The Blueprint 3 | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 8, 2009 | |||
Recorded | July 2008 – August 2009 | |||
Studio | Various
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Genre | Hip hop | |||
Length | 60:44 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer |
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Jay-Z chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Blueprint 3 | ||||
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The Blueprint 3 is the eleventh studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released September 8, 2009, on Roc Nation, through distribution from Asylum Records and Atlantic Records. It is the third album in the Blueprint series, preceded by The Blueprint (2001) and The Blueprint2: The Gift & The Curse (2002). Production for the album took place during 2008 to 2009 at several recording studios and was handled by Kanye West, No I.D., The Neptunes, Jeff Bhasker, Al Shux, Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon, The Inkredibles, Swizz Beatz, and Timbaland. The album also features guest appearances by Kanye West, Rihanna, Drake, Kid Cudi, Young Jeezy, J. Cole and Alicia Keys among others.
The Blueprint 3 produced six singles: "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", "Run This Town", " "Empire State of Mind", "On to the Next One", "Young Forever" and "A Star Is Born". All singles achieved chart success excluding the latter. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics and was a commercial success. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 476,000 copies in its first week. [1] It became Jay-Z's eleventh US number-one album, breaking the record he had previously shared with Elvis Presley. [1] The album received a nomination for Best Rap Album, while four of its singles "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", "Run This Town", "On to the Next One", and "Empire State of Mind" won a combined number of six Grammys at both the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards and 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.
The earliest hype over The Blueprint 3 came when DJ Clue released in January 2008 a mixtape song called "Ain't I", produced by Timbaland. In the intro, Clue says, "Off that Blueprint 3 baby!" However, a spokesperson for Jay-Z said that it was an old, unreleased song and that the recording of The Blueprint 3 had not yet started. [2] On July 20, Timbaland, a frequent contributor to previous Jay-Z albums, told MTV News that he would be producing the whole album. [3] But in an interview with the Rolling Stone magazine, Jay-Z called the statement "premature". [4] In July 2009, Jay-Z confirmed The Blueprint 3 as the album's title during an interview with radio station Shade 45. [5]
By November 2008, he had finished the album but with lengthy negotiations with Def Jam, he went on to reworking it. [6] In January 2009, Jay-Z confirmed continued production of the album and admitted the leak of several songs. [7] [8] In a Billboard magazine interview, Jay-Z confirmed "What We Talkin' About", the album's intro, "Thank You", and "Already Home" as song names and collaborations with Australian dance group Empire of the Sun, rappers Drake and Kid Cudi and singer Rihanna. [6] He also mentioned in an interview with DJ Semtex that his favorite song on the album is "Empire State of Mind". [9] The official track list for Blueprint 3 was revealed on August 18, confirming the guest appearances from Kanye West, Rihanna, Drake, Kid Cudi, Young Jeezy, J. Cole, Alicia Keys, and more. [10] )
The cover consists of a large number of all-white instruments and recording tools stacked in a corner, with three red lines across the image. Rather than simply using Photoshop, the album's design team carefully stacked all the equipment in a corner then used a projector to create the bars. They then painted red onto the equipment where the projection of the bars was, and replaced the projector with a camera to achieve the correct perspective for the image. Blueprint 3 would be Jay-Z's first album cover that did not feature his face on it. [11]
Most of the album's recording sessions took place in Hawaii at Avex Honolulu Studio, [12] in an effort to avoid leakage. West's protégé Mr Hudson explained to The Times that he "won't get bothered there" compared to a major city such as New York or Los Angeles. [13] Sessions for the album took place during 2008 to 2009 at Avex Honolulu Studio and several other recording studios, including Germano Studios, Oven Studios, and Roc The Mic in New York City, Kingdom Studios and Lava Studios in Cleveland, Midnight Blue Studios and South Beach Studios in Miami, The Holy Chateau in Perth, Australia, and Westlake Studio in Los Angeles. [12] [14]
