Customer Reviews

Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (Clean)

5 star:		(155)
4 star:		(109)
3 star:		(62)
2 star:		(66)
1 star:		(84)

 

 

Never bought a Jay-Z album since Reasonable Doubt, got the double album "Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse" as a present this christmas. Executive produced by Jay-Z, Dame Dash, and Kareem Burke. Track production comes from The Neptunes, Kayne West, Guru, Just Blaze, Dr. Dre, Timbaland, No I.D., R. Feemster, Heavy D, Charmalane, Digga. Like the first track "A Dream" Feat. Faith Evans and Notorious B.I.G., has Biggie verses from my all time favourite Biggie Track "Juicy". Next comes "Hovi Baby", the female hook on this track is wack. This is followe by "The Watcher" feat. Dr. Dre, Rakim and Truth Hurts and all I can say is it made me look forward to Rakim's next album "Oh My God". "03 Bonnie & Clyde" is a remake of Pac track, have to say at first I was annoyed with this release, so much Pac biting ("Me and My Girlfriend") , but Jay-Z pays tribute as seen in the video, and Beyonce comes out nice as well. Next comes "Excuse Me Miss" a relaxed track with nice beats. "All Around the World" feat. Latoya Williams, is similar relaxed track where Jay-Z talks to the ladies. A few less than memorable tracks follow then "I did it my Way" comes, a good closer to disc one. Disc Two opens with "Diamond is Forever" a blazing hot track, where Jay spits some nice verses, with phat background beats. "Guns and Roses" feat. Lenny Kravitz brings another feel to the album, never thought I would see these two on the same track, decent track. "U dont Know" (Remix) feat. M.O.P. is a nice banging track from Rocafellas newest additions. Jay-Z drops tragic story on "Meet the Parents". Favourite track is "Some How Some Way" feat. Beanie Sigel and Scarface, sad track, where Jay talks about getting out of the ghetto,losing friends, changing ones ways. "Some People Hate" is a banging track produced by Kayne West where Jay-Z talks about haters and the game. The title track "Blueprint 2" is a memorable one, Jays flow on this one is deadly. Last track "A ballad for the Fallen Soldier" is chilled out track, where Jay-Z talks about life, love this track. The three bonus tracks are alright, though not needed. No "Reasonable Doubt" but a good album, with some real banging tracks, an album you can bump for some time. Recommend it for the collection. 3.5

Let me start of by saying that i am both a jay-z and nas fan so don't worry about that fued affecting how i feel about this effort. The Jay-z albums that made me a fan include Reasonable Doubt, In My Life Time Vol. 1 and 2, and The Blueprint. The other Jigga albums aren't on the level of these. Personally, i like my rap to be gangster and gutter but I also like the different futuristic shiz that eminem and outkast put out. Now to the recent drop. I have to say that I feel that cd 1 (the gift) is pretty damn weak. The intro has a Biggie verse from Juicy but I cant give this Jay-z cd credit for that. All around the World has a reasonable doubt feel to it. The only songs i would even give a spin (and not that often) are the watcher 2, poppin tags, i did it my way and maybe what they gonna do and the bounce. With no stand out tracks and the decent songs few and far between cd 1 sounds feels like it takes the torch from Jigga's not so good albums Vol. 3 and the dynasty. Disc 2 (The Curse) turns it around however. The beats and rhymes are way stronger. Every song between 1-9 is decent at the least. As One is the only realy terrible song on disk 2. The Ballad of a Dead Soldier is mediocre. The bonus songs are strong as well making the second disc a really good one. Although Jigga's subject matter doesn't change from his other albums (DOES ANY RAPPER'S)overall this cd is ok. If your a Jigga fan this cd is ok for you. If you don't like Jay then don't get this album to try to change your mind. Overall I gave this cd 3 stars but it may in reality be a 2. CD 2 balances out some of the wack material on CD 1 but it isn't enough to put it on the level of Jiggas better cds. He should have left out all the filler and made it a one disc cd because then it would be close to the level of his better material.

...not as bad as people are making it out to be. Nowhere near as good as his last though.

i just wanna say i think its funny that all these reviews seem to be from a white audience, claimin stuff like "jay z is the greatest" uhm, by far his ... ISNT the best. the cd is aight, but it aint all that. i mean, if mainstream, overproduced,made in its entirety to target suburban white america rap is what u like..... then ya i can see where ud think this album is THAT tight and Jay z is THAT good a rapper.......... u want real rap go buy reasonable doubt........ not this garbage --- dj 6

Taking into account all of Jay-Z's previous efforts, this double album was a double disappointment. He needs to come up with a new formula...he's just become content with finding different ways to tell the same old stories over sampled beats. Originality is lacking. Now I see why it's 2 for the price of 1.

