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songs
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- 1
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What We Talkin' About
- 04:03
- 113,133 plays
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- 2
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Thank You
- 04:10
- 107,898 plays
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- 3
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D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)
- 04:15
- 139,575 plays
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- 4
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Run This Town
- 04:27
- 273,853 plays
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- 5
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Empire State of Mind
- 04:36
- 404,364 plays
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- 6
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Real as It Gets
- 04:12
- 134,785 plays
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- 7
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On to the Next One
- 04:17
- 161,775 plays
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- 8
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Off That
- 04:06
- 128,950 plays
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- 9
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A Star Is Born
- 03:48
- 113,930 plays
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- 10
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Venus vs. Mars
- 03:10
- 132,082 plays
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- 11
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Already Home
- 04:29
- 146,402 plays
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- 12
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Hate
- 02:31
- 130,680 plays
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- 13
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Reminder
- 04:18
- 103,348 plays
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- 14
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So Ambitious
- 04:12
- 112,890 plays
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- 15
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Young Forever
- 04:13
- 144,272 plays
album review
When Jay-Z first made a series out of his best album, 2001's The Blueprint, it became a game of high expectations. The Blueprint of the first volume was Jay-Z as vital as he'd ever been, storming back to the hardcore after a few years of commercial success. The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse was a complete turn, a set of half-cocked crossovers, bloated to bursting with guest features that obscured his talents. The Blueprint 3 is 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). Kanye West is in the producer's chair for seven tracks, and it's clear he was reaching for the same energy level as the original Blueprint (which he produced). "What We Talkin' About" begins the album with a wave of surging, oppressive synth, while Jay-Z enumerates (with an intriguing lack of detail) what he's said and what's been said about him, ending with a nod not to the past but the future (and Barack Obama). West also produced the second, "Thank You," and while it starts with typical Jay-Hova brio, the last verse piles on the unrelenting criticism of unnamed rappers doomed to weak sales. There's plenty more lyrical violence to come, but most of the targets are much safer than they were eight years earlier. (Jay doesn't sound very convincing when he claims in "D.O.A. [Death of Auto-Tune]" that it's not "politically correct" to rail against one of the most reviled trends in pop music during the 2000s.) From there, he branches out with a calculating type of finesse, drawing in certain demographics via a roster of guests, from Young Jeezy (hardcore) to Drake (teens) to Kid Cudi (the backpacker crowd). The king of the crossovers here is "Empire State of Mind," a New York flag-waver with plenty of landmark name-dropping that turns into a great anthem with help on the chorus from Alicia Keys. The Blueprint 3 isn't a one-man tour de force like the first. Jay is upstaged once or twice by his guests, and while the productions are stellar throughout -- Timbaland appears three times, and No I.D. gets multiple credits also -- it's clear there's less on Jay's mind this time. Not tuned out like on Kingdom Come, but more content with his dominance as a rap godfather in 2009. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
more albums by this artist
See all-
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- American Gangster (Parental Advisory)
- Released 2007
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- The Black Album (Parental Advisory)
- Released 2003
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- Collision Course
- Released 2004
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- The Blueprint
- Released 2001
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listener reviews
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The Blueprint 3
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- By the muzik box
- 9/12/2009 23:32:37
- Basically I see the new album as a grown Jay.. "Crazy sh*t he call himself young lol" But the first blueprint was like samples and shit of music that inspired him more at a younger less noble stage of his life.. The second blueprint Jay was on his own sh*t.. He was behind the wheel driving ya know? So by that album he stuck his neck out there a lil' more with the creativity..By The third blueprint Jay got the game down to a science.. He's so focused on this album.. He don't even have to sell records anymore so its not about money.. Usually when a rapper gets to his status they start putting that garbage out just to sell records.. I like the fact that Jay takes the time to think about the music he puts out and the mark it leaves... In a time of the auto-tune we needed someone to come solid with a hit.. The game so big and everyone doin the same thing.. Jay didn't sell out.. and its still relevant.. It's almost like new and classic.. Traditional sounds and some new.. Best of both worlds to me
- 4 out of 4 people
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5
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- By Doe B
- 9/12/2009 04:10:18
- 5 Stars/ Mic's/ or anything else you use to rat music!!!