Jay-Z told Rolling Stone his method of selecting producers: "If Timbaland makes ten great tracks then he produces the album, if Kanye West makes ten great tracks then he produces the album; if he makes three, I'll take three. I let the music dictate the direction." [4] However, the final track listing reveals, that West produced the majority of tracks on the album, and three done by Timbaland. West confirmed two songs, "A Star Is Born" and "Young Forever", during an appearance on The Wake Up Show in February 2009. [15] Mr Hudson, who is the featured artist on the latter, described it as a flip on the Alphaville record of a similar name. [16] During a joint interview with Hudson, West confirmed that the pop artist would be featured on three songs. [16] Pharrell stated that he emailed "So Ambitious" to Jay-Z the day he was mastering the album. He loved the track so much that he put off the mastering. [17]
The album was released September 8, 2009 on Roc Nation in the United States. [18] [19] It was also released digitally on September 11, 2009, in the US, and its United Kingdom and international release followed on September 14 that same year. [20] Prior to its official release, the album leaked in its entirety on August 31, 2009. [21] When asked about the leak, Jay-Z stated "It's a preview. I'm excited for people to hear the album. I'm very proud of the work I've done, so enjoy it". [22]
The album's first single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" was premiered on June 5, 2009, via New York radio station Hot 97. [23] On June 7, 2009, Jay-Z made a guest appearance at Hot 97's Summer Jam concert, and performed D.O.A. live on stage, for the first time. On May 20, 2009, Jay-Z confirmed that he bought out the remainder of his contract from Def Jam Records in order to start his contract with Live Nation, as The Blueprint 3 was set to be released under Roc Nation and distributed by Atlantic Records. [19] In August 2008, Jay-Z performed the Kanye West–produced song "Jockin' Jay-Z" during the latter's Glow in the Dark Tour. [5]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 6.3/10 [24] |
Metacritic | 65/100 [25] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [26] |
Entertainment Weekly | B+ [27] |
The Guardian | [28] |
The Independent | [29] |
MSN Music (Consumer Guide) | A− [30] |
NME | [31] |
Pitchfork | 4.5/10 [32] |
Rolling Stone | [33] |
Slant Magazine | [34] |
The Sunday Times | [35] |
The Blueprint 3 received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 65, based on 22 reviews. [25] In his review for MSN Music, Robert Christgau called the album "fairly superb" and gave it an A− rating, [30] indicating "the kind of garden-variety good record that is the great luxury of musical micromarketing and overproduction". [36] AllMusic writer John Bush compared the album to its predecessors, describing it as "somewhere between the two, closer to the vitality and energy of the original but not without the crossover bids and guest features of the latter (albeit much better this time)". [26] Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly commented that the album succeeds at its goal of "reaching maximum commercial blast radius while maintaining its street bona fides". [27]
The Daily Telegraph gave the album four out of five stars and complimented its modern sound. [37] The A.V. Club gave it a B+ rating and stated, "Jay-Z sounds liberated by his legacy rather than weighed down by expectations". [38] Despite noting inconsistency in Jay-Z's rapping, Jon Caramanica of The New York Times complimented the album's varied musical elements and called it "an unexpected blend of maturity and youth". [39] Pete Cashmore of NME commented that it "delivers because of hefty beats and quality rapsmanship, nothing else. And, ultimately, that'll do just fine". [31] Kiilian Fox of The Observer commented that Jay-Z is "maturing into a responsible elder statesman". [40] Zach Baron of The Village Voice viewed that "much of Blueprint 3 is about the weird, meta-rap work of redefining what it is to be a boss" and stated "Jay-Z's midlife crisis is over. Which doesn't make The Blueprint 3 a classic. But we'll take it. For now". [41]
In a mixed review, Slant Magazine 's William McBee found The Blueprint 3 "predictable", "complacent", and "a hip-hop feast, for sure, filled to the brim with elite production and elite rapping, but it lacks the hungriness, the spirit, and the craziness that marks a classic album". [34] Rolling Stone 's Jody Rosen called it "a catchy, pop-friendly record", but viewed that it lacks the "electric charge" of Jay-Z's previous albums and that he is "stuck for a subject [...] But he says it well". [33] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian wrote that it "peters out in a mass of indistinct tracks" following its first four songs. [28] The Sunday Times criticized the music's "insistent straining for a crossover, pop-coloured sheen", writing that it "mires much of the album in insipidness, coating stale braggadocio (without, mostly, any compensating humour)." [35] Pitchfork 's Ian Cohen commented that it is "so certainly Jay-Z's weakest solo album, you'll be tempted to wonder if Kingdom Come was somehow underrated". [32] Greg Kot of the Los Angeles Times gave the album two-and-a-half out of four stars and viewed Jay-Z's celebrity and older age as somewhat of a flaw, stating:
