Happy 20th Anniversary: The Blueprint

 

What's happening kind folks! Moving on to our next twentieth anniversary salute is an album that has long been revered as one of hip-hop's most complete albums.  A star making album in every sense of the term, this album was a blistering reminder of this artist's stranglehold on the top of hip-hop seemingly at the time.  From the moment Prodigy and Nas were on blast on that Hot 97 Summer Jam screen, the first shot was let off and what came was an album that was the most polished and cohesive of his career.  Ladies and gentlemen, we salute Jay-Z and his fifth album, The Blueprint.  

Many hardcore Jay enthusiasts are quick to state (and rightfully so) that his debut, Reasonable Doubt, is his true magnum opus.  Much like Nas with Illmatic, Reasonable Doubt was, in fact, a moment in time for Hov.  There's no one hundred percent guarantee an artist can reach levels that are that high in terms of critical and street appeal.  However, an artist can move forward and strive to make another high level of classic acclaim for another effort.  Nas did it with Stillmatic, It Was Written and his latest amazing effort Kings Disease 2.  With Jay, it was arguably Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life, his third album that sold over four million units at the time.  Then, he dropped one of hip-hop's most scathing disses in "The Takeover", and it set the stage for album number five, The Blueprint.  At best, every single cut on the album is a hit. A certifiable hit.  You've more than likely heard every cut on the radio at some point before and after its release.  Each cut reflected where Jay's status was at the time.  There were no street tales of hustling and surviving.  This was more or less a celebration of his status as hip-hop's biggest deal.  

While Reasonable Doubt was very street-laced, this was absolutely for the radio and clubs, with topics that were moreso about his luxurious lifestyle, the hate he received, and just enjoying life.  Obviously, "Takeover" set the tone, but once his official first single, "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" made it on to the airwaves, it was clear he was beating his chest as the biggest star in the game, but other cuts like "Girls, Girls, Girls", "Jigga That Nigga", and "Hola Hovito" were as perfect for Jay as any cut we've ever heard from him. The Just Blaze-scorcher "U don't Know" could've likely fit in on Reasonable Doubt, as it's among the hardest cuts Jay has ever presented to this very day.  However, the second half of the album is a bit more reflective.  "Ain't No Love" addresses hate and jealousy he's experienced on his way to the top.  Meanwhile, the title track is arguably the cut with the most feeling, as he reminisces about his youth all the way to his stardom saluting everyone from his mother to his brother to Jaz-O.  Over a hypnotic Blaze beat, he goes deeper than the majority of this album, however "Song Cry" goes even deeper with "Song Cry", as the wailing sample of this cut makes this song bring more of a melancholy vibe to it as Jay reflects on regrets and homies he misses. Among the most introspective cuts of his career.  We move on to the much talked about "Renegade", where Nas so eloquently stated that "Eminem murdered him on his own shit" on his retaliation cut "ether".  Jay did indeed get outshined by a red hot Eminem, but was still an impactful cut during this era.  

With other cuts like "The Ruler's Back", "Never Change", and "All I Need", this was the complete Jay-Z album. This incorporated everything that made Jay what he was in 2001.  The streets of Reasonable Doubt, the commercialism of In My Lifetime Vol. 1, and the crossover appeal of Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life were all represented here and then some.  He was at the top of his game lyrically and stylistically.  The board work Kanye and Just Blaze did here was nearly perfect, especially for Jay.  Likewise, Bink, Timbaland and Trackmasters (whatever happened to them?) provided bumping boardwork for Jay to deliver over.  

While his later discography had its share of highs (American Gangster, 4:44, The Black Album) and Lows (Blueprint 2, Blueprint 3, Magna Carta Holy Grail, Kingdom Come), The Blueprint remains his all-around triumph and definitive statement that showed he was arguably the biggest star in hip-hop even in the midst of highly in-demand artists such as Eminem, DMX (R.I.P.), Nas, Snoop Dogg.  His debut may still be considered by many as his absolute classic work, The Blueprint showed him transitioning fully from the streets to the mansion without forgetting who he was or where he came from.  He may had been playing golf more than hustling, but he worked very hard to better himself and his family through The Blueprint. While he was at times he was an instigator and wanted to assert his status as the big dog in pretty eye-browsing ways, as a whole, if there was an album that perfectly represented who Shawn Carter was and who he was becoming, this is that album.  It's clear that The Blueprint foreshadowed his distinction being among the true GOATs of hip-hop.  Did we mention this album got inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as well? Well, if you know about all the historic recordings and albums that dwell in the NRR (Illmatic, To Pimp A Butterfly, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Purple Rain, Raising Hell, Straight Outta Compton, and The Chronic among others).  To this, we salute Jay-Z's enormous triumph, The Blueprint, and its twentieth anniversary.  Until next time!

