3 out of 5 stars

Jay-Z - "Thank You" (Prod. Kanye West & No I.D.)

Jay-Z - "Already Home" ft. Kid Cudi (Prod. Kanye West)

Jay-Z clearly sees himself as a trendsetter, only behind the Beatles as far as music icons go. “I’m a Warhol, already. On another level. On another plane,”—not sure I agree—as he states on the song “Already Home.” But his 11^th album, “The Blueprint Vol. 3,” sounds less like a third blueprint to hip-hop than an attempt to bring it back to the roots. Instead of pioneering hip-hop, the songs released are slight variations of time-tested commercial rap, and fall quite short of anything resembling progressive. The result is an album you’re going to swear you’ve heard before—not to mention the cover art is a complete rip off of “Strict Machines.”

With his latest release, Jay-Z is showing his age without hesitation; slowing down and making music to relax and drive slow to like you’re in no rush, because you know wherever you’re going will wait for you. With songs like “So Ambitious” ft. Pharrell, it’s more of a melodic journey than rapping intensity. Even in the first song he says he’s talking about music, not talking about crack anymore, leaving that to all the rapper green horns. And Jay, I get it, you’ve been around for a while. Got anything else to say about it?

Some of the songs that I enjoyed the most are the singles or tracks that are held together with featured artists—such as “Already Home” with Kid Cudi singing the hook. But then there are songs like “Off That,” featuring this year’s boy wonder, Drake, or “Reminder,” that are so bad they make me want to invent a negative star rating. Also, hosting so many artists signifies weakness to me. I’m not sure if he just wanted to work with people or couldn’t fill up a full album on his own—I think it’s a mixture of the two. One of the solo songs I enjoyed the most was a remix of “Forever Young,” but they ruined it by trying to add a generated hi hat and digital clap, which only cheapens the sample and feels like a cheap way of hip-hop-a-fying a great song.

On almost all the songs Jay’s flow stays with poppy staccato delivery, and doesn’t show the versatility he used to on past albums. Not sure if this a bad thing, because it’s his best style, but feels like he’s just making songs to sell albums and not a piece of art. Because of this downward trend, HOVA’s fans are beginning to expect less and less from him.

The production on “Blueprint Vol. 3” carries the lyrics on its back, which is the opposite of Jay’s past Blueprints. I like how the production style has regressed back into sampling real instrumental loops and steps away from drum machine sounds. With a statement like “Death of the Auto-tune,” Jay is calling for a movement in hip-hop, yet instead of really pushing himself, or the genre, he relies on complacent lyrics and expensive production to make a decent album that will sell well, yet doesn’t show any growth as an artist.

Continuing this fascination in rappers with Italian mobsters, Jay-Z regularly compares himself to Sinatra—I guess he’s trying to be the soft-spoken gangster. This Sinatra persona is indicative of the way Jay is living and is reflected in the album. It’s a feel-good album, slightly downplaying the yachts and cash to talk more about being happy—something that everyone can relate to. Many rappers often forget how to connect with the underprivileged community that buys most of rappers’ records. But this is one you can enjoy, and not doesn’t leave you feeling like you have to rob a bank to live the good life.

Even though I liked half the album and enjoyed listening to it, there are times and songs when Jay could have gone to that next level and made songs that form goose bumps on the left side of your body. However, instead of taking it to the next level he stopped when the song was ”good” but not “great.” In “On To The Next One” he suggests that he’s making the next new hot style, but really regresses to more of an early 90’s east coast flow, with a little more speed.

Honestly, you’re a lyricist and can’t come up with a original album name? I guess he’s obsessed with his so-called trend setting ability. Maybe it’s true, but as time passes and Jay gets more money he’s emulating more and more of a WASP rapping about boat shoes and days in the Hamptons.