It's tough for hip-hop stars to age well. Once they become celebrities living in mansions and starring in family movies, street cred is usually the first thing to go. Just ask Ice Cube. Longevity just wasn't built into the hip-hop lifestyle, with its premium on youthful swagger, street tales and fast turnover [...] 'The Blueprint 3' aims to show everyone he still has wicked skills on the mic. It does, even as it illustrates that sometimes he coasts on his celebrity [...] The message: Don't mess with ol' Gray-Z. [42]
The Blueprint 3 was ranked the best album of the year by Billboard, [43] and seventh best album of the year by MTV. [44] Rolling Stone named it the fourth best album of 2009 in its year-end list. [45]
The Blueprint 3 debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart selling 476,000 copies in its first week. [1] This became Jay-Z's eleventh number one album, breaking the record he had previously shared with Elvis Presley. [1] It also serves as the third-highest first-week sales of 2009. In its second week, the album remained at number one on the chart, selling an additional 298,000 copies. [46] In its third week, the album dropped to number two on the chart, selling 134,000 more copies. [47] In its fourth week, the album dropped to number six on the chart, selling 89,000 more copies. [48] On November 13, 2009, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of over one million copies. [49] In 2009, the album was the ninth best-selling album in the US, selling over 1.52 million copies in four months. [50] As of August 2012, the album has sold 1,933,000 copies in the United States. [51] The album sold over 3 million records worldwide.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "What We Talkin' About" (featuring Luke Steele) |
|
| 4:04 |
2. | "Thank You" |
|
| 4:10 |
3. | "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" |
| No I.D. | 4:15 |
4. | "Run This Town" (featuring Rihanna and Kanye West) |
|
| 4:27 |
5. | "Empire State of Mind" (with Alicia Keys) |
| 4:36 | |
6. | "Real as It Gets" (featuring Jeezy) |
| The Inkredibles | 4:12 |
7. | "On to the Next One" (featuring Swizz Beatz) |
| Swizz Beatz | 4:17 |
8. | "Off That" (featuring Drake) | 4:06 | ||
9. | "A Star Is Born" (featuring J. Cole) |
|
| 3:48 |
10. | "Venus vs. Mars" |
|
| 3:10 |
11. | "Already Home" (featuring Kid Cudi) |
| 4:29 | |
12. | "Hate" (featuring Kanye West) |
|
| 2:31 |
13. | "Reminder" |
|
| 4:18 |
14. | "So Ambitious" (featuring Pharrell) |
| The Neptunes | 4:12 |
15. | "Young Forever" (featuring Mr Hudson) |
| West | 4:13 |
Notes
Sample credits
Artists
Technical
| Production
Additional personnel
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [71] | Gold | 35,000^ |
Canada (Music Canada) [72] | Platinum | 80,000^ |
France (SNEP) [73] | Gold | 50,000* |
Ireland (IRMA) [74] | Gold | 7,500^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [75] | Platinum | 396,018 [76] |
United States (RIAA) [49] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000‡ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Shawn Corey Carter, known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. Known for his involvement in the creative and commercial success of numerous artists, he was named the greatest rapper of all time by Billboard and Vibe in 2023. He is the founder and chairman of entertainment company Roc Nation, and was the president and chief executive officer of Def Jam Recordings from 2004 to 2007.
The Black Album is the eighth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z. It was released on November 14, 2003, through Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. It was advertised as his final album before retiring, which is also a recurring theme throughout the songs, although Jay-Z resumed his recording career in 2005. For the album, Jay-Z wanted to enlist a different producer for each song, working with Just Blaze, Kanye West, the Neptunes, Eminem, DJ Quik, Timbaland, 9th Wonder and Rick Rubin, among others. The album also features a guest appearance by Pharrell Williams.
The Blueprint is the sixth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released on September 11, 2001, through Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. Its release was set a week earlier than initially planned in order to combat bootlegging. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2001 at Manhattan Center Studios and Baseline Studios in New York City. Contrasting the radio-friendly sound of Jay-Z's previous work, The Blueprint features soul-based sampling and production handled primarily by Kanye West, Just Blaze, and Bink, as well as Timbaland, Trackmasters, and Eminem, who also contributes the album's sole guest feature.
Roc-A-Fella Records was an American hip hop record label and music management company founded by record executives and entrepreneurs Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke in 1994. The former issued his debut album, Reasonable Doubt (1996) as the label's first release, in a joint venture with Priority Records. The label has since signed and released albums for acts including Kanye West, Cam'ron, Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, Juelz Santana, Freeway, Jadakiss, Teairra Marí, State Property, and The Diplomats before its dissolution in 2013.
