Nov 26, 2018 Winter nails the assessment. I want to just repost it but that’s a cop out. I don’t really have much to add, the blueprint is a masterpiece. It’s amazing that such a small team of just a few producers provided Hov with the musical landscapes to perfectly capture the soul of late 90s early 2000s New York. Not only was it a seminal album and seminal moment in hip hop, it was a passing of the torch to Hov as he positioned himself to be forever included in any discussion about who is the GOAT. But perhaps most importantly, it came out on September 11, 2001 when New York, America, and arguably the entire western world was rocked to its core after the twin towers fell. And as New York and the country rebuilt itself, the blueprint was unquestionably the most important hip hop album that entire year, perhaps for the rest of the decade, especially for people like me who were living on the east coast at the time, in and around New York City. Not only can it be considered the greatest hip hop album of all time, it paved the way for Jay Z to be considered the greatest rapper of all time. If that’s not a classic masterpiece album I don’t know what is. 10/10
Nov 26, 2018 10/10 I'd rate this higher if I could, honestly everyone's blurbs nailed it (@Buddha @Winter bodied them phew). But to echo what's already been said, it's Jay displaying the versatility and charisma that made him the generational great that was leading up to his crowning moment on The Blueprint. Very few albums have ever made the industry do an entire 180 degree turn sonically nor have they resurrected a career (Nas) while simultaneously end another (Mobb Deep). Besides this virtuoso performance from Jay, it's Kanye & Just Blaze (shoutout Bink! as well) that contribute to the other half of why this album is so legendary. I'm a sucker for soulful beats and this album still sounds so timeless to me, another big reason why is Guru's incredible mixing on it--you can play this on any poverty sound system and it'll still b---. Altogether this is my favorite rap album from one of my all time favorite rappers.
Nov 27, 2018 I'd be lying if I said this was my favorite Jay album, but the quality of this is pretty undeniable. Jay's charisma is on full display backed with a soul sampled palette that lends 'grown up' credibility to the album, and the hip hop genre as a whole tbh. This is where Jay transitions from a young hustler (who just so happens to rap) to an elder statesman who can speak from a place of authority. Not to mention the album was already being quoted like a classic within a year and a half - How many times have you heard someone reference "Can't leave rap alone the game needs me"? That said, I could do without Hola Hovito and Jigga That n----- as they feel lesser than what's around them and don't really fit the aesthetic the rest of the album's going for. And to be honest I find Jay's flow on this album to be overall inferior to The Black Album and Reasonable Doubt, but that's more of a personal quibble than anything else. It's a great album that was almost instantly hailed as an influential classic for good reason. brb I'm gonna go listen to Heart of the City again. 9.3/10
Nov 27, 2018 Hard to say what hasn't already said by people above. Takeover > Ether. To this day you'd be hard-pressed to find someone doesn't get excited when Izzo comes on. Heart of the City --> Neva Change --> Song Cry is a tough contender for best three track run on a rap album ever. Renegade: Jay 2nd verse > Eminem 1st verse > Eminem 2nd verse > Jay 1st verse People often cite Hola Hovito and Jigga That n----- (like @Joshua Smoses) as being kinda outliers that bring the album down a bit which I get...but I've always liked them. I think they anchor the album with a bit more variety/some "harder" sounding songs. No album is perfect, but where do you draw the line to say "this is close enough to perfect that I can give it a 10"? I think the Blueprint is one of those albums. 10/10
Nov 27, 2018 Agree with pretty much everything said here. Two of the biggest fictions in hip hop are that Ether was superior to Takeover (some concede that Takeover is the better song while Ether is the better diss. No, Takeover is better as a song AND a diss record), and that Eminem murdered Jay on Renegade. Hola Hovito isn't as great as the songs surrounding it, but I wouldn't call it filler. That second verse is pretty great...'you a candle in the sun, that s--- don't even out' U Don't Know might be my favorite hip hop beat ever. Anybody who's seen Jay in concert knows that s--- sounds crazy live. Also, I can't believe those guys on DEHH were saying Izzo is filler....WTF? Anyway, 10/10 album.
Nov 27, 2018 U don’t know is f---ing legendary. Love that song so much. And that sample of the dude yelling? Amazing.
Nov 27, 2018 If you think Ether is better than Takeover I don't trust anything else you have to say about hip-hop.
