Jay-Z - The Blueprint (2001)

Date: Nov. 29, 2012

The Blueprint is the sixth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released September 11, 2001 on Roc-A-Fella Records in the United States. Its release was set a week earlier than initially planned in order to combat bootlegging. Contrasting the radio-friendly sound of Jay-Z's previous work, The Blueprint features soul-based sampling and production handled primarily by Kanye West and Just Blaze. Ranked #252 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2012.

When Jay-Z dropped "The City Is Mine" in 1997 and claimed New York's hip-hop throne upon the Notorious B.I.G.'s demise, many smirked and some even snickered. Four years later in 2001, when he released The Blueprint, no one was smirking and no one dared snicker. At this point in time, nobody in New York could match Jay-Z rhyme for rhyme and nobody in New York had fresher beats – and many would argue that Jigga's reign was not just confined to New York but was, in fact, national. Yes, Jay-Z had risen to the top of the rap game in the late '90s and solidified his position with gigantic hits like "Big Pimpin" and "I Just Wanna Love You (Give It 2 Me)." Furthermore, The Blueprint's leadoff single, "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," dominated urban radio numerous weeks before the album hit the streets, generating so much demand that Def Jam had to push up the album's street date because it was being so heavily bootlegged. So when Jay-Z opens The Blueprint dropping rhymes about "runnin' this rap sh*t," it's not so much arrogance as it is a matter of fact. And by the time he brutally dismisses two of his most formidable opponents, Mobb Deep and Nas, less than ten minutes into the album, there's little doubt that Jay-Z's status as the top MC in the game is justified. But that's just one song. There are 12 other songs on The Blueprint – and they're all stunning, to the point where the album seems almost flawless. Besides rhymes that challenge those on Reasonable Doubt as the most crafted of Jay-Z's career to date in terms of not only lyrics but also flow and delivery, The Blueprint also boasts some of his most extravagant beats, courtesy of impressive newcomers Kanye West and Just Blaze. Moreover, if the rhymes and beats alone don't make The Blueprint a career highlight for Jay-Z, the minimal guest appearances surely do. For once, listeners get exactly what they want: Jay-Z and nothing but Jay-Z, over beats so loaded with marvelously flipped samples the songs don't even need big vocal hooks. Besides, when you're already the top MC in the game, there's no need for crossover attempts. Uneven albums like Hard Knock Life were the crossover attempts, and now that Jay-Z is "runnin' this rap sh*t," a fully realized masterpiece like The Blueprint is the glorious result. Reviewed by Jason Birchmeier allmusic.com

EAC Log

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 2 from 29. April 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 13. November 2012, 20:51

Jay-Z / The Blueprint

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GH60N Adapter: 0 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 667
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "artist=%albumartist%" -T "title=%title%" -T "album=%albumtitle%" -T "date=%year%" -T "genre=%genre%" -T "tracknumber=%tracknr%" %source%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:49.67 | 0 | 17241
2 | 3:49.67 | 5:13.08 | 17242 | 40724
3 | 9:03.00 | 4:00.47 | 40725 | 58771
4 | 13:03.47 | 4:35.28 | 58772 | 79424
5 | 17:39.00 | 3:24.02 | 79425 | 94726
6 | 21:03.02 | 3:19.33 | 94727 | 109684
7 | 24:22.35 | 4:33.12 | 109685 | 130171
8 | 28:55.47 | 3:43.18 | 130172 | 146914
9 | 32:38.65 | 3:58.50 | 146915 | 164814
10 | 36:37.40 | 5:03.70 | 164815 | 187609
11 | 41:41.35 | 4:28.40 | 187610 | 207749
12 | 46:10.00 | 5:37.57 | 207750 | 233081
13 | 51:47.57 | 12:08.08 | 233082 | 287689

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\EAC\Jay-Z - (2001) The Blueprint\Jay-Z - The Blueprint.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 1.8 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 55903E64
Copy CRC 8276C590
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [69A8F558] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [0A56744E] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [EF54A883] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [0AE8E9C2] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [5BA6D8BB] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [CBE487FA] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [2A386B21] (AR v2)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [7A302020] (AR v2)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [0802A299] (AR v2)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [66AFADEF] (AR v2)
Track 11 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 57) [FB9ACFDF], AccurateRip returned [A39FCD2E] (AR v2)
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [D501BB72] (AR v2)
Track 13 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [132E72F6] (AR v2)

12 track(s) accurately ripped
1 track(s) could not be verified as accurate

Some tracks could not be verified as accurate

End of status report

==== Log checksum 5404B9DE55B5A9A8684D011E580EA45B4EBE88FFF04A09FF4B76D79E2318EEB4 ====

Track Listing:

01. The Ruler's Back
02. Takeover
03. Izzo (H.O.V.A)
04. Girls, Girls, Girls
05. Jigga That Nigga
06. U Don't Know
07. Hola' Hovito
08. Heart Of The City (Ain't No Love)
09. Never Change
10. Song Cry
11. All I Need
12. Renegade (Feat. Eminem)
13. Blueprint (Momma Loves Me)

Album Released: September 11, 2001

DR Log

foobar2000 1.1.7 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.0
log date: 2012-11-20 23:14:04

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Jay-Z / The Blueprint
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR9 0.00 dB -10.81 dB 3:50 01-The Ruler's Back
DR6 0.00 dB -6.95 dB 5:13 02-Takeover
DR6 0.00 dB -7.44 dB 4:01 03-Izzo (H.O.V.A)
DR8 -0.83 dB -9.48 dB 4:35 04-Girls, Girls, Girls
DR9 0.00 dB -9.86 dB 3:24 05-Jigga That Nigga
DR9 0.00 dB -9.62 dB 3:19 06-U Don't Know
DR6 0.00 dB -6.67 dB 4:33 07-Hola' Hovito
DR8 0.00 dB -9.03 dB 3:43 08-Heart Of The City (Ain't No Love)
DR7 0.00 dB -8.05 dB 3:59 09-Never Change
DR8 0.00 dB -9.27 dB 5:04 10-Song Cry
DR7 0.00 dB -9.00 dB 4:29 11-All I Need
DR6 0.00 dB -7.57 dB 5:38 12-Renegade (Feat. Eminem)
DR7 0.00 dB -9.69 dB 12:08 13-Blueprint (Momma Loves Me)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 13
Official DR value: DR7

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 906 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

Ripped and Scanned from the Stadium Studios Library November 2012
5% WinRar Recovery

Lossless Album

Complete Scans

Lossy Album