Jay-Z
The Blueprint 3
(Atlantic)

SOUNDS LIKE: Jay-Z is headed the way of the Rat Pack.
 

Jay-Z has taken on the austere untouchable quality of an aging mobster.

He's called the yuppie-rapper, and jabbed at constantly for loosing his ‘street' edge. He is too important to be bothered with pithy things. Like making music.

Almost every track is tailored to be a single. Check out "Venus vs. Mars" and perhaps most importantly, "DOA Death of Autotune" which is snarky but great. The key with The Blueprint 3 and Jay-Z's other Blueprints is his honesty. He raps from experience. And even if that experience nowadays is of a gilded penthouse suite in Hawaii and Beyonce's decadent ass... at least it's real.

Reviewed by Sophia Al-Maria

Courtesy of Soundproofmagazine.com