After thoroughly enjoying The Blueprint last year, I kept a keen eye out for any news related to Jay-Z's newest album "Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse." Let me say that after I heard that this release would cover 2 CD's and would sport a large amount of guest appearances, my anticipation started to turn to fret. Would this be like a Vol. 3 with only a few good songs and a lot of filler or would it be another Roc La Familia with only a few songs not being littered with other rappers? When the day of release finally arrived, I approached cautiously.

After a few listens I was a little worried but digging deeper revealed that it wasn't going to be as bad as a I feared. The first CD starts of with "A Dream" featuring a rip of "Juicy" by the Notorious BIG himself. Jay-Z has been criticized for taking a lot of Biggies lyrics and he addresses this in an imaginative way here. A few songs later we get "The Watcher 2" featuring Dr. Dre, Truth Hurts and the legendary Rakim. The beat is smooth and gives you the impression that someone has their eye on you. Jay-Z's verse is just as tight and while Dre holds his own, Rakim is once again at top form. "03 Bonnie and Clyde" is the next song and it's what you would expect from a Jay-Z single. Sean Paul lends a hand on the chorus on the up-tempo "What They Gonna Do?" A jazzy piano loop and a soulful chorus make "All Around the World" a great track. Jay reverts to his old, faster rapping self in "Poppin Tags" a song that reunites him with the similiarly quick-tongued Twista which leaves you reminiscing over their previous collaboration, "Is that your b*tch?" The uber-player Jay-Z returns in "F(&* All Night," a song the works surprisingly well. Timbaland teams up with Jay-Z again to create "The Bounce." Despite the club-esque beat, Jay tells us that he is deeper than the singles he releases and the people should listen to his other songs before forming their opinion. The first CD wraps up with "I Did It My Way," which borrows from the late, great Frank Sinatra. This song doesn't do Franky much justice though.

While the first CD was dominated by singles-quality songs and upbeat tempos and lyrics, CD 2 is a little darker and more Rocafella related. "Diamond Is Forever" starts it off with a haunting beat and gives us a little sampling of Jay persevering and making it to the top. Lenny Kravitz makes an appearance on the very average "Guns and Roses." M.O.P is featured on the "U Don't Know" Remix. This is one of those songs that has me wondering what Jay was thinking when he included this. Not to demean M.O.P., a respectable group, but this song sticks out like a sore thumb. Luckily Hova gets back on track with his next track "Meet the Parents." As you might guess, this song has Jay thinking back on his childhood family life and his lack of a true father. An ominous guitar loop with a piano mixed in the beat creates an amazing mood. Following the trend set in his last album couple albums, "Some How Some Way" has Jay teaming up with Beanie Sigel to reminisce about their hardships as youths in the hood. Beanie is getting almost too good with this type of song. You can really feel his pain on his verse. My favorite song comes up next in the form of "Some People Hate." Jay really works well with the sample used here when he addresses all the people who hate on him and his success. Up to this point you may have forgotten that Jay-Z has had beef with Nas but "Blueprint 2" addresses that issue. It's definitely more subtle than Nas' "Ether" but, then again, it doesn't go too far like it either. The Neptunes provide the beat for "Nigga Please," another "single minded" song that doesn't have much replay value. What follows is definitely one of the weakest parts of the album. "2 Many Hoes" doesn't have much value outside of a club scene. "As One" is a ROC cut that sounds like it came straight from Roc La Familia--way too much sythensizer and and lyrics that leave a lot to be desired. "Ballad For the Fallen Soldier" is one of those "filler" songs that I worried about. After this you get into the "Bonus Tracks," none of which are particularly noteworthy. Definitely not a good way to end the album though.

Where the Blueprint was a intricately crafted return to someone who resembled the Jay-Z from Reasonable Doubt, "Blueprint 2" takes it a little too far. There is enough decent material on these two CD's to warrant the purchase but you'll still be wishing that Jay would have weeded out a lot of these songs and put the good ones all on one CD. Alas, we have to take what we get. I feel this song is worth 3.5 stars but since there is no such thing as a half star I decided to be kind to the Jiggaman and give this release 4 stars and hope for a better showing next time.

