Friday, September 28, 2001

Music review
Jay Z’s latest album consistent with ego

Jay Z has always been known as the “player,” the “hustler,” the cocky young rapper bubbling over with braggadocio and witty punch-lines. And with his sixth album in six years, he is poised to achieve something that no rap artist has been able to achieve — consistency.

“The Blueprint” is a departure from what many people associate Shawn Carter with, notably the money and jewelry talk and the happy-go-lucky TRL crowd albeit his “H.O.V.A. (Izzo)” single fits the said stereotype.

Nevertheless, the first thing that will strike rap fans is that the sound of this work is much less synthesized and has a whole lot more soul. Songs like “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love),” “Song Cry,” “Never Change” and “All I Need” will have you singing and clapping along with moving sounds of Bobby “Blue” Bland and Bobby Glenn.

The production is handled superbly by little known producers. Timbaland, however, makes his cameo appearance with the incredibly enjoyable “Hola Hovito.” But for the most part, the sound of this album is handled by Kanye West and Just Blaze, who do some deep-crate digging and please the ears with obscure samples.

My personal favorite is “U Don’t Know” in which Jay Z abandons typical song structure and brags about his success while attributing it to the skills he learned on the streets.

“I sell ice in the winter, I sell fire in hell/ I am a hustler baby, I sold water to a well.”

Another change is this project is largely a solo performance. Besides the fact that Amil is no longer on the payroll, no one signed to Roc-a-fella records even raps one bar. In fact, Q-Tip, Biz Markie and Slick Rick’s appearances are confined to the chorus of “Girls, Girls, Girls.” The only personality that shares Jigga’s spotlight is Eminem on “Renagade” (yes, they spelled it wrong) who also produces the track. The song itself is very well done and both rhyme entirely in multi-syllable. Both artists are full of emotion in the rebuttal of their critics evidenced when Jay Z roars: “Say that I’m foolish, I only talk about jewels. Do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?”

For those unaware, Jay Z spends the whole “Takeover” song dissing Prodigy of Mobb Deep, Nas and yet-to-be-identified rappers addressed in the last part of the song.

Prodigy’s “thug” persona was attacked all the way back at this year’s “Summer Jam” when Jay Z unveiled a picture of him in leotards at dance school. Nas, however would pay for his “Is he H to the Izzo, M to the Izzo,” lyric from his song “Stillmatic,” when Jay Z unleashes the reply “Went from Nasty Nas to Esco’s trash/ had a spark when you started but now you’re just garbage.”

But it is at the beginning of “The Blueprint,” with the bone-stirring “Rocky” sample playing in the background of “The Ruler’s Back” that we start to understand the friction. Shawn Carter’s cockiness is similar to the kid on the playground with the biggest toys. There is almost no way to tell if this cockiness is just confidence or arrogance. The song’s title is far from accidental as Jay Z is the self-proclaimed “King of New York,” having presumably inherited the crown from the late Notorious B.I.G.

And although this proclamation has caused him to butt heads and egos with some of the bigger names in hip-hop all claiming to be the best, one thing that Shawn Carterseems to do that they haven’t been able to is to make you believe it.

—Richard Georges