Fab Chick Music POV:
Introducing XBubble- BP3 Review

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TheFabChick will like to introduce XBubble. She'll be reviewing all the buzz worthy music and giving you a Fab Chick's POV from time to time right here on TFC. She's a great fan of hip hop, and a lover of music. We can go on and on about her, but let just get into the review.

First up is highly debatable Blueprint 3. It was released two weeks ago September 8th and sold an estimated 476,000 albums the first week. Let's see what XBubble has to say about Jay-Z's eleventh studio album as she breaks down and discusses some of the tracks.

What We Talkin' About feat. Luke Steele of Empire of the Sun
"Because I don't run rap no more, I run the map."
The entrance to Blueprint 3 is this song where Jay-Z is letting the listeners know its not about any 'beef' on this album. He's almost too good to address it, like he's above it. This song visually lays down the aesthetic of where Hov is right now in his career.

Thank You
Sigh, this wasn't one of my favorites. I must move on. On to the next one...

D.O.A.
Uncle Hov put a lot on the line with this song. He risked losing the younger generation fans that may not know much about the Reasonable Doubt era. Their older siblings grew up during the Rocafella regime, not them. These are the ones that enjoy majority of the music laced with auto tune. The other class of fans are the people tired or over the auto tune in every song that becomes a hit. These fans are the older siblings who are Jay-Z fans through the bad weather, so to speak. They're the fans that were waiting for a record like this. The horns and drums on this song are so ill to me. Makes me want to throw on my best glam all black outfit and do the mean hard 2-step..."I might bring back Versace shades." 

"Run This Town" feat. Kanye West & Rihanna
I think Ye's verse on this song almost out shined Jay's. I'm going to leave out the ("Imma let you finish" thing). Its still "all black everything", down to the video. A glammed out Rihanna and 2 twin towers of genius in Jay & Ye. You can't lose. 

"Empire State of Mind" feat. Alicia Keys
This is so the New York anthem right now. It's like look how far I've come in NYC. Aside from "So Ambitious", this song is inspiring to anyone who claims to grind or grinds on the daily. Whenever this song comes on, every New Yorker should throw their hands up in pride. Its so cocky, its so star-laced, its so NYC.

"Real As It Gets" feat. Young Jeezy
I feel like this belongs on Thug Motivation 103 more than Blueprint. (Perhaps it's because of how much Young Jeezy music I've listened to.) But 'Real As It Gets' smells, feels and sounds like a Jeezy song. Hov's so background on this, like he & Jeezy were in the studio and Hov's just relaxing like let my protege shine on this one. After all, he's always favored Jeezy. Ha.

"On to the Next One" feat. Swizz Beatz
Bannnggggg in the club, "now double your money and make a stack". I can definitely see a whole club dancing to this one because its so Swizz. The beat is almost ADD-like, full of energy and when its on blast its contagious.

"Off That" feat. Drake
This song was leaked about 2 weeks before BP3 dropped. It caught a lot of flack from Drake fans because he was only on the chorus. A lot of people thought he should have at least had the privilege to throw a 16 on it. I've always liked Drake but its Hov's album, not anyone else's. Plus Jay is considered a legend, Drake was probable gracious and humbled enough just to know his voice was blessing Jay's album. There's a couple of contradictory things in this song though, I can't lie. But I'm not going to touch on them, I'm "off that".

"A Star is Born" feat. J.Cole
I was engaged into the song from the 1st snare and horn. The track made me want to dance like the first time heard "Show Me What You Got" from the Kingdom Come album. I like how Hov touched on all the rappers who had their "moment" in a continuous method that never dropped tune. It was done only the way Jay could. Its almost funny because he mentioned everyone who became a star, but majority of the guys he mentioned had their time and faded out while Hov still stands. I'm so glad J. Cole got some shine on this song. Even though he was at the very end, he ripped this song.

"Venus vs. Mars"
The beat sounds very much like a Timberland track. It reminds me of Ludacris' "The Potion". If you guys did not realize by now, the beat matters a lot to a listeners ears. The concept is obvious Male vs. Female...whatever. This track is very quote worthy. His wordplay was cleverly done, definitely ill. I'm sure if it came from someone else track might have sounded a bit chauvinistic and arrogant.  But it's Hov so we'll excuse all that.
"Me, I'm from the Apple, which means I'm a Mac. Shorty's a PC, she lives in my lap."

"We was supposed to Takeover, I caught her bumping Ether"
"Already Home" feat. Kid Cudi
This is my favorite song from the beginning. This song has a good amount of Jay-Z's usual creative arrogance and double entre-laced insults that makes you want to rewind the track. I double-liked the fact that my homie Kid Cudi was featured on this track. Too bad he only did the hook. (I like the shine he's been getting lately.) The last 16 of the song is when Hov really went in with the not-so-obvious subliminal messages. It was like he was in the booth thinking about all the artists that "need to get back to rapping".
"I taught them bout fish scale, they want me to fish for them...they want me to disappear, like its gonna shift for them"

"I'm in the hall already, on the wall already. I'm a work of art, I'm a Warhol already."
"Hate" feat. Kanye West

"Big Brother" and "bay-bro" going at it. I definitely had to rewind this song 3x to fully understand. It became clear who they were gunning for. I loved the slick talk. 
"Why I never see them at the clear port Ye? Why I always hear they at the airport Ye?"

"Reminder"
This was probably one song that I felt was unnecessary. I think Jay's so high above that he doesn't need to remind us of where he is, we already know. We're still proud of you.

"So Ambitious" feat. Pharrell

The song's title explains it all.
"The motivation for me was them telling me what I could not be, oh well".
I love this beat. Jay and Pharrell tell us why they're successful; not being fazed by the haters and staying determined...staying ambitious.

"Young Forever" feat. Mr. Hudson

This was like the perfect outro for Blueprint 3. Mr. Hudson's voice is so smooth, I can close my eyes and zone out. His music is forever alive to millions of people. Thumbs up Hov!

All in all, I think that Blueprint 3 is a great album, it has some faults but its still superb in its production and execution. The first Blueprint trumps this one and the second but BP3 is a great display of where Hov is reigning in his career currently. He has just passed Elvis with the amount of #1 albums in his catalogue. Who else is doing that? No one but Jay-Z. Honestly, I feel like the fight over who is King of NYC is unnecessary because the answer is clear as a vase of Ace of Spades. The hustla Marcy Projects bore is now the grown man that runs New York City.
 
Rating: 4 out of 5

Image Hosted by ImageShack.usOur Fab Chick giving us the FC Music POV prefers to go by XBubble. She's a NYC native with a BA in Media Studies from Penn State University. "My heart's in fashion design, advertising and music, if I can create a career out of the 3 of those passions, all would be right with the world."
Check out her own blog Rosemallowcoke.com
And be sure to follow XBubble on twitter (twitter.com/pristina).



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