MIND INVERSION

Although you guys don’t hear my talk about Hov very much, I can assure you that he is one of my favorite emcees of all time. In my opinion The Blueprint is his shining moment as an emcee (although many would argue Reasonable Doubt is) without a doubt. This album has pristene production and Jay-Z’s flow, delivery and lyrics on this album are truly top notch. I picked up this album when I was in 8th grade, and I’ve been bumping it ever since. Now that I look back on this album, I can’t believe that I didn’t even think about this record for my top 10 most influential albums. The production on this album is handled by Kanye West (in his prime), Just Blaze, Bink & Eminem. With those names already you know the beats are going to be crazy as hell.

The album starts out with “The Ruler’s Back“, and right from the first track you know Jigga isn’t fuckin’ around at all, “Your reign on the top was shorter than leprechauns/you can’t fuck with Hov what type of ecs your on” and, “…charges don’t stick to dude he’s made of teflon”. Jay-Z proceded to decimate the track and proves without a doubt that he’s back. The second track on the album, “The Takeover“, might contain my favorite sample flip of all time by Mr. West. He samples The Doors classic track “Five to One“, and Hov spits some of the hardest battle verses you will ever hear. Most of the dissing that is blatently apparenit in this track is aimed towards Nas & Prodigy (of Mobb Deep), “. “The Takeover” will always go down as one of my favorite diss tracks of all time. I loved the track “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” even though it was the most radio friendly song of that year, just because it was so damn good.

My favorite track on this album has to be “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)” which was also crafted by Kanye West. Kanye’s beat is the definition of beautiful and Jay spits some clever ass rhymes, “First the Fugees gonna break up, now everyday I wake up/Somebody’s go something to say/What’s all the fuckin’ fussin’ for?/Because I’m grubbin’ more and I pack heat like I’m the oven door”.

I remember Jay saying that the lyrics to this album were written in two days on the Collision Course project with Linkin Park. This album was also supposedly cut in two weeks as well, which would make it pretty much the quickest released classic of all time. Another thing that we have to take in to account is that this was Jay’s sixth studio album, this album was a display of pure talent and endurement. This album is a must have for any Hip-Hop fan.

10/10

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Wildstyle Wednesdays with tags Bink, Classic, eminem, jay-z, Just Blaze, Kanye West, The Blueprint. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.