He had the accident a year later, or a few months later. "And then his career took off right after that. "That's when his name started really bubbling after that," Barber says. West contributed "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love), Never Change," "Girls, Girls Girls (Part 2), and the lead single, "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," to The Blueprint. Anything is possible in Kanye's universe. Jay-Z called West "a soulful dude." While today that manifests itself as a blend of religious and secular music, it's impossible to deny that the Chicago native is piloted by self-belief. "Those dudes were chopping samples differently." His work on The Blueprint cemented his sound and his reputation, Ye would parlay the album's success into his own solo career with Roc-A-Fella (initially) on the way to becoming one of Hip-Hop's most influential personalities. "I feel like that Kanye was probably heavily influenced by RZA and Q-Tip," says Andrew Barber. And, of course, Kanye West became Kanye West. Blaze's work on the album made him one of the most in-demand producers in Hip-Hop: on the strength of tracks like "Song Cry" and "Girls Girls Girls," Blaze would go on to producer major hits for the Roc-A-Fella stable (including "Oh Boy!" for Juelz Santana and "Roc The Mic" for Beanie Sigel) en route to becoming one of the industry's most revered. When "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" hit radio that summer, it sounded like Hip-Hop's "Hail To the Chief," a sentiment the song's music video echoed.Īlso, The Blueprint announced two of the 2000s most celebrated producers in Just Blaze and Kanye West. With this album, Jay didn't just acknowledge his own stature, the world seemed ready to agree with him. 3: Hard Knock Life, but even after that home run, you could argue that Jay wasn't bigger than a DMX or an Eminem. He didn't truly break through until 1998's Vol. In the wake of The Notorious B.I.G.'s murder in 1997, Jay audaciously declared "The City Is Mine" before damn-near anyone agreed with him. In 1996, people scoffed when Reasonable Doubt-era Jay bragged about his status on an album that struggled to go gold. Yes, Jay was already a a major star long before 2001, but his climb to "alpha male" status in Hip-Hop was gradual. That assessment isn't entirely untrue, but The Blueprint is the closest the 2000s has to the kind of watershed moment commentators said couldn't happen anymore.įirst, it's the album that affirms Jay-Z's ascendence. When it comes to the 2000s, the emergence of the internet (among other things) led to a lot of commentary about how an album can't do that anymore: our attention was now too fragmented, our culture was now too visibly diverse. Nevermind exploded like an atom bomb over the 1990s. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band transformed 1960s music or how Thriller completely changed everything for the 1980s. When you look back at the seismic albums of previous decades, you can see how Sgt. And in the case of The Blueprint, you can't deny how much impact this project had on its given decade. But even beyond those particulars, "Greatest Album" distinctions also have to carry a certain amount of cultural and historical weight. That's not to say I don't think The Blueprint knocks it features some of the most consistently stellar production of Jay-Z's career and he sounds focused throughout the project. Of course, everyone has their opinions and preferences, but when it's time to give a project that sort of lofty title, I believe the criteria has to go beyond what slaps most to me, personally, or not. After two decades, can we officially declare it the greatest album of the '00s in any popular music genre from that period? There's definitely a case to be made.įirst, let's examine what "Greatest Album of the Decade" even means. The masterful sixth album by Jay-Z, from a strictly historical perspective, recalibrated so much about 2000s Hip-Hop.
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