American rapper Jay-Z has released thirteen solo studio albums, four collaboration albums, one live album, one compilation album, one soundtrack album, two extended plays, one hundred and fifteen singles, nine promotional singles and eighty-two music videos. As of December 2014, Jay-Z has sold 29,179,000 studio albums in United States.
The Blueprint 2: The Gift & the Curse is the seventh studio album by American rapper Jay-Z. It was released on November 12, 2002, by Roc-A-Fella Records and Island Def Jam Music Group. The album serves as a sequel to his sixth album The Blueprint (2001). Parts of the album were later reissued for his album, titled Blueprint 2.1 (2003). The album debuted at number one, shipping with first-week sales of 545,000 units. The album is certified 3x Multi-Platinum by the RIAA. In 2013, Jay-Z cited this album as his second-worst due to an overabundance of songs on the album.
Graduation is the third studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West, released on September 11, 2007, through Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records. Recording sessions took place between 2005 and 2007 at several studios in New York and Los Angeles. It was primarily produced by West himself, with contributions from various other producers, including DJ Toomp. The album also features guest appearances from recording artists such as Dwele, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Mos Def, DJ Premier, and Chris Martin. The cover art and its interior artwork were designed by Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami.
Ernest Dion Wilson, professionally known as No I.D., is an American hip hop and R&B producer from Chicago, Illinois. Wilson is also a disc jockey (DJ), music arranger and former rapper, having released an album Accept Your Own and Be Yourself , in 1997 under Relativity Records. He is perhaps best known for his early work with Chicago-based rapper Common. He has since become a heavily sought-out and high-profile producer, producing hit singles such as "Smile" by G-Unit, "Outta My System" and "Let Me Hold You" by Bow Wow, "Heartless" by Kanye West, "D.O.A." by Jay-Z, "My Last" by Big Sean, and "New Light" by John Mayer.
"Diamonds from Sierra Leone" is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his second studio album, Late Registration (2005). The song was produced by West, Jon Brion, and Devo Springsteen. The producers, with the exception of Brion, are credited as songwriters alongside John Barry and Don Black, who both received credit due to their composition being sampled. The song was initially centered around the demise of Roc-A-Fella Records, though was later re-recorded once West learned about blood diamonds in Sierra Leone. West premiered the song for Hot 97 on April 20, 2005, before it was sent to US mainstream radio stations the following month as the album's lead single, through Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam. In the chorus, West interpolated the phrase "forever ever, forever ever" from OutKast's "Ms. Jackson".
"'03 Bonnie & Clyde" is a song recorded by American rapper Jay-Z featuring his then-girlfriend, now wife, American singer Beyoncé Knowles. It was released on October 10, 2002. It was composed by Jay-Z, Kanye West, Prince, Tupac Shakur, Darryl Harper, Ricky Rouse and Tyrone Wrice for Jay-Z's seventh studio album The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (2002). The song was released as the album's lead single on October 10, 2002. "'03 Bonnie & Clyde" sampled its beat from American rapper Tupac Shakur's 1996 song "Me and My Girlfriend", paraphrasing its chorus, and was inspired by the crime film Bonnie and Clyde. The instrumentation is based on programmed drums, bass instruments, and a flamenco guitar.
"Song Cry" is a song by American rapper Jay-Z and produced by Just Blaze. It was released on April 16, 2002. It was the fourth and final single from his sixth studio album The Blueprint and also appears on the 2001 live album Jay-Z: Unplugged.
"Roc Boys ..." is the second single from Jay-Z's tenth studio album, American Gangster. The song is produced by Skyz Muzik, Diddy and two of his producers known as LV and Sean C from his production team, The Hitmen. It features additional vocals by Beyoncé, Kanye West and Cassie. The song samples "Make the Road by Walking" by The Menahan Street Band. On December 11, 2007, Rolling Stone named it the best song of 2007.
"Swagga Like Us" is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and T.I. featuring fellow American rappers Lil Wayne and Kanye West, the latter of whom also produced the song, constructed primarily around a vocal sample of "Paper Planes" by British musician M.I.A. It was released on September 6, 2008, in the United States as the fifth single from T.I.'s sixth album Paper Trail (2008). The track was also initially slated for inclusion on Jay-Z's eleventh album The Blueprint 3 (2009), however it ultimately failed to make the final track listing.
