“Could make 40(K) off a brick but one rhyme could beat that,” he boasted over Bobby Byrd’s “I’m Not To Blame.” Bobby Blue Bland’s “Ain’t No Love In The Heart City” is altered here by Mr. Just’s “U Don’t Know” is an exhilarating back to the future joyride of Hov’s journey from street corner to corporate America. Not only with this project was Hov gonna lay claim to his dominance in the rap field but he along with his hungry Co-Ds behind the boards were gonna change the sound of hip-hop altogether. One that began as a creative explosion that happened one weekend in Baseline Studios when the sped-up soul sampled productions of Kanye West and Just Blaze inspired SC to create seven songs in two days. It’s the cherry on top of a classic album. He literally runs circles around his foes. On “Lyrical Exercise”, Jay references his drug dealing past, his gift of memory, and runs through his references on why he’s the best in the game. “And all you other cats throwin’ shots at Jigga/You only get half a bar/Fuck y’all niggas.” Ouch!īut Blueprint isn’t a great album because of just one song. Even The Lox’s Jadakiss and other unnamed foes got it in the end too. Had a spark when you started but now you’re just garbage,” he snapped. His bars still got bite today: “Went from Nasty Nas to Esco’s trash. And after Nas answered back quickly with his “Stillmatic” freestyle, Hov added a verse in the song’s final version aimed at Esco. The battle for the new King of NY was on. “You guys don’t want it with Hov/Ask Nas he don’t want it with Hov.” But the salvo that set off hip-hop’s greatest battle is when Hov later brung up Prodigy’s QB brethren. “You little fuck, I got money stacks bigger than you,” Hov growled and referenced P’s dancing school past with the projection of an image from a yearbook on the concert’s big screen. Mobb Deep’s Prodigy was his most vocal opposition and in the summer of 2001, Jay countered when he debuted an early version of “Takeover” during a headlining set at Hot 97’s Summer Jam. If consistency kills than he was a murderer and by the time he got to his sixth album, his competitors were frustrated and firing shots back at him. No MC ever wanted the throne as much as Hov. He emerged center stage with his desire to be hip-hop culture’s driving force in the post ‘Pac-Biggie era. After his classic 1996 debut, Reasonable Doubt ignited the streets, dazzled the critics but didn’t move enough units, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter gave up his desire to have a one album discography and decided to a drop a new masterwork each and every year. On Top Of The World The time Jay-Z came for the No.
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