Jay-Z has been the center of criticism in the hip hop world ever since Volume 2: Hard Knock Life dropped nearly 5 years ago. Since then, Jay has been very inconsistent in the albums he's put out. Volume 3 blew up when Big Pimpin hit the airwaves, but it was critically panned. The Dynasty followed with some very deep songs, but way too much filler. Then came The Blueprint. An album so soulfully and beautifully produced that it was declared by many a hip hop classic. However, people soon realized that although it was the best album Jay had put out since Volume 1, it was by far his weakest lyrical showing. So now comes the Blueprint 2, an ambitious double CD album that hushes the talk about Jay falling off lyrically, yet leaves him wide open for some criticism once again.

The album starts off with A Dream, an excellent intro where Jay dreams about talking to BIG. Jay rhymes excellent, and Faith Evans sings a beautiful hook. From there fans are left to be confused. Hovi Baby is one of the best lyrical songs on the album, but Jay seems to have trouble catching a very complex Just Blaze beat. However, Jay takes full advantage of Dr. Dre's best beat in 2 years on the The Watcher Pt. 2. Jay comes off nice, and Rakim is nothing short of amazing here. But the problem with the rest of the first disc is how blatantly lazy it seems. You have the fantastic Poppin Tags mixed with the less than stellar '03 Bonnie and Clyde. There are no unbearable songs but with so much riding on this album, one would think that Jay would put forth a little more effort.

When the listener pops in the second disc, they will find the incredible lyrical skill that Shawn Carter possesses. Guns & Roses, a collabo between Jay and Lenny Kravitz, turns out to be an excellent song although Jay's verses could have been a little better. The highlight of the album comes with Meet the Parents. Jay one-ups many of Nas's great storytelling tracks with this phenomenal song. Speaking of Nas, he adresses him on the song Blueprint 2, where a haunting beat is complemented by some nice shots at his arch rival. Too bad he couldn't have done something about the hook. Other excellent tracks include the MOP assisted U Don't Know 2, Some How Some Way, Some People Hate, and A Ballad For The Fallen Soldier.

In the end, this album answers any doubts as to whether or not Jay could make a good double album. In many ways, this is a better all around album than the Blueprint with a few filler songs. Is this better than Reasonable Doubt? Not even close. Is it better than anything Jay has released since then? That is left for a heated debate.

Okay, first off, I'm neither a Jay-Z hater nor a Nas fan. I loved Jay-Z ever since his appearance on Hi-Five's "She's Playing Hard to Get" remix ("Call me Cottonelle/I get so many no's"). But just like Xzibit and Redman, I liked Jay-Z better before he became mainstream, which happened some time after Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life. Sure, he still dropped jewels (i.e., 1999's "Come and Get Me", 2000's "Streets is Talking", 2001's "Blueprint"), but whereas in the past he was an amazing rapper, now he's just a good rapper who drops one or two good songs a year. It happens to almost every rapper.

Now go to 2001, where he literally changed the game with his critically acclaimed Blueprint album. Listen to that album and tell me that no one tried to mimic the bumping beat/sped-up old soul sample production found on that album (see Cam'Ron's "Oh Boy"). Now, Jay-Z tries to change the game again with The Blueprint 2: The Gift and the Curse. But we all know that sequels are never as good as the original.

We also know that no rapper has ever dropped a consistently dope double album. But this isn't one of 2Pac's albums where only Disc 1 is good. In fact, not even one complete song is good. Only parts of songs on both discs are good, and that's a bad thing. For example, parts of the title track is good except for when he starts to diss Nas (yawn). And his verse on "The Watcher 2" is dope as well. In fact, if I were to form the classic EP, I would take the aforementioned verses, "Poppin' Tags", and the No I.D.-produced "All Around the World" and call it a day. Because it's not to say that everything else isn't good, but in this day and age, if you heard one Jay-Z song, you've heard them all.

And that explaination goes for his albums too. Since this is a Jay-Z album, expect all of the overused antics such as Jigga talking 20 seconds before the 1st verse starts, Jigga telling the producer when to drop the beat, Jigga biting Biggie and 'Pac ("A Dream", "'02 Bonnie and Clyde", respectively--the latter takes the whole meaning of Pac's original song out of context, because Pac's song was a metaphor about a gun; Jay's song is about an actual girlfriend). Also, expect at least one song from the following producers: Timbaland, Just Blaze, The Neptunes, Kanye West; and expect another Scarface/Beanie Sigel/Jigga collabo ("Some How, Some Day").

