GreenGorilla - The Blueprint by Jay Z
Opening Statement:
Initial Argument:
The Blueprint is the first album of the Trilogy consisting of : “The Blueprint, The Blueprint² and The Blueprint 3
The Blueprint was released in 2001 on the 9th of September,it sold over 420,000 copies in its opening week ,went double platinum and sold 2.7 million copies since it's it's release until February 2012
The Album is the best rated Album of Jay-Z on Metacritic with a score of 88 making it the Jay-z album with the best score on the site, the album was also Ranked #1 in Complex magazine's “The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s”
The Blueprint Wikipedia
The Commercial Success might not be that impressive what one has to keep in mind is that the album was released on the same day as the attacks on the twin towers. Despite that fact it still managed to sell over 420,000 copies which is an unbelievable number for an album being released on such a shocking event that still is relevant up to today
What else makes The Blueprint so special?
The answer is quite simple it is one of Jay-z most multifaceted albums released, while there are songs in the usual bragging manner of Jigga like “U Don't know” ,he still manages to come out with emotional and/or personal songs revealing things of his personal life(his drug dealer background) like in: “Song Cry” or “Blueprint (Momma Loves Me)”. Between these Songs he still manages to bring in songs that make you laugh like “Girls,Girls,Girls” last but not least there is one half of what makes up the arguably best beef in the history of rap between Jay-Z and Nas “Takeover” which has people still arguing over who actually won the beef in the end
But not only the different facets of the album make it as great as it is but also Jay-z's flow,wordplay and his rhymes make this album as good as it gets
For example let's take the song Jigga That n***a where he imitates a surfer slang:
“He did it again”, Haters no like
But they gotta f** with it ‘cause the flow's so tight
Gnarly dude, I puff Bob Marley dude
All day, like Rastafari's do
Now I'm stuck to the point I could hardly move
You f**in' up my high, don't bother me dude
The dude is used to create mentioned surfer slang but also is used as a identical rhyme at the end of each line it also rhymes with move
In the beginning we have a masculine rhyme with like and tight. With gnarly,Marley,rastafari and hardly we have a feminine Rhyme
This Pattern of Identical and feminine Rhyme together is also found in this pa**age from “Song Cry”:
But once a good girl's goin bad, she's gone forever..
I'll mourn forever
sh** I gotta live with the fact I did you wrong forever
Jay-z uses this Pattern a lot
But it is just one of many different rhyme schemes and flows that Jay-z uses throughout the whole album
Rebu*tal:
While it is true that Rakim might be the better Emcee technically as well as lyrically, Jay-Z still has the edge when it comes to popularity,Fame and success. While this might not hold worth to most Hip Hop heads, to the large ma** of so called Hip hop fans it does. Jay-Z sales out do Rakim's by a whole lot. Jay-Z the Blueprint is an album recognized by many while Rakim remains a j**el solely for people who are deeper within the whole matter of Rap or old heads
But not only does Jay-Z's Blueprint outdo paid in full in the commercial aspect, it also has the edge in production while Rakim is recognized as one of the best of his craft, Eric.b is not really mentioned in many GOAT list's regarding producers. While he did pave the way with his great funk sampling in comparison to the Production on Blueprint with great Soul Samples by Justblaze like in Girls,Girls,Girls(which is rumored to also have background vocals by Michael Jackson himself.) or Kanye West on the production of Takeover, which had more Plays in the public than Ether the counterpart from Nas, it loses a bit of impact and tracks like My Melody are great in the aspect of the Rhymes by Rakim with the legendary 21 Emcees line but sound a little monotone and the production can get a little boring at times. On another note Justblaze and Kanye West had their own little battle in Supremacy over who is the better Producer on the Album which could also make for a great debate while Paid in Full only has Eric B. , who might be like a father to the production that came after him but only having one producer makes the album become a little monotone and make it lack in regards of variations to the different Beats (even Eminem produced a beat in The Blueprint.)