Happy 20th Anniversary Salute: Life Story

What's good kind people?!  This next twentieth anniversary salute is for a Brooklyn emcee that caught the eyes and ears of the one and only Puff Daddy and Bad Boy Records.  When Biggie died, there was a massive hole in Bad Boy over who would be the next star.  After debuting on Puff Daddy's incredible debut album, No Way out, eyes were starting to get on him from the fans and critics as well.  Before too long, he was on other efforts from the likes of Faith, 112, Tony Touch, Mase, and the much shamefully forgotten about group, Cru.  In 2000, he finally dropped his anthemic single, "Whoa", to massive praise.  Eventually selling over a million units of his debut album.  The gruffled-voiced emcee had arrived and we were all on notice.  This salute goes to Black Rob and his debut album, Life Story.

While "Whoa" definitely got the club and streets ready, this was far from his only banger on here.  He did have his share of radio-accessible cuts such as "Espacio", "Spanish Fly" with J-Lo and "PD World Tour", but he also had smokers that the streets would deeply appreciate, such as the previously heard cuts of "I Dare You", the cinematic "I Love You Baby", and "You Don't Know Me", as well as the Lox-assisted "Can I Live" and the reworking of Slick Rick's "Children's Story", "Thug Story".  Rob's nasal-yet-gruff voiced delivery is standout on the entire album, as well as his pen game with his more vivid cuts like the aforementioned "I Love You baby" and the intriguing "Jasmine". On "I Love You Baby", he details a conniving woman who shows her hand as a double crosser, while he switches it up on "Spanish Fly" and professes his love for a Hispanic woman.  His narratives may not be ground-breaking or incredibly complex, but they also fit him comfortably, and that's just fine.

This is a Bad Boy release, which means this will have several cuts on here at least for almost immediate accessibility, unlike the momentous landmark that was Ready To Die.  Rob showed potential all through this album and made himself a star here.  It wasn't an overtly commercial release like albums under Bad Boy at that time such as No Way Out, Harlem World or The Lox's debut, Money, Power, & Respect.  This was more street than any of  them, but he still knew the importance of gaining big audiences in order to achieve stardom.  This definitely sounded authentic, and for the Bad Boy narrative.  While his sophomore album, The Black Rob Report, was almost as much of a hard hitter, even without proper marketing which led to it being very highly slept on,, along with later albums Game Tested, Streets Approved and Genuine Article, this remains his best work and a definite showing of his talent.  At a time where they needed the next big breakout star that was street authenticated, Black Rob came along at the right time.  With Life Story, Robert Ross became somebody we needed to keep our eyes on, and the album was a reflection of that.  We toast to Black Rob and Life Story.  Until next time!

Happy 20th Anniversary: Disposable Arts

 What's happening folks! This anniversary salute big ups an album that's considered an underground masterpiece.  The curator of this album is an over thirty year emcee who's been considered among the most influential emcees out in the game.  Always seeking ways to innovate and come up concept to illustrate his points and narratives, this former Juice Crew member delivered an album that highlighted a young man that just got out of prison and realizes how bad his burrough of Brooklyn has become so he enrolls into the fictional School of the Disposable Arts hoping to make a better way of life than what he's been exposed to once he got out.  Highly regarded as arguably the album of his career on a critical level, the artist went from previous efforts such as Take A Look Around, Sittin' On Chrome, and Slaughtahouse, and constructed an EXCELLENT album.  This is a look at Masta Ace and his album, Disposable Arts.

While gaining notoriety for his aforementioned albums, he knew after being out of the game for about six years he needed to reinvent with a whole new focus for an album.  Therefore, he presented Disposable Arts.  Similar to albums such as A Prince Among Thieves or Deltron 3030, this is an album that, although have a solid collection of cuts, the album makes sense listening to it from top to bottom.  From the moment his character is let out of jail, he's reminded of what put him in in the first place with the moody and somber  collab with "Block Episode".  From there, he explains his need to have a better life off the streets to girlfriend Lisa (played by seemingly forgotten about emcee Jane Doe), which leads to one of the more bumping cuts on the effort, the Ayatollah-crafted "Hold U" featuring the legendary Jean Grae.  He later meets up with his awkward yet interesting roommate (played by the infamous MC Paul Barman) in which he verbally walks his roomie through Brooklyn on "Take A Walk".  May we just add, those bars by Barman ranged from cringe-worthy to hilarious during this skit.

Getting adjusted to this new way of life for "Ace" as his roommate Paul (Barman) is very reminiscent of White Mike from The Wayans Bros. Paul helps him out with his classes and gives him the scoop on what to expect from these classes, which leads into one of the most underrated diss cuts you'll ever find in his scathing scorching of forgotten about underground emcee Boogieman and the almost forgotten-about High & The Mighty, "Acknowledge".  Suffice it to say, we heard little to nothing else from either of these acts after this cut was heard.  From there, the narrative wraps up with arguably one of his best cuts in his career, "No Regrets", a reflective look back at his career over a hypnotic beat provided by Domingo.  

