Not only was Kanye featured on two songs, but Blueprint 3 also showed traces of the maximalist, orchestral approach to production that had given Late Registration its edge. Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreaks left a mark that few could have anticipated following its mixed initial reception, even prompting Jay-Z to dead (or so he thought) the autotune wave in his protégé’s name. The scale of mutual admiration between Jay-Z and Kanye West, which had thus far always tipped in favor of the “big brother,” was brought into equilibrium with the release of Blueprint 3. Both records succeed in painting a nuanced picture of the hustler life, from “Success” and “ Superfly” to “Fallin” and “Freddie’s Dead.” Jay-Z manages to capture the inner turmoil of Frank Lucas in a way that would have hardly been possible without the example of Curtis Mayfield 35 years prior, and utilizes the dark, stinging brass sound trademarked by Mayfield to set the scene.

1 was the illegitimate brother of the ’97 Bad Boy trifecta, similarly located in the middle ground between asphalt and penthouse.īesides also being a soundtrack (of sorts), American Gangster leaned on the blaxploitation soul of the ’70s and constructed the kind of cinematic meta-narrative that let Super Fly stand on its own as an album. Released only a week after Mase’s debut effort Harlem World, In My Lifetime, Vol. As a rising star on New York’s rap circuit, Jay-Z was caught right in the middle. Ushering in the jiggy era, No Way Out bridged the gap between the street tales of Biggie Smalls and the R&B-leanings of Mase.

Hova combined reality and fiction like few other rappers before him, creating a mythical persona that didn’t rely on facts to be viewed as “real.” People still speculate about Jay’s lifestyle during that period. The stylized mafioso rap narratives offered up by Raekwon and Ghostface Killah provide an intriguing alternative to the slew of disarmingly autobiographical tales inspired by the rapper Jay admired most. Had it not been for Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Jay-Z’s debut album might have sounded even closer to The Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready to Die.

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