#50 Jay-Z, 'The Blueprint' (2001)

Previously #252

It amazes me how many albums on this list were released on September 11 2001. But despite the number of albums released on that fateful day, only one of them went to #1, and that was this one. #1 is where it stayed for 3 weeks and despite what was going on around its release, it still managed to sell 427k in its first week. Flexing his lyrical prowess, Jay-Z wrote the words that would accompany the tight production is just 2 days. The tracks on the record were crafted using samples of vintage Soul songs and saw a renaissance in sample-based songs in Hip Hop.

Besides for being amongst Jay-Z’s finest work, this record served as a breakout for 2 of its young producers; 23-year-old Just Blaze and a 24-year-old aspiring superstar by the name of Kanye West. West produced the first single on the release, the iconic ‘Izzo (H.O.V.A.),’ a song that heavily sampled The Jackson 5’s debut single, ‘I Want You Back.’ Just Blaze worked on the second single, ‘Girls, Girls, Girls,’ another signature song for Jay-Z. One of the few exceptions on the record is ‘Takeover,’ a song not sampled from classic Soul, but rather The Doors’ ‘Five To One,’ and Bowie’s ‘Fame.’ This song served as a diss track against Nas and Prodigy, from Mobb Deep, with him Jay-Z was engaged in a feud. I love the arrogance of Jay-Z in the lyrics; “If you haven't heard, I'm Michael, Magic and Bird/All rolled in one 'cause none got more flows than Young/Plus got more flows to come/And if I ain't better than B.I.G., I'm the closest one,” he raps on ‘Hola’ Hovito,’ before going into ‘Heart Of The City (Ain’t No Love),’ which features my favourite lyric on the album: “And I pack heat like I'm the oven door?” This is the second album, I believe, to feature hidden tracks. Two, in this case. The last hidden track is part 2 to ‘Girls, Girls, Girls,’ this time produced by Kanye West and allegedly featuring uncredited vocals by Michael Jackson. I can’t hear it, to be honest. I thoroughly enjoyed this record. A lot more this time than last, to be honest, in fact, I’ve seriously enjoyed Jay-Z on this journey and am glad that all his music is finally available on Spotify as I’ll be returning to this.

#rs500albums