Jay-Z's Blueprint 3: A Preview

By now, it's been widely reported that Jay-Z is releasing another album. After buying out the rights to his final album from Def Jam for a reported $5 million dollars, he announced that he would release his album on September 11, 2009, the eighth anniversary of the first Blueprint (read review) album. And at Summer Jam 2009 he performed the first single D.O.A. (Death of Autotune), a Kanye West and No ID-produced track that, among other things, voiced his displeasure with the pervasiveness of the use of the vocoder among hip-hop artists.

One has to wonder what Jay-Z has in-store for hip-hop fans. The previously announced single, Jockin Jay-Z largely concerned his prowess as a trend-setter, as did Swagger Like Us, the T.I., Kanye West and Lil Wayne assisted single that was officially released on T.I.'s Paper Trail. However, it was also reported that Jay-Z's album would feature this single, which seems increasingly unlikely given that the buzz has died down. There have also been rumors of a sequel to this track, as reported by BET.com in September 2008, featuring Nas, Andre 3000, and Young Jeezy. If such a song already has been recorded, I'm incredulous it hasn't leaked yet.

There's also History, in honor of President Barack Obama, which was rather well received initially but probably unlikely to make the cut given the time lapse. IGN reported in April that a track had been recorded with Eminem called My Syllielabel, but for Eminem's album. However, there's no telling if it will make the cut for the planned Relapse 2, and if not, perhaps it will make Jay-Z's Blueprint 3. XXL has announced that Jay-Z and Drake have recently collaborated on a track that is supposedly on Blueprint 3 (though I'm not sure why Jay-Z would give a newcomer like Drake a spot on his album). It's also been reported that Kanye West will handle the majority of the production with a few tracks by Timbaland and that Cee-Lo Green of Goodie MoB and Gnarls Barkley fame may be doing a hook for a track.

But I think the biggest question is what the content will be. Jay-Z is now more than fifteen years removed from his hustling past. While he was able to successfully captivate listeners on The Blueprint proclaiming his dominance over the rap game both literally and figuratively with lyricism and hits, as well as The Black Album(read review), with his supposed farewell, his last trick, on American Gangster(read review), was to resurrect and reinterpret his past according to the movie of the same name. While well-received, it was undoubtedly redundant; his reflections on hustling were not as compelling as his early records of the Reasonable Doubt era (read review) records when he was just a step removed from the streets. While he is still revered within rap circles, he arguably is no longer at the top of the heap, particularly with younger fans who are more likely to agree that Lil Wayne is the best rapper alive rather than Jay-Z. Kingdom Come (read review) was the more reflective and introspective but decidedly more bourgeois Jay-Z, and that, the "grown man" approach, simply made him seem more and more old school. Increasingly, he's becoming more the person you have to put on your top five list than the person whose new music excites you enough to want to put them there.

So the question remains as to how Jay-Z will pull off another classic. Will it be with a plethora of guest stars? Will Kanye outdo himself with the beats? Will hip-hop's discomfort with D.O.A. result in a full-blown rap beef with other rappers that becomes the centerpiece of Blueprint 3?

We'll find out September 11.

Sources

Daniel Kreps, Jay-Z Buys Out Def Jam Contract, "Blueprint 3" Heads to Roc Nation, Rolling Stone

Low Key, Jay-Z Gives BP3 a Release Date... , BET.com

IGN Music, Eminem's Relapse Album Preview, IGN

Elan Mancini, Drake Confirms Jay-Z Collabo, "That Was Probably The Most Key Moment In My Life", XXL

David Fromayan, Jay-Z Enlists Drake for New Single, Rap-Up

The Overstanding on BP3, Please Don't Stare.com

Nick Neyland, Hip-Hop Stars Lash Out at Jay-Z's Anti-Auto-Tune Stance, Prefix Mag