- 1 out of 4 people
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The Blueprint 3
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- By INFAMOUSHAVOC24
- 9/10/2009 16:33:43
- The cd we Start off with a What We Talkin About a very good song to start off with Thank you next in line another great song by Jay-z.Next up are the albums 2 singles which is Death of Auto Tunes and Run This Town which were both enjoyable .Run This Town a good song for the radio. Empire State of Mind another song i enjoy Real As It Get with Young Jezzy another lazy 16 from Jezzy not surprize Jay-z had to save the song from being bad but its ok .On To The Next One a Swizz Beatz Production very repeatative song with the beat not surprizing its Swizz and this is a straight Club song from the Moment you hear the baseline not one i enjoy at all.off that a timbland produce track a little spend and fast flow from jigga with drake make no sense really making a track with drake considering he is an artist that use auto tune. A Star Is Born i could even bare to listen to the song the hook is very weak its too popish for me but the lyrics are the only thing that save the song.Venus vs Mars the 2nd produce timbland track which is very well written by jigga very easy could be the next single on the album. Already Home another Kanye west produce song i like this song alot because he tell it how it because he related to other rapper that want him to go and leave the rap game.Haters all i got to say is listen really close to kanye west lyrics this song horrible the beat is weak the hook is even weaker.Reminder the last timbland produce song was ok nothing special the beat nice and uptempo ok lyric. So Ambitous with pharell so no sercet its a neptune track not something i like neptune havn't made a good hip hop beat in a while so wasn't expecting too much and i don't get much in return with that song.Young Forever wow what a way to end the album I really don't get this one this very pop for it to be on a Jay-z CD not something i like.In all the album a 6.5/10
- 2 out of 7 people
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Forever Young
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- By Darkness 918
- 9/10/2009 13:25:38
- The Blue Print 3 is serious. Jay really Show people why he remains forever young. I hear people say Jay doesn't have that Reasonable Doubt flow anymore. Yeah they may be right about that but the reason for that is because he has evolve as an artists. Embrace Jay or turn away but don't deny jay of what he has become.
- 3 out of 3 people
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What more can I say?
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- By Jay3091
- 9/9/2009 22:21:01
- I love it. Although all the Timbo tracks are questionable... everything else kills! And I like how Jay put Drake, CuDi, & J. Cole on!
- 2 out of 5 people
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I've listened to this album...
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- By BigVeney24
- 9/5/2009 03:36:04
- And I fell in love with it, J keeps evolving man, you got to respect this dude. Listen to this album, must buy. :)
- 7 out of 7 people
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One of Jay's top 5 albums
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- By Jf Vigor
- 9/4/2009 15:13:57
- Jay-Z "The Blueprint 3":
Jf Vigor's Review
Right off the bat I'll say it, Blueprint 3 is an excellent cohesive album. Jigga does a great job of addressing everyone in this album from his clarifications on "Thank You" to all the rappers blaming him for their album flops, to his message towards bloggers on "Reminder" and "Already Home" (including those who think it's funny to call him a camel).
The common theme throughout the album is that Jay is on to more mature and fresh things (similar to his message on "30 Something" from KC), as opposed to rims, tints, timbs, oversized clothes, etc. Many songs can be interpreted as Jigga bragging about riches or girls, but there's a metaphor to every seemingly obvious message. "Venus vs. Mars" is a prime example of a song riddled with metaphor, line after line. An example being his reference to Bernanke Madoff's ponzi scheme during a verse detailing a bad breakup: "Fell for the Ponzi scheme, damn short just made off"
The album's smart, mature, and fresh. I recommend it to ALL Jay-Z fans and newcomers. It's funny how people feel Jigga has fallen off; all they have to do is listen to his message and they'll realize Jay never slipped.
This album easily gets a 8.75/10 from me.
To give you guys perspective, my list of top 5 Jay-Z albums goes as follows:
Reasonable Doubt
Blueprint
Black Album
Blueprint 3
American Gangster
Ya... I like it like that haha
Personal stand-out tracks:
Thank you, Empire state of mind, On to the next one, Already home, Young forever - 10 out of 11 people
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Instant Classic
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- By Skip BanWinkle
- 9/4/2009 12:15:29
- Hov came with it on this one. He proves why his the best, from "What We Talkin' About" to "Young Forever". He ripes about his haters on "Hate" and let them kno why his the shit on "Reminder". I give the BP3 a 5 out of 5 stars
- 4 out of 6 people
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