The Blueprint is the sixthstudio album by American rapperJay-Z, released on September 11, 2001, throughRoc-A-Fella Records andDef Jam Recordings. Its release was set a week earlier than initially planned in order to combatbootlegging. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2001 atManhattan Center Studios and Baseline Studios in New York City. Contrasting the sound of Jay-Z's previous work,The Blueprint featuressoul-basedsampling and production handled primarily byKanye West,Just Blaze, andBink, as well asTimbaland,Trackmasters, andEminem, who also contributes the album's sole guest feature.
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 mostdissed artists, receiving insults from rappers such asNas,Prodigy, andJadakiss.[2][3] The album is also notable for both its producers Kanye West and Just Blaze's breakouts as major producers. West produced four of the thirteen 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 three tracks, "Girls, Girls, Girls", "Song Cry", "U Don't Know", and hidden bonus track "Breathe Easy (Lyrical Exercise)".
The Blueprint was universally acclaimed by music critics, particularly for Jay-Z's performance and the album's soul-based soundscape. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time as well as one of the greatest albums ever made in general. Despite its release coinciding with theSeptember 11 attacks, it sold over 427,000 copies in its opening week and debuted atnumber one in the US, holding the spot for three weeks. It was latercertified 3× Multi-Platinum by theRIAA. In 2018, the album was selected by theLibrary of Congress for preservation in the United StatesNational Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," becoming the first entry created in the 21st century.[4]
The Blueprint was reportedly cut in two weeks, with Jay-Z recording nine songs in two days.[5] At the time, he was awaiting two criminal trials for gun possession andassault. He was also engaged in feuds with various rappers such as Jadakiss,Fat Joe and in particular Nas andMobb Deep memberProdigy. In the song "Takeover", Jay-Z attacks the twoQueensbridge rappers, using a sample of the song "Five to One" byThe Doors[6] and an interpolation ofDavid Bowie's "Fame".[7] OnThe Blueprint, Jay-Z and his producers used vintagesoul as inspiration, including a vocalsample on almost every track from such artists asAl Green,Bobby "Blue" Bland,David Ruffin andThe Jackson 5. Exceptions include "Jigga That Nigga", "Hola Hovito", and "Renegade", a track produced by and featuring the rapper Eminem, and the only track on the album featuring another rapper on verses.
In late August, Jay-Z announced a September–October tour in small venues.[8] Because of theSeptember 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 to relief organizations one dollar of the cost of each ticket sold for the tour.
The Blueprint received universal acclaim from critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 88, based on 12 reviews.[10] Upon its release,The Blueprint was hailed byVibe'sdream hampton as Jay-Z's best album, as well as the best album of the year,[20] whileThe Source awardedThe Blueprint a perfect "five-mic" rating,[21] a distinction reserved for hip-hop classics.[22] In his review forThe Source, Carlito Rodriguez describedThe Blueprint as "the defining moment of Jay-Z's career", commending his ability to convey emotions through his lyrics.[21]Nathan Rabin called it Jay-Z's "strongest, tightest, most consistent album since his legendary debut, 1996'sReasonable Doubt."[23]
The popularity and commercial success ofThe Blueprint established Kanye West and Just Blaze as two of hip-hop's most celebrated producers. West in particular would later be signed by Roc-A-Fella Records in 2002. Both West and Just Blaze would go on to have successful music careers. Furthermore,The Blueprint signaled a major stylistic shift in hip-hop production towards a moreSoulcentric and sample-reliant sound, creating a number of imitators who attempted to emulate the album's atmospheric style. Prior toThe Blueprint, mainstream hip-hop producers had largely eschewedmusic sampling in favor of the keyboard-drivenTimbaland sound (characterized by a shifting, syncopated rhythm, similar tosamba orjungle music), due to the financial and legal issues associated with copyright laws.
The Blueprint, however, revived musical sampling as a common practice inhip-hop and dislodged the digital keyboard-driven production style as the dominant sound in hip-hop music.[24] 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."[25]
In 2003,The Blueprint was ranked number 464 onRolling Stone magazine's list ofthe 500 greatest albums of all time;[26] in a revised list in 2012, it was ranked number 252;[27] in the 2020 revised list, the album was ranked number 50.[28]Pitchfork namedThe Blueprint the second best album of 2000–2004, and in 2010, it ranked fifth on their Top 200 Albums of the 2000s list.[29] It is ranked at number 4 onRolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Best Albums of the 2000s".[30] The album received a perfect "XXL" rating fromXXL magazine in a 2007 retrospective article.[6]The Blueprint was also included in the book1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[31]
In spite of its release coinciding with the9/11 attacks,The Blueprint sold over 427,000 copies in its opening week,[39] becoming Jay-Z's fourth consecutive album to reach number one on theBillboard 200 chart. It was certifieddouble platinum as sales stand at over two million units in the U.S.[40][41] Sales stand at 2.7 million as of February 2012.[42]
"Girls, Girls, Girls" contains a sample of "There's Nothing in This World That Can Stop Me from Loving You" performed byTom Brock, and "High Power Rap" performed byCrash Crew.
"U Don't Know" contains a sample of "I'm Not to Blame" performed byBobby Byrd.
As withVol. 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[by whom?] that the latter song features uncredited vocals byMichael Jackson. The final track as a whole is 12:07. On theiTunes 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.
^Jay-Z &Linkin Park (2004).Collision Course DVD.Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. RetrievedNovember 8, 2021.I mean, when I made Blueprint, the album, I did nine songs in, in uh... in two days. It was pretty much to add, it was pretty much to record, like, just done, it was done.
^ab"Retrospective: XXL Albums".XXL. December 2007.
^Geier, Thom; Jensen, Jeff; Jordan, Tina; Lyons, Margaret; Markovitz, Adam; Nashawaty, Chris; Pastorek, Whitney; Rice, Lynette; Rottenberg, Josh; Schwartz, Missy; Slezak, Michael; Snierson, Dan; Stack, Tim; Stroup, Kate; Tucker, Ken; Vary, Adam B.; Vozick-Levinson, Simon; Ward, Kate (December 11, 2009), "THE 100 Greatest MOVIES, TV SHOWS, ALBUMS, BOOKS, CHARACTERS, SCENES, EPISODES, SONGS, DRESSES, MUSIC VIDEOS, AND TRENDS THAT ENTERTAINED US OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS AND DECADES TO COME". Entertainment Weekly. (1079/1080):74-84
^Dimery, Robert; Lydon, Michael (March 23, 2010).1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe.ISBN978-0-7893-2074-2.
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