Tuesday, September 15, 2009

THE BOO PRINT 3




"I don't know anything about music, In my line you don't have to." -Elvis Presley


What I really find insufferably painful about Jay-Z loyalists is… that blind cult of apologists feels as if a person does not like a Jigga Joint then that person is immediately dubbed a “hatar!!” This makes three things perfectly clear:

A. Jay-Z has officially reached Barack’s “above-all critique” status.
B. The days of good journalism hasn’t disappeared, it’s simply ignored—which essentially becomes one of the same.
C. Beyonce must (literally) be sitting on a gold mine.



For those of you that fall into categories A or B, I’ll have to ask that you put your Roc sign down, take your Barack outfit off (the flag pin too) and sprinkle some musical logic when reviewing Carter’s regrettable and unoriginal titled Blue Print 3. This is Jay-Z's 11th Hip Hop attempt and I feel the majestic music maker has penned at least two storied classics in his well documented career. The first is the ageless, street slaying Reasonable Doubt.

This debut was (get this).. both a gift and a curse. The gift was an up close, bird’s-eye view of the droppings that plague the inner city streets —- most notably, Brooklyn. The curse is now that Hova has moved into idyllic status his new address won’t allow him to tell those CNN-less stories anymore. After all, all board members care about is sums & totals, not the sum of the totals.
The second memorable LP in Jay’s catalog was the witty autobiographically depicted, Black Album.

Not many Hip Hop artists have the history, the ingenuity or the public relevance to tell their life story on wax without sounding preachy or self-righteous. The Black Album was truly unique in that regard. Jay-Z’s trifecta would be the Blueprint 1.

I’m not sure I’d call this one a classic (necessarily) but J (for the most part) did put the bottles & chains aside and steered clear of the overflowing boastfulness featured in: "In My Lifetime Vol. 1”, “Vol. 2, Hard Knock Life," “Life & Times of S. Carter” and really corny “Roc La Familia Dynasty” —- all of which collectively sold millions and led to this corny LP -- but more on that in a second. For record, if you turned your Hip Hop clock back to the summer of 1989 — 12 years before Jay-Z’s Blueprint 1 — you’ll find that KRS-One released an album called The Blueprint of Hip Hop. Perhaps, Jay was just paying homage with his thrice mirrored title, huh?

Any who, I will deliberate with anyone on the planet that Jay is the author of two (maybe three) Hip Hop classics and he is one of the top 25 emcees ever. Those facts should virtually exonerate me from being labeled a Jay-Z “hatar" right? Well, just stay tuned…

The Blueprint 3 by all accounts is WACK—even by a school bus strapped helmet standard. The tracks are laced with gimmicky, corn ball beats and underscored with Keisha Cole-ish choruses, which is a far cry from Song Cry. The track featuring Young Geezy is only missing rhyme rivals: Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Doc and Dopey -— the latter doubling as producer.


The creative control handed to Kanye West was about as wise as a Kanye acceptance speech. Sprinkle producers; Tiny Timberland, Al Shux, the Incredibles, Swizz Beatz and The Neptunes and you have the equivalent of a Christopher Reeves' dance team. This is one of those unfortunate projects that suckered legendary Chi-Town producer, NO I.D. in and regulated his work on this CD to clichéd and corny status. Hope he invests wisely.

As usual, no matter how bad the music, Jay always seems to spit his ever-clever tête-à-tête. His wit was especially evident on his braggadocios, not-so-subtle, middle finger dagger, directed at a grade-school teacher, who apparently, said Shawn Carter wouldn’t amount to much. Maybe the teacher was just referring to this CD. Nevertheless, the Pharrell-propelled track is tolerable, but the lyrics on “So Ambitious” is the only thing that saved this CD from my plastic recycle bin.

Jay-Z The Blueprint 3, "So Ambitious" verse 1

I felt so inspired by what the teacher said/
Said I’d either be dead or be a reefer head/
Not sure if that’s how adults should speak to kids/
Especially when the only thing I did was speak in class/ I'll teach his ass/

Even better what my uncle did/
I popped my demo tape in start to beat my head/ Peeked out my eye, see if he was beatin’ his/
He might as well said beat it kid,/
He’s on the list/ It’s like im searching for kicks/
Like a sneaker head/ You gon’ keep pushing me til I reach the ledge/
And when I reach the ledge, I tellem all to eat a d----/
Take a leap of faith and let my eagle wings spread


Trust me, no matter how corny this CD really is you’ll be treated, by Jay’s loyalists, to many unjust justifications like…”you have to listen to it on Thursday with the kitchen window open and your left foot in the sink”. Or, as one of Hova's Hoes told me, after six Long Island’s, I thought the CD was banging!!

Side bar: after six Long Islands, it’s probably best to remember who you were bangin’ not what!

Fans of radio spins and sound scan swipes will need no justification, but you may need some ice and a designated driver.

click on blog arrow for bonus beats


1 love,
Ray Lewis

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