listening to the blueprint 3, certain things occur to me.
first: i will enjoy anything with a horn section (which is probably why i like the first half of this album more than the second). tied to this, however, is the fact that jay-z sounds most comfortable rapping over actual melodies than blips and beats. his flow seems most fluid over the sweet sax and guitar lines of DOA than that swizzy crap near the end. more evidence of this, is the comparatively strong lyrical outing on american gangster compared to this album. it is bizarre when he tries to use progressive beats and at one point he drops a line that seems to reference clipse (keys open doors). yes, clipse can use clanging, futuristic sounds because that's their thing. but jay that's not you and that's a good thing. you shouldn't be cross-referencing anyone but maybe 'pac, biggie, and ironic head-nods to nas--certainly not clipse. you should be able to stand on the strength of what you say not name-dropping.
two: this is really weak rapping. i guess the old saying about glass houses comes to mind because i could only imagine how terrible my rapping would be in comparison but honestly, terrible. i gotta give hov some credit; this is still a much better album than most of the stuff i hear on the hip hop stations and i would (and will ) gladly roll down my windows and pump this from my ride. but the strong storytelling, humor, and bravado i've come to expect in a jay-z album is just not here. it is not even that he is resting on his laurels but he is a man who is comfortable in his achievements and has earned his way to the life he's wanted. by all means, he should have all that he's worked for. but satisfaction is not the greatest motivation for art. the humor, the sense of injustice, the hunger for success that he exhibited in the past are not here.
three: okay, disclaimer, but this last point is probably really closely related to pt. 2. jay-z is getting older and if there's one thing i respect about his style now is that he doesn't insist on playing the gangster card. he knows that he can't rap whole songs about pushing coke or pimping anymore because that's not his lifestyle. at the same time, he seems to have a hard time finding meaningful things to say now that he delves less into his past. while it's probably a hard topic to broach, jay-z stands at a good vantage point to rap about what it means to be an elder statesman in hip-hop, the stresses of maintaining success, shifting values from hood to mansion, and what role he sees himself in the music scene. it's probably a sensitive issue (i can barely think of turning 30 without wanting to cry) but it's something that jay might have more insight into than anyone else in rap. hopefully, his next album will say something brilliant about that.
