Artist: Jay-Z

Album: Blueprint 3

Label: Roc Nation

Awaiting for this album to drop I had very high expectations with the first “Blueprint” being one of my favorite Jay-Z albums and coming off a “Classic” album in my eyes such as “American Gangster“. So listening  through Blueprint 3 for the time I was feeling 50/50. Records like “Thank You”, “Off That” ft. Drake, “Hater” ft. Kanye West  and “On To The Next One” started to make me look at the album some what as a failure compared to his prior work. But after stepping away from the album for a week and listening back to it again I learned to appreciate songs like “Venus Vs. Mars” started to make sense especially after hearing Hova perform the song live on Fuse from the MSG 9/11 Benefit Concert this past Friday. Even though I still believe that the production on the album overall should of been on another level but songs such as “Empire State Of Mind“ft. Alicia Keys and “A Star Is Born”ft J.Cole. Personal favorites such as “Already Home” where Kid Cudi probably gained a lot of fans himself is definitely a stand out record right along with the “So Ambitious” in which highlights Pharrell and Jay-Z at there best similar to what they did during the “The Black Album” a track called “Allure“. Performing at a sold out concert on a Friday when your album dropped on the following Tuesday and the crowd knows every word of your new album show exactly why Jay-Z will remain “Young Forever” which was a great collaboration between Hov and Mr.Hudson with Mr.West on the production. An last but not least has to be the automatic street banger “Real As It Gets” ft Young Jeezy (Prod By: The Inkredibles)which was actually going to be his first single.  More than a artist I feel like Jay-Z is almost becoming what Ali was to the Sport of Boxing or what Jordan was to the Sport of Basketball. The list can go on and on, so just like comparisons with Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryrant or Lebron James never really add up to a Jordan comparison neither will any living artist makes sense when comparing to Hov his what he has done in the music world! Other key tracks are the “What We Talkin’ About” and of course the two single “Run This Town“ft. Rihanna & Kanye West & “DOA”(Prod By: No ID).