Maps of Music

The Blueprint 3 (2009)

Where the lyrics of The Blueprint 3 take you, and where it was really made.

Jay-Z's cover for this album leaves out his face: the design team stacked white recording gear in a room corner and painted red bars onto it by hand.

Key places

Most sessions in Hawaii (2009)

Recording site Avex Honolulu Studio — Most of the album's recording sessions took place at Avex Honolulu Studio in Hawaii, chosen to avoid leakage. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Sessions in New York City (2009)

Recording site Oven Studios — Sessions for the album in 2008 to 2009 included Oven Studios in New York City among several other studios. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Sessions in Cleveland (2009)

Recording site Lava Studios — Sessions for the album in 2008 to 2009 included Lava Studios in Cleveland, given here at the city centre. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Sessions in Miami (2009)

Recording site The Hit Factory Criteria — Sessions for the album in 2008 to 2009 included Midnight Blue Studios in Miami, given here at the city centre. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Sessions in Los Angeles (2009)

Recording site Westlake Recording Studios — Sessions for the album in 2008 to 2009 included Westlake Studio in Los Angeles among several other studios. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The Blueprint 3: eleventh studio album by American rapper Jay-Z
• Released 8 September 2009 on Roc Nation, distributed by Atlantic Records
• Third album in the Blueprint series, after The Blueprint (2001) and The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (2002)
• Producers include Kanye West, No I.D., The Neptunes, Jeff Bhasker, Al Shux, J-Roc, The Inkredibles, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland
• Guest artists include Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Drake, Kid Cudi, Young Jeezy, J. Cole, Alicia Keys, Luke Steele and Pharrell Williams

Background

• Earliest hype came from DJ Clue's mixtape song "Ain't I", produced by Timbaland
• A Jay-Z spokesperson said that song was an old, unreleased track and that recording had not started
• Timbaland said he would produce the whole album, but Jay-Z called that statement premature
• By November 2008 the album was finished, but lengthy negotiations with Def Jam led to reworking it
• January 2009: Jay-Z confirmed continued production and admitted that several songs had leaked
• May 2009: Jay-Z confirmed he bought out the rest of his Def Jam contract to start a contract with Live Nation
• The track list was revealed on 18 August 2009

Recording

• Most sessions were held at Avex Honolulu Studio in Hawaii to avoid leakage
• Sessions in 2008 and 2009 also used studios in New York City, Cleveland, Miami, Perth and Los Angeles
• Kanye West produced the majority of tracks and Timbaland produced three
• West confirmed "A Star Is Born" and "Young Forever" in February 2009

Cover

• The cover shows all-white instruments and recording tools stacked in a corner, with three red bars over the image
• Instead of photo editing software, the team used a projector to cast the bars onto the stacked equipment
• The equipment was painted red where the bars fell, then a camera replaced the projector for the correct perspective
• This is Jay-Z's first album whose cover does not show his face

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Shawn Corey Carter, born December 4, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York City.
• Raised in Marcy Houses in Bedford–Stuyvesant; mother Gloria Carter raised him and his three older siblings after his father left when he was 11.
• Dropped out of Trenton Central High School during his sophomore year.
• Adopted the stage name Jay-Z in homage to his mentor Jaz-O.

Career

• Began recording in the late 1980s, contributing verses to Jaz-O's records.
• Co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records; debut album Reasonable Doubt (1996) was critically acclaimed.
• Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life (1998) became his most commercially successful album, certified 6× Platinum in the US.
• The Blueprint (2001) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
• Led Def Jam Recordings as president and CEO from 2004 to 2007.
• Founded Roc Nation in 2008 and later 4:44 (2017) and Everything Is Love with Beyoncé (2018).
• Has 25 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: generally favorable reviews, weighted average 68 out of 100 from 12 critic scores
• MSN Music, Robert Christgau: called it "fairly superb" and gave it an A−
• AllMusic, John Bush: placed it between the two earlier Blueprint albums, closer to the original's energy
• Entertainment Weekly, Leah Greenblatt: said it reaches a wide commercial audience while keeping street credibility
• The Daily Telegraph: four out of five stars, praised its modern sound
• The A.V. Club: B+, said Jay-Z sounds liberated by his legacy
• The New York Times, Jon Caramanica: noted inconsistent rapping but praised its varied music and called it a blend of maturity and youth
• NME, Pete Cashmore: said it works through heavy beats and quality rapsmanship
• The Observer, Kiilian Fox: described Jay-Z as maturing into a responsible elder statesman
• The Village Voice, Zach Baron: said Jay-Z's midlife crisis is over, though the album is not a classic
• Slant Magazine, William McBee: mixed review, calling it predictable and complacent
• Rolling Stone, Jody Rosen: called it catchy and pop-friendly but said it lacks the earlier albums' electric charge
• The Guardian, Alexis Petridis: said it peters out into indistinct tracks after the first four songs
• The Sunday Times: criticized the straining for a crossover pop sheen
• Pitchfork, Ian Cohen: called it Jay-Z's weakest solo album
• Los Angeles Times, Greg Kot: gave two and a half out of four stars and saw celebrity and age as a flaw

Reappraisal

• Billboard ranked it the best album of the year
• MTV ranked it the seventh best album of the year
• Rolling Stone placed it fourth in its 2009 year-end list

Records

• Debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 476,000 copies sold in its first week
• Jay-Z's eleventh US number-one album, breaking a record he had shared with Elvis Presley
• Third-highest first-week sales of 2009
• Second week: number one, 298,000 copies; third week: number two, 134,000; fourth week: number six, 89,000
• RIAA platinum certification on 13 November 2009 for shipments over one million copies
• Ninth best-selling album in the US in 2009, over 1.52 million copies in four months
• As of August 2012, 1,933,000 copies sold in the US and over 3 million worldwide
• Best Rap Album nomination; four singles won six Grammys combined at the 52nd and 53rd ceremonies

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Pharrell said he emailed "So Ambitious" to Jay-Z on the day he was mastering the album, and loved the track so much that he put off the mastering.
• Jay-Z told DJ Semtex that his favorite song on the album is "Empire State of Mind".
• The album leaked in its entirety on 31 August 2009, before its official release; Jay-Z called it a preview.
• Mr Hudson, featured on "Young Forever", described the song as a flip on the Alphaville record of a similar name.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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