Blueprint 3: First Impression Review (cont'd)

Alright...let's try this again.

Hate (ft. Kanye West)
Rappers: [Jay-Z (2.75L + 4F) + Kanye (3L+4F)] / 2 = 6.88
Beat = 3
Hook = 2
Concept = 2
TOTAL = 2.78

Gross. I hate "hater" songs. Who gives a shit? Why do I want to hear a millionaire, muliti-platinum, world-class magastar tell me about alllll the people that dislike him sooooo much. Just stop. Cut the shit. Your life is fuckin' FANTASTIC. So 3 of 4 jackass rappers called you Joe Camel. Whoooooo caaaaares. This song is terrible all aound. Easily the worst thing on the album so far, and I hope it stays that way.

Reminder
Rapper: 3.5L + 3.5F = 7
Beat = 4
Hook = 2
Concept = 3
TOTAL = 3.2

Alright, Mr. Carter...I get it. I promise. You're great. All these young folks are unappreciative. I understand. Seriously. PLEASE stop telling me. This really isn't a reminder when I've been listening to the same thing for about a dozen tracks already. Sheesh. Beat is kinda decent though.

So Ambitious (ft. Pharrell)
Rapper: 4.25L + 4.25F = 8.5
Beat = 4.75
Hook = 4.25
Concept = 4.25
TOTAL = 4.35

Nice recovery, sir! I was getting worried . . .and LOL @ you readers already knowing I have a pro-Pharrell bias. Yeah, I do. Sue me. The dude brings the best out of rappers, there's no denying it. This is no different. I think this might be my jam, son. See...you can do a motivational song without "hater this, hater that". This is proof.

Young Forever (ft. Mr. Hudson)
Rapper: 4L + 3.5F = 7.5
Beat = 4
Hook = 4.5
Concept = 4
TOTAL = 4.0

HA! Didn't see that sample coming, did you? I know anyone too young to get the sample wonders why the hell the hook got such a high score. But trust an old man like me...it's dope. And go do your homework or something. Get off my lawn!! Album closers are rarely smashes, so I'm cool with this.
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SUMMARY:
TOTAL Album Score : (Total Songs Score 57.56) / 15 songs = 3.84

On a Scale of 1 to 10, that's a 7.67. Sounds about right to me.
I think my formula held up pretty well.

All-in-all...it was an OK album.. Jay-Z wasn't the best I've ever heard him, but he was definitely above average more times than not. There were very few instances where I wondered to my self, "why is he still doing this?". Early on in the album there was some REALLY nice and subtle metaphor work by Mr. Carter. I hope it's picked up by most listeners....it won't be. As far as my gripes, for Jay-Z's performance...1) That damn flow he kept using. The one from "Run This Town". It's terrible, and needs to be scrapped. He's so much BETTER than that cadence 2) Like I said a few times, the subjust matter got a little redundant. Not only was I hearing it too much on this album, but I hear it on ALL of Jay-Z's post-"retirement" work. It's gotten stale. The beat choices were pretty good. Alot like Jay-Z himself, none of the tracks blew my mind, but he gave me alot more birdies than bogeys. Peace to Tiger Woods. Overall, I think the 3.84 out of 5 is pretty accurate. Blueprint 3 is no classic...but there's damn sure enough good music here to keep it in rotation for a while.

And really, in 2009 commercial Hip-Hop...what else can we ask for?