Overall, this album is so bad that it makes Vol. 3, Life and Times of S. Carter look good. Why is Jay-Z so content with releasing one or more albums every year to please the masses when he could just take some time off and really give us another classic album after being in the lab for a long time? I mean, I was able to tolerate his arrogant ranting n' raving on The Blueprint, but on this album, it's gone too far. Please come back to earth, Jigga, because the streets is watching. Get your mind right before you fall from Top 10 to "not mentioned at all".

Not since prog rock has a genre succumbed to such self-indulgence as hip-hop. Remember, this most resilient and evolutionary of musics, that started out from the streets of the South Bronx and clambered all the way to arrive at the pampered and pedicured dandy that presented the recent MTV Europe Awards, has tripped on its ego many times. This grossly over-inflated double album stands alongside the greatest excesses of ego ever committed to wax, a close cousin of flawed giants like 2Pac's 'All Eyez On Me' and Wu-Tang's 'Wu-Tang Forever'.

If the levels of US media expectation that preceded Jay-Z's 'The Blueprint' album at that time seemed bizarre to a European audience that knew him as the MC responsible for that 'Annie' abomination, now we're all party to the hype. Jay-Z was catapulted to levels of global fame (and self-congratulation) that only Eminem amongst his contemporaries can hold a torch to. But, 'The Blueprint' succeeded in keeping its focus tight, concentrating on New York and the sound that Jay-Z comes from. It's sequel attempts to prove the master can turn his hand to every style from stalking West Coast Dre beats ('The Watcher 2') to skittering Dirty South rhythms ('Poppin Tags').

It's a mistake. As is the absolute failure of this album to exercise any kind of process of selection. Lucky, then, that Jay-Z is working with some of the most talented producers in hip-hop and still getting grade-A beats from most of them. Timbaland once said that he was reserving the best of his work for a handful of artists, amongst them Jay-Z. On the evidence of his contributions to this album, the statement stands true. Both 'The Bounce' and 'What They Gonna Do' outshine almost every hip-hop production that the great man has put his name to (the majority of the recent Missy album included) since 'Hola Hovito'. Dre's here as well and Kayne West, Heavy D, Just Blaze and those Neptunes fellas. On the mic, appearances by Dre, Rakim and M.O.P. serve only to highlight the shortcomings of their host's monotone delivery.

But things get off to a terrible start with the saccharine soundtrack portentousness of 'A Dream', which, perhaps in deference to the master that Jay-Z dared suggest had been surpassed, gives pole position to a posthumous performance from Biggie Smalls. Then there's 'Hovi Baby', as daft as the name suggests, with synths that would make Jean Michel Jarre hang his head in shame. Too often the production is tacky with synths dominating where Kayne West's triumph on 'The Blueprint' was to reintroduce the organic euphoria of classic soul. This album bathes in the sort of studio polish that might be expected from a 40-year-old veteran grown aesthetically numb (just listen to the Sergio Leone-sampling title track on which Jay-Z falls painfully short of rising to the occasion).

But the weird thing is, as you plough on through this huge album, you discover that every other track is a winner. There's a good album in here crying to be let out. But, between that album and us, is '03 Bonnie And Clyde', 'Meet The Parents', 'As One', 'Ballad For The Fallen Solider' and, well, you get the picture. Clearly Jay-Z now works amidst such a huge circle of talent and congratulation that he's lost all ability to make the judgements needed to deliver that concise statement. That the supremely innovative minimal groove of 'The Bounce' can sit alongside the biliously self-aggrandising 'My Way' is just plain odd. Perhaps Jay-Z should have stuck more closely to the blueprint that he had established.

The Blue Print II, the Gift & the Curse, inpresive name and cover for an album, and a great reminder to never Judge a
Book by its Cover. Although, this album looks so good what's inside is COMPLETE GARBAGE. This album is an offense to all the fans. it is a very low-blow by Jay-Z, how is he gonna put out this kind of garbage?? Does he care one bit about all the fans that he has disapointed by creating the worst album in the last decade?? he tricked us all, we all rushed to get his cd thinking that it was good like the blue print I. but this is an offense to hip hop. He has no originality at all. somebody needs to sue him for stealing other people's rhymes. My advice dont waste your money on this CD, I promise you will regret it so much if you get this CD. There's not one good song. Jay Z has totally lost it. It will take a Great really great album for me and I'm sure for all the people that has bought this CD to even think about getting another CD from Jay Z. He shows his ability to steal somebody else's rhymes, and that's all that his CD shows. No Originality, Not even one good song. Please Jay Z return all the money to all the people who bought your Album. Your album is not worth one buck. I was a fan of you that's why i bought your CD. but it is Garbage. Period.