Other strong cuts like "Unfriendly Game", "Dear Yvette", and "Dear Diary" help round out a release that highlights how important Masta Ace to hip-hop.  He took a fairly average concept of an ex-con finding his way back into society and wanting to get off the same streets that made him one in the first place, and some very dope hip-hop to it with an assorted cast of characters to help tell his story.  Everyone on this project delivered effectively while not overshadowing Ace and the production for the most part was very suitable to each story being told.  Ace sounded like he had the same hunger from his Juice Crew days and from the rather poignant album cover of him sitting in a driver's seat with no car, it was apparent this album would be the opposite of Sittin' On Chrome in practically every way.

Later releases such as the "prequel" to this one, A Long Hot Summer, the excellent collab effort with the late MF DOOM, MA DOOM: Son Of Yvonne, his quite dope group album with Strick, Punchline and Wordsworth as eMC, The Show, The Falling Season and the knocking AF effort with producer Marco Polo, A Breukelen Story, show that Masta Ace is one of hip-hop's most respected and acclaimed emcees and it's like the fine wine theory, Ace would just get better with age.  With Disposable Arts, this marked a whole new benchmark for the veteran emcee and still stands as his absolute magnum opus.  This goes out to Masta Ace and we lift our proverbial glasses to Disposable Arts. Until next time folks!

Happy 20th Anniversary: The Best Part

 

What's going on folks?! This anniversary salute goes to an emcee that, although gets tons of love within the independent/underground world of hip-hop, most mainstream accessible fans never heard of him.  Although there's a chance you may have if you ever went to a show that he was deejaying at.  This former school teacher delivered a couple of singles and before long the buzz was about this emcee and the amount of writing abilities he had.  Sadly, as the album was finished, label problems continuously plagued this dude with good delivery and an even better pen game.  It wasn't until numerous bootlegs and internet leaks when people took notice and realized they were hearing a pure, unadulterated hip-hop album complete with a tried and true formula: bumping yet consistent production and gifted rhymes and focused rhyme structure.  This album had it, and it had it in spades.  Not a single moment was wasted on this album and made this emcee, once people finally heard it, among those to really keep their eyes and ears on.  Ladies and gentlemen, this is J-Live and his debut album, The Best Part.

After graduating SUNY, he transitioned into school teaching in Brooklyn. Nobody knew at the time that the man born as Jean-Jacques Cadet (later renamed Justice Allah due to his affiliation with the Nation of the Gods & The Earth) was a hip-hop student himself.  Writing and hitting up talent shows while also deejaying, Cadet presented a cut called "Longevity" with a stunning B-side called "Bragging Writes" that got the NY underground scene talking.  Before very long, his debut, The Best Part, was ready to go.  As was mentioned earlier, label problems shelved the album a couple of times and we never thought we would be able to bask in the glory that was this album, especially when the word got out that production monsters such as Preemo, Pete Rock, 88 Keyz, Prince Paul, and the Jigmastas' own DJ Spinna would handle the sounds of the effort.  Originally scheduled to be released in '97, this was not the only album at that time that had been shelved due to numerous label situations as another unforgettable debut experienced the same situation with Large Professor's THE LP was another victim at this time.  Shame it didn't come out when it was supposed to because this would've been a gem among a time when commercialism was still in effect but crunk was starting to become the norm as well.

From the jumpoff, Live sets the tone with a lyrical smorgasbord on "Got What It Takes", then follows on the intriguing "Vampire Hunter", the KNOCKING Preemo-powered title track, and "Wax Paper" that all show his lyrical dexterities over slapping production. On "Yes", he laments "You don't want my fist in your trap, shut your mouth/I heard you got a jones for keeping up with the Joneses/only problem is all your jones is wack".  There's also the next track the standout "Them That's Not", in which the tempo starts slow then increasingly speeds up until the track is at a normal mid-tempo and then slows up like it was at the beginning of the track.  Unique cut with Live definitely riding the track.  Another cold cut is the jazzy and mellow "Timeless", in which he gets reflective while spitting intelligent rhymes and showcasing his ability to teach and learn at the same time.

J-Live has always been one of the unsung heroes in the game and one that doesn't get enough credit for his pure hip-hop aesthetic and him never compromising.  Many wanted him to join the red hot underground movement that was Rawkus Records at the time, and yes folks, he would've fit in VERY comfortably with all that superb talent associated with the label.  Could you imagine him doing a cut with Last Emperor or Black Star at that time? Wow.  This album, with other stellar cuts like "R.A.G.E.", "Play", and "Get The Third", remains an emcee's emcee's album.

After The Best Part, he followed it up with an equally fantastic (in some circles even better) album with All Of The Above in '02 along with others like Then What Happened, the decent The Hear After, S.P.I.T. and other efforts since.  As an entire complete album, there aren't too many that can hold this album out of position of being one of the best pound for pound albums during that time period.  It had consistently dope production, dumb lyrical, good concepts, and a great feeling of just being a lover of good old fashioned hip-hop.  With that, we lift our glasses to J-Live's The Best Part.  Salute to this incredible piece of work.  Until next time y'all!