While I think Rakim pushed every MC in his Era to other heights like: Kool G Rap,Big Daddy Kane,Slick Rick or KRS ONE in a battle of supremacy in the Rap Game and New York all of these people had different Styles
Keeping this in Mind Jay-Z who practically was the Protege of Kane for quite some time, he most likely did get influenced by Big Daddy Kane a whole lot more than Rakim it also seems more likely for Jay-Z to rather follow the Style of Kane rather than the Rival of his Mentor Rakim
Closing:
To End my Debate Round I will cover an Aspect which I left out in the Opening,Wordplay
For this, I will use my favorite song of the Album: Girls,Girls,Girls
The first Wordplay comes right in the hook credit to the RG users: Gavin Matthews and Damex
Yo put your number on this paper cause I would love to date ya
Holla at you when I come off tour
“His “tour” is a double meaning — a music tour and a sampling of the world's women. He'll settle down, but only after a huge journey
It's also double entendre about “date” in first verse
1. She puts her cell phone number on paper to initiate date (meeting)
2. She puts her number on the paper ‘cause Jay wants to date her just like in the calendar.”
The other Wordplay that sticks out in my opinion is: (Credit to SameOldShawn,b-girl,Pavetti-Paven and MikeMoneyMofo.)
Asked her what tribe she with red dot or feather
She said: “all you need to know is I'm not a ho
And to get with me you better be Chief Lots-a-Dough”
A quick pun on “Indian” — is she Indian from East India (and thus wearing the stereotypical red dot on her forehead) or Native American and wearing a stereotypical feather in her hair
Another play on words… “ho” is short for Navajo (pronounced: Nah-vuh-hoe). Navajo is an Indian tribe
Yet another addition to Jay's illustrious tradition of Biggie homages/bites. He uses the Nava[jo/ho] play in“One More Chance/Stay With Me (Remix)”
Girls,Girls,Girls
What also is worth mentioning is the kind of way Jay-z tries to display the different approaches of men towards women through the guest hooks in the song:
Biz Markie: The goofy, funny, adorable and kinda clown like guy who gets played most of the time(see “Just a Friend” of Biz Markie)
Q-TIp: The serious and smoother guy who tries to keep it real with his women.(We Fight/We Love)
Slick Rick: The smooth guy, kind of a player who gets a lot of birds. (Slick Rick – Indian Girl – An Adult Story)
I think this way because of the way the three of them deliver the Hook, if you hear the song yourself you will understand, just listen to the voices
This come to the last and probably most important part of the Album, Jay-Z doesn't use any Features except for the one on Renegade with Eminem and the guest Hooks in Girls,Girls,Girls mentioned earlier and the Hook on Neva Change which had Kanye West in it
With this kind of Creative Setup for a Song and not only this one, making it almost a solo album without featuring any Rocafella artist which is very unusual for Jay-z,putting the focus on him. Blueprint just takes the win in this battle against Paid in Full although I prefer Rakim over Hova any day of the week this is a battle of Albums which Hova won
Murkman - Paid in Full by Eric B. & Rakim
Opening Statement:
There is much to be said about the exemplary East Coast Golden Age's most revered, copied, influential and respected to emcee of all time - Rakim Allah. When NYC was setting up its foundation as the nation's deservedly so birthplace of Rap and Hip-Hop. While other NYC emcees at the time were rapping about Hardcore or Mafioso Rap, The Ra took the high road into more Spiritual route, being an notable 5% member. He is often said to have at least 5 cla**ic albums, that changed and redefined what the very word "emcee" meant. However, no matter how great his later albums where showing his eventual mastery on his style, you cannot talk about him being a "GOAT", without mentioning his debut with producer Eric B. - " Paid In Full". His signature flow, delivery and rhyme schemes, have been almost "ma** produced" by every other successive East Coast emcee after that album, name one who hasn't
Rebu*tal:
Probably the only emcee at the time, who's very moniker meticulously described his style into every aspect he was proficient in. Just one glance at his name, shows how much he has took lyricism to a higher plateau, than even all the other great ones who were his competition at the time. In his heyday, he penned entire songs with no hooks and 4, sometimes 5 verse long Rap songs, not just in a 16 bar amount, but mostly in 20-24 bar lengths each. Since his beginning, to this day no one has set a higher standard of the pure craft that went into the art form of rapping. Not even future GOAT's, such as Jay-Z who would model his very style after Rakim in a myriad of ways, besides constantly paying homage by calling himself "Jay Hova", named a famous series of cla**ic songs ( "The Dead Presidents and 2", after one of the most quoted lines in Rap to even now, from Rakim's very own title track " Paid In Full"
So I start my mission, leave my residence
Thinking how could I get some dead presidents Closing:
No Rakim = no Jay-Hova, period. You cannot logically have B without the A, unless you probably have some severe form of Dyslexia