CD review: Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3

Published on Sunday 20 September 2009 19:08

JAY-Z: THE BLUEPRINT 3 *** ROC NATION, £12.72

JAY-Z's original Blueprint album, released in 2001, is often cited as a hip-hop classic, so the superstar rapper is well aware of the heft of the name, which he uses here to assert his creative supremacy. On the ground, though, he doesn't always sound so unassailable. Empire State Of Mind is a lazy celebration of his New York home, featuring an under-achieving guest vocal by Alicia Keys; in contrast, What We Talkin' About sets its sights on Washington with its mobilising political call now that Obama is in office.

D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) is a jokey pop at the studio tool, commonly used on hip-hop records, which irons out dodgy vocals, but it also demonstrates Jay-Z's proprietary interest in the future of hip-hop.

Fortunately, he makes his own convincing case for trailblazing new sounds on the exotic On To The Next One but then chooses to go out on the insipid Young Forever, incorporating Mr Hudson singing Alphaville's drippy Forever Young and an unexpected shout-out for Pyrex – gotta love that durable glassware.