The 15 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of the Past 15 Years: #4: Jay-Z: "The Blueprint"

#4: Jay-Z: "The Blueprint" (2001) (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam)

If we were ranking the best rap albums of the decade, this would be #1.  I guess that gives some hints as to what the top 3 are, but in the past 10 years, no album had a bigger impact on the hip-hop landscape than this album.  Now as a huge Jay-Z fan, let me offer some explaination:  people may decry why I did not include "Reasonable Doubt" to represent Jay-Z on this list.  Well, not only did I feel that would be an obvious choice, and it is my favorite Jay-Z album, the beautiful thing about Hova is that you can choose any one of his albums (well maybe not "Lifetime Vol 1" or "Kingdom Come") to represent him and you would be holding a classic.  Also, I am basing the choices on more than just quality, but also impact on the game.  "Reasonable Doubt" is a masterpiece, but it did not have the effect on the game initially that "The Blueprint" did.  It took people a little while to warm up to "Reasonable Doubt", most people found it after the fact.  Jay didn't really impact the mainstream hard until 1998's "Hard Knock Life...Vol 2", so it's for those reasons I have chosen to highlight this album over "Reasonable Doubt".

But what about "The Black Album"?  Well, another classic, indeed.  It was supposed to be Jay's swan song, and for a little while, it was.  But if hip-hop and pro wrestling have taught us anything, people rarely stay retired for long.  While it was a flawless album and seamless from front to back, I think it would hold more of a distinction if it truly was Jay-Z's last work, as it showed a man going out at the top of his game.  After the stumble of "Kingdom Come" and the rebound on "American Gangster" and "Blueprint 3", Hov's position as the best to ever do it is all about solidified. 

So...why "The Blueprint"?  I'll tell you why.  I think this was not only Jay's most influential album, but also probably his most difficult to make.  At the time, the rap landscape was like a warzone.  Everyone was beefing with one another, and Jay was hot target.  He was knee deep in feuds with Nas, Mobb Deep and Jadakiss (which eventually splintered to Jada vs Beanie Siegel).  He was also facing criminal charges for gun posession and assault.  So like 'Pac with "Me Against the World", what does Hova do?  Make the best fuckin' album he ever made.

This album just assaulted your senses from the opening track.  At the time, rappers were using beats from the Neptunes and Timbaland for the most part, or copycats there of.  Keyboards, synthesized beats, that was the rule of the day. "The Blueprint" shocked people by sounding nothing like anything else.  Rich soul samples, Alvin and the Chipmunks style vocal samples, crisp percussion. It brought hip-hop back to the essence.  You could say Jay laid the foundation with some of the production used on the "Dynasty: Roc-La-Familia" album, but this album took it to the next level.  "The Blueprint" made household names out of Just Blaze and some dude named Kanye West, maybe you've heard of him. It also had everyone and their mother trying to cop the "Blueprint" style of production: Cam'ron and the Diplomats most notably, but all of a sudden, every album that came out had a sped-up soul sample.  Jay changed the game, plain and simple.



Jay was also at the top of his game lyrically.  From the opener "The Ruler's Back", he flips nimble and original flows, dropping metaphors and using crazy wordplay.  Following that is probably the best dis track ever, "The Takeover".  Now, people can debate all day who did better, Jay or Nas with his response, "Ether".  But what you cannot deny is the feeling you caught the first time you heard "Takeover".  The beat: SICK.  Flipping The Doors "5 to 1", Kanye gave Hova the perfect soundscape to lay waste to Nas and basically ended the career of Mobb Deep, who never really recovered back to their previous stature.  



There were also emotional joints like "Song Cry", "Momma Loves Me" and "Never Change".  You even had the infamous face-off between Jay and Eminem on "Renegades", which Nas made light of ("Eminem murdered you on your own shit").  True or false? You decide.  This album was just absolutely perfect and had everything a hip-hop fan could want.  From dropping the same day the Twin Towers did, to changing the way rap music sounded to negatively affecting the careers of any rapper who dared to oppose him, Jay-Z's "The Blueprint" will stand the test of time as a high point for not just Jay-Z or hip-hop music, but the music world as a whole.

ACCOLADES: Certified double platinum; "XXL" rating from XXL Magazine and 5 Mics from The Source; #5 on Rolling Stone's Top 10 of 2001; #2 of best albums from 2000-2004, ranked by Pitchfork Media

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