Review on Jay-Z's Blueprint III

Hova is back with his long-awaited third part of his Bluprint series.

So let's go back to the year 2001 in which the first Blueprint dropped:


You sure remember Bonnie and Clyde feat. his wifey Beyoncé from "The Blueprint²" too. I remember me and friends sitting on the beach jamming to this song. And it was even in 2007 lol.


Let's switch quickly back to 2009 - the year of the Blueprint III.

"What We Talkin' About" (featuring Luke Steele)

This very first piece of music starts very epic and keeps its dramatic tone during the whole song. Personally I think there is too much going on in this song especially in the instrumental which makes it one of the songs I don't really like.

"Thank You"

This song is really hot. The beat is banging.

"D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)"

That's the song that made T-Pain hate Jay-Z. Hova's message is so right though. Auto-tune can go away.

"Run This Town" (featuring Rihanna and Kanye West)

Everybody knows this song since it features the hottest ones in the bizz right now. I absolutely love this song. Btw, it went #1 in the UK.

"Empire State of Mind" (featuring Alicia Keys)

My favorite song off the album. Alicia Keys and Jay-Z, both New Yorkers, sing about their home town. Concrete jungle where dreams are made of/Theres nothing you can’t do/Now you’re in New York/these streets will make you feel brand new/the lights will inspire you

I didn't expect them to work together so well but they did a fantastic job with this. The oldskool sound is something to look forward since they will be performing this track at the 2009's VMA.

"Real as It Gets" (featuring Young Jeezy)

By listening to the first minute only you might think this is a Young Jeezy song because Jay appears just after that. Song is good.

"On to the Next One" (featuring Swizz Beatz)

Swizzy produced a beat similar to "A Milli" or "Diva". Definitely hot.

"Off That" (featuring Drake)

I like that one a lot too. I only think that Drake sounds so replaceable. Blah @ him.

Plus the beginning reminds me so damn much of the intro of Black Eyed Peas' intro for "The E.N.D.".

"A Star Is Born" (featuring J. Cole)

Also a great track and many people seem to love this one. Jay basically goes through a list of known rappers and "applauds" them.

"Venus Vs Mars"

The first leaked version featured background vocals by Cassie but they were replaced by Beyoncé's vocals for the actual release. Hot song.

"Already Home" (featuring Kid Cudi)

Rising star Kid Cudi did a good job on this. I like it.

"Hate" (featuring Kanye West)

I have no idea why this song is short, it belongs also rather to the weaker tracks.

"Reminder"

Good track, the background vocals "reminder" are really great and fit.

"So Ambitious" (featuring Pharrell)

This track is basically about being more motivated after people say you can't do this or that anyway. The song is aight.

"Young Forever" (featuring Mr Hudson)

Mr Hudons sings in this song parts of Alphaville's classic "Forever Young" and it sounds like his voice was amde for singing this song. I like this one a lot.

So as you have read most tracks have gotten a good review from me.

That's why I can say that Jay-Z produced a great album. It's definitely better than his previous works à la "American Gangster" or "Kingdom Come".

So I definitely recommend you to take a listen.

The Blueprint III is in stores now.