The Blueprint 2: The Gift & the Curse (stylized as The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse) is the seventh
Island Def Jam Music Group. The album serves as a sequel to his sixth album The Blueprint (2001). The album debuted at number one, shipping with first-week sales of 545,000 units. The album is certified 3x Multi-Platinum by the RIAA. In 2013, Jay-Z cited this album as his second-worst due to an overabundance of songs on the album.[1]
A one-disc reissue, titled Blueprint 2.1, was released in 2003.
'03 Bonnie & Clyde features Jay-Z's then-girlfriend Beyoncé.
The recording sessions took place after Jay-Z's critically acclaimed and commercially successful sixth album The Blueprint (2001). The production on the album was handled primarily by Just Blaze and Kanye West – both of whom had recently established themselves as two of hip-hop's most celebrated producers due to the success of The Blueprint – while other producers include The Neptunes, Timbaland, No I.D., Darrell "Digga" Branch, Charlemagne, Big Chuck, Dr. Dre, Jimmy Kendrick, Heavy D, and Neff-U. Unlike The Blueprint which was almost void of guest appearances, The Blueprint² features many featured guests, even out-of-genre artists that include Lenny Kravitz and Sean Paul. Other features include West Coast rapper and producer Dr. Dre, Rakim, Beyoncé, Faith Evans, Beanie Sigel and Scarface. The album also includes an uncredited verse from Kanye West on the Timbaland-produced track "The Bounce". Pharrell also provides vocals and hooks of many of his produced tracks, for example "Excuse Me Miss" and "Nigga Please". Though the album has no strict concept, the album contains two discs. The first disc titled "The Gift" features mainstream, pop-oriented music. The second disc titled "The Curse" contains dark, emotional, and bravado street songs such as the dark-toned retelling of "Meet the Parents", the emotional substance of escaping the dangerous ghetto in "Some How Some Way", the dissing of Nas and Jaz-O in "Blueprint2", and the bravado "Nigga Please".
"The Bounce"
West's verse on the track "The Bounce" marked his first appearance as a rapper on a Roc-A-Fella release (although he contributed an uncredited hook to the Blueprint's "Never Change" the previous year), which was on the sequel to The Blueprint (2001), an album he helped produce.[2][3]
Vocals from
Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart and remained on it for a total of seven weeks.[6]
The Blueprint 2 received lukewarm reviews from critics.
Village Voice consumer guide that he was disappointed Jay-Z sampled Paul Anka for "I Did It My Way" when he could not get permission to use Frank Sinatra's recording of "My Way".[21]
Rollie Pemberton was more enthusiastic in his review for Pitchfork, writing that Jay-Z "weaves his way through every imaginable style and flavor with unyielding expertise".[13]Billboard hailed it as "the most ambitious and most fully realized album of his career",[22] while Q felt it surpassed his previous album.[14] In the opinion of Spin critic Chris Ryan, The Blueprint 2 found Jay-Z "tightening the screws of his delivery" and discovering a "bruising poetry in a flow that once seemed clumsily conversational".[16]
rapper Jay-Z, created from a re-cut version of The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse.[26] It was certified gold by the RIAA. One single was released from the album, "La-La-La
The album contains two bonus tracks (after "What They Gonna Do, Pt. II") not included in The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse. The track "Stop" is a new cut and "La-La-La (Excuse Me Miss Again)" can also be found on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Bad Boys II . The bonus tracks are unlisted and do not have track numbers. The Jay-Z remix of Punjabi MC's "Beware of the Boys" is included as an additional bonus track on the European version only and is lifted off Punjabi MC's album/CDS.
The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse (CD liner). Jay-Z. Roc-A-Fella Records. 2002. p. 1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link
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[12]
