, you have relative youngsters like Drake, Kid Cudi and co that are being declared legends by kids who just don’t know any better: they have yet, at this very point, to even release albums, so relax and let them progress a while. Live fast, die young, relate to the youth, fuck the old guard. It’s interesting, because in hip hop that age is unfairly regarded as the dawn of senility, not wisdom – and the genre is probably the most ageist one around. Jay-Z will turn 40 in a couple of months.
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