"D.O.A. " is a song written by American rapper Jay-Z and produced by No I.D. The song was released as a digital download on June 23, 2009, and as the first single from Jay-Z's 11th studio album, The Blueprint 3. The song made its world premiere on the New York radio station Hot 97 on June 5. Its lyrics address the overusage of Auto-Tune in the music industry. The song samples "In the Space" by French composer Janko Nilović. The bridge is inspired by Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" and interpolates lyrics from Kanye West's "Big Brother", and "You're Nobody " by The Notorious B.I.G. The song won Jay-Z his eighth Grammy Award, and his second for Best Rap Solo Performance. It peaked at No. 24 on Billboard Hot 100.
"Run This Town" is a song by American rapper Jay-Z featuring Barbadian singer Rihanna and fellow American rapper Kanye West. Released on July 24, 2009, it was written by the artists alongside Athanasios Alatas, Jeff Bhasker, and No I.D., the latter producing it with West. "Run This Town" was released as the second single from Jay-Z's eleventh studio album, The Blueprint 3.
"Say Something" is a song recorded by American producer, songwriter and rapper Timbaland, for his third studio album Shock Value II (2009). The song features vocals from Canadian rapper Drake. It was written by Mosley, Jerome Harmon, Graham, Timothy Clayton and John Maultsby. The production was helmed by Mosley under his stage-name Timbaland while Harmon served as the assistant producer, under the stage-name Jroc. The song was tailored to Drake's sound and when the rapper wrote to it, he contacted the producer about the lyrics. Despite the verses feeling more like Graham's record, Mosley gave his blessing and went the product. The song was solicited to digital retailers on November 3, 2009 in the United States as the album's second single.
Watch the Throne is a collaborative studio album by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West, collectively known as The Throne. It was released on August 8, 2011, through Roc-A-Fella Records, Roc Nation, and Def Jam Recordings. Prior to the release, Jay-Z and West had collaborated on various singles, and with the latter as a producer on the former's work. They originally sought to record a five-song EP together, but the project eventually evolved into a full-length album. The album features guest appearances from Frank Ocean, The-Dream, Beyoncé and Mr Hudson. It also features vocal contributions from Kid Cudi, Seal, Justin Vernon, Elly Jackson, Connie Mitchell, Charlie Wilson and Pete Rock, among others, and samples of vocals by soul musicians Otis Redding and Curtis Mayfield.
"Talk That Talk" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer Rihanna for her 2011 studio album of the same name. It features a rap verse by American rapper Jay-Z, who had previously collaborated with Rihanna on her song "Umbrella" in 2007 and "Run This Town" in 2009. The song was written by Jay-Z, Ester Dean, together with the Norwegian production duo Stargate. Def Jam Recordings serviced the track to urban contemporary radio in the United States on January 17, 2012, as the third single from Talk That Talk. It was released in France as a CD single on March 26. "Talk That Talk" is a hip hop song with R&B beats, rough drums and unrefined synths, and has a similar style to Rihanna's 2010 single "Rude Boy". It contains a brief sample of "I Got a Story to Tell" by the Notorious B.I.G. Therefore, the Buckwild, Sean Combs, Chucky Thompson, and the Notorious B.I.G. are credited as songwriters despite the Notorious B.I.G's death in 1997.
"A Star Is Born" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Jay-Z from his eleventh studio album The Blueprint 3 (2009). The song, produced by Kanye West, Kenoe and No I.D., features a verse from American rapper J. Cole, Jay-Z's protege and the first artist to be signed to his Roc Nation label. In the song, Jay-Z recognizes rappers who have risen to fame in the last decade, such as Kanye West, Lil Wayne, T.I., Eminem and 50 Cent. Notably, Jay-Z also gives shout-outs to Mobb Deep, Nas and two artists whom he had previously insulted on his 2001 song "Takeover".
Magna Carta Holy Grail is the twelfth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z. It was made available at first for free digital download for Samsung customers via the Jay-Z Magna Carta app on July 4, 2013. It was released for retail sale on July 8, 2013 by Roc Nation, Roc-A-Fella, and Universal Music Distribution, as well as the final release by Roc-A-Fella before the label was shuttered. The album features guest appearances by Justin Timberlake, Nas, Rick Ross, Frank Ocean and Beyoncé. Most of the album was produced by Timbaland and Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon, while other producers included Boi-1da, Mike Will Made It, Hit-Boy, Mike Dean, No I.D., The-Dream, Swizz Beatz, and Pharrell Williams among others. The album was promoted through various commercials presented by Samsung and was not preceded by any retail singles.