Album Review

Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3

• 17th Sep 2009

Streets away from the hustler bravado that catapulted Jay-Z into the mainstream with 1996’s Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint 3 marks the completion of a transition from fast-living, drug-dealing bad boy to Glasto-headlining, Chris Martin-befriending pop culture icon. Accordingly, it’s a polished and hook-laden ensemble that recaptures and reasserts the hit-making panache of the first instalment of the trilogy, helped along by signature production work from Kanye West and Timbaland.

With an audience far beyond the genre demographic, Carter appropriately romps through a range of sounds well outside the remit of the average MC. ‘What we talkin’ about’ features a vogueish electro beat and even trendier appearance from Empire of the Sun’s Luke Steel, lending conviction and credibility to Jay’s rapped mission statement. It’s the first of an abundance of top-drawer guest appearances. Lead single ‘Run this town’ has a gigantic hook from his Def Jam protégé Rihanna that alone guarantees the inevitably enormous sales figures, and is followed up by future hit ‘Empire State of Mind’ with a gorgeous, goosebump-inducing chorus courtesy of Alicia Keys.

The rapping isn’t too bad either; lyrically eschewing any gangsta pretension (with the exception of the aggressive ‘DOA’), it reflects the mindset of a man at the top of the game, with the odd reference to White House connections slipped in (well you would, wouldn’t you?) and with a delivery that is flawless and unmistakable as ever. Jay-Z may be staring down the barrel of middle-age now at 40, but it’ll be some time before he’s overtaken as rap’s leading man.