Nov 27, 2018 @Slyk we should give @Sav Stanfield the ability to feature albums—he's up on current music and it would be cool if he could feature the albums he does for this thread (though I don't mind doing that myself to help out as well)
Nov 28, 2018 The Blueprint gets 9.7/10 from 12 ratings Next up… RATING 6: Kanye West - The Life of Pablo Release Date: 14 February 2016 Label : Def Jam / GOOD Tracklist 01. Ultralight Beam ft. Chance the Rapper 02. Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1 ft. Kid Cudi 03. Pt. 2 ft. Desiigner 04. Famous ft. Rihanna, Swizz Beatz 05. Feedback 06. Low Lights 07. Highlights ft. Young Thug 08. Freestyle 4 ft. Desiigner 09. I Love Kanye (Interlude) 10. Waves ft. Chris Brown 11. FML ft. The Weeknd 12. Real Friends ft. Ty Dolla $ign 13. Wolves ft. Sia 14. Frank’s Track ft. Frank Ocean 15. Siiiiiiiiilver Surffffeeeeer Intermission 16. 30 Hours 17. No More Parties in LA ft. Kendrick Lamar 18. Facts (Charlie Heat Version) 19. Fade ft. Post Malone, Ty Dolla $ign 20. Saint Pablo ft. Sampha I wonder if there’s ever been a rapper that remained as consistently brilliant as long as Ye did. From 2004 - 2013 (almost) everything he touched turned to gold. The songs leading up to the fabled So Help Me God/Swish/Waves seemed to suggest that his follow up to Yeezus would continue the trend. But when TLOP dropped I couldn’t help but feel underwhelmed. Theres nothing really bad about TLOP but it just feels so inconsequential next to his previous five albums, like everything was toned down a few notches. I remember a review describing it as sounding like a work in progress rather than a finished album and thats pretty much exactly my thoughts. Sure, there are some all time great Kanye songs (Ultralight Beam, FSMHP1, Saint Pablo), but overall its pretty forgettable. I’ve barely returned to it since it came out. 6.5/10 @RateThisAlbum
Nov 28, 2018 I call this album D.O.K. (Downfall of Kanye). I'M not a huge Kanye fan but his music always interested me in ways. First 2 albums were undeniable classics and Graduation was a great album for me. I used to hate 808's but I found myself bumping it more than other Kanye albums while I'm doing architectural work and even though it's not a classic it's close. MBDTF arguably his best work ever and Yeezus was soo unique half average half amazing to me. TLOP felt just ok. I mean I never wanted to play the whole album for the 2nd time. It was that average to me. Not even a single song I still bump from time to time now. I know some Kanye fans would be mad but I'm not gonna hold my real rating back for this. 4/10.
Nov 28, 2018 Wasted opportunity. Lots of songs have so much potential but sound half assed to me. Waves, FML the bigges examples. Panda pt 2 is terrible. Wolves could have been amazing but he ruined it by taking Sia off and adding that godawful verse. ULB is good because of Chance and songs like Famous and Highlights have good versions but aren't on the actual album... I do love Saint Pablo, Real Friends a lot which are some of the songs that actually sound finished. Production overall is dope too. It just lacks Kanye for me. The rollout and 10000 different versions <<<<<<< 6.5/10
Nov 28, 2018 8/10. Underated album. Just a bit long. Waves FML Wolves are also some very good songs not mentioned yet.
Nov 28, 2018 01. Ultralight Beam ft. Chance the Rapper [10/10] 02. Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1 ft. Kid Cudi [easy 10/10] 03. Pt. 2 ft. Desiigner [another 10/10] 04. Famous ft. Rihanna, Swizz Beatz [man I can understand how this is a 10/10] 05. Feedback [wake up/10] 06. Low Lights [Low lights? more like lowest part of the album/10] 07. Highlights ft. Young Thug [12/10] 08. Freestyle 4 ft. Desiigner [meh/10] 09. I Love Kanye (Interlude) [could live without this/10] 10. Waves ft. Chris Brown [GOAT Cudi hums/10] 11. FML ft. The Weeknd [The finished version AND all 8 of the leaked versions are 10/10s] 12. Real Friends ft. Ty Dolla $ign [I cry every time/10] 13. Wolves ft. Sia [The second coming of Jesus Christ/10] 14. Frank’s Track ft. Frank Ocean [Top 3 moment in Frank's career/10] 15. Siiiiiiiiilver Surffffeeeeer Intermission [respect to Max B but you could scrap this/10] 16. 30 Hours [7/10] 17. No More Parties in LA ft. Kendrick Lamar [9/10] 18. Facts (Charlie Heat Version) [we're starting to fall off/10] 19. Fade ft. Post Malone, Ty Dolla $ign [wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew we're back on/10] 20. Saint Pablo ft. Sampha [nice/10]
