I was a little more aggressive with the music cuts on this one since Reasonable Doubt got blocked entirely (despite heavy edits). Looks like this one will stick (for now). Do remember that Patreon is $2 for uncut reactions. The description shows all the albums available there if you feel like binging. Happy New Year!

Heart of the City is one of Kanye’s best beats, unbelievable production on that song

Any plans on doing Common - Be? From roughly the same time and widely considered his best album. I think you would enjoy his lyrics a lot.

Bob, you gotta react to 4:44. It's Jay's most recent album, and came out off the heels of his cheating scandal around 2017. It's incredibly personal, akin to Mr. Morale. I'd listen to it and "Lemonade" by Beyonce, back to back

Someone has already mentioned stillmatic by nas for his response to takeover which many consider him to beat Jay Z in Ether, great reaction, also mentioning rivals please consider doing the Infamous by Mobb Deep such a classic album many consider to be top 10 of all time, I know you’ve had lots of requests over time for it but trust me it’s a must listen, hope you had a good Christmas, happy new year 🎉

You’ve done 2/3 of Jay’s classic albums. Do The Black Album sometime! Great stuff!

I believe “Pen to a test” refers to these things called “scantrons” used in the United State to automate multiple choice test grading. You can only use a #2 pencil on those. Pens aren’t recognized by the system.

The sound was revolutionary form moment. It ushered in the soul sample era. Kanye didn’t start building off the sound and experimenting more until graduation, and I’d say the Kanye sound was perfected on life of Pablo.

Bob I know you’re getting a lot of comments on the Nas response track to takeover “ether” and you probably are curious to hear it and want to listen to “stillmatic” the album it’s on, but PLEASE listen to Nas discography in order. His next album that you need to review of Nas is “it was written” his 2nd album(and my personal favorite). I think you should do Nas album in chronological order the same way you did Kanye and Kendrick. It would be cool to see you experience Nas journey through hip hop. It would also give you more context once you eventually get to “stillmatic” to appreciate the song ether even more. Also if you think takeover was a great diss ether is consider the best diss track of all time.

8:33 he also says the "off we go let the trumpets blow" line out of respect for Slick Rick from his song "The Ruler's Back" from his 1988 album "The Great Adventures of Slick Rick".....the whole song (especially the last verse) is a homage to that song

You missed the double entendre in U Don't Know. "I could sell water to a whale" could also be "I could sell water to a well" and still makes sense. Jay Z is one of the best at the double entendre in Hip Hop. When you listen to Blueprint again, you will pick up more of those sort of lines.

1:17:52 can’t believe you wasn’t impressed with the “Left hand’ll lean him like a little past 6” 😢 I love that line

You should listen to "ether" by Nas, it's a response to takeover and is recognised as one of the best diss songs of all time, it's from his album "stillmatic" which is another classic Nas album

Now this is a heavy hitter, so many classics! Renegade is one of the most impressive displays of lyricism. Jay-Zs verse on that song is the best verse that has ever been blown out of the park by another on the same track. Eminem absolutely killed it on that track.

Hey Bob, just to let you know the actual album ends at Momma Loves Me. Lyrical Exercise and Girls Part 2 are bonus tracks. In case you weren’t aware.

Like others have mentioned, you should listen to Ether by Nas. In fact, it would be cool if you did a separate reaction video to it or listen to it during your additional thoughts on The Blueprint.

You need to listen to Lupe Fiascos Food and Liquor, I genuinely think you will love that album a ton, it sonically is amazing and has some of the best lyricism you will ever hear. It’s honestly a perfect album and I think you and your family will thoroughly enjoy it.(My mom hardly listens to hiphop and she loves everything about the album.)

Hey Bob you should listen to This Can't Be Life - Jay Z, Beanie, Scarface. It's an absolute classic.

Found myself shouting "yes!" When this popped up in my feed 😅, been a while since you've reacted to an album that I absolutely love.

I'm happy that you finally got to speak on Em. The bulk of criticism towards Em honestly has to do with a large portion of his fanbase that isn't doing what you're doing on this channel which is taking time to appreciate other artist and where they come from. The bulk of Em fans shit on other artist with a few exceptions like Tech N9ne for example. There's so much more that goes into it I could write a college essay on it. Everyone recognizes where Em is skill wise, the hate for the man is primarily his fanbase. Also since he's become sober and aged a bit his voice is different so he doesn't have the bravado he had on his earlier work just like he does on Renegade for example. Em would get a lot less hate if his fans would take the time to realize that there's more great artist out there in that upper tier of rap and hip hop than just Eminem.

Renegade was originally made with Royce da 5'9 who is a very frequent collaborator with Eminem especially last 12 years. Then Eminem gave the song to Jay-Z for his album without changing his original verses except for that Jigga part

I'd love for you to do Purple Haze by Cam'ron. It's very much a part and parcel with this early 00s NY soul-sample rap sound.

Bob how did you go from Reasonable Doubt to BluePrint? There’s a bunch of Jay-Z albums in between. I thought you were doing peoples albums in order?!

If you think Jay buried Nas, you should check out his response "Ether". He absolutely murdered Jay-Z and it's the widely accepted opinion that Nas won the beef.

Jay Z wasn’t buried by Ether but he was hit with a harsh rebuttal which is why Ether was so good. People though Nas was buried by Takeover but Nas came back stronger than expected. Nas won the battle as an underdog yet both disstracks are discussed as top tier disstracks in Hip Hop History.

You should react to Nas' response to Takeover called Ether. If you feel like Jay buried Nas, you'll go CRAZY at Nas' response.

I feel similar to you in that I prefer Late Registration way More than College Dropout. LR is a very similar album, but it’s more fleshed out, similar production but it gets grander, and it cuts out the annoying skits and filler songs of CD. LR is my favourite Ye album, his most complete album to me

Most of the Eminem criticism these days is as a result of his last three albums, Revival, Kamikaze, and Music to be Murdered By. All 3 are pretty bad albums, particularly Revival. It just seems that modern day Eminem has lost his touch, is unable to connect with the youth, and no longer has anything to say. He’s like hip hops version of “Old man yells at clouds”. His chorus’s are particularly bad, and he raps incredibly fast more frequently now, and it’s really corny in my opinion, because he’s truly not saying anything. Jay Z, Kanye, and Nas (3 main examples) have been able to mature in their music as they get into their 40’s and 50’s and continue to make good music, but Eminem hasn’t.

Brooo I loved listening to this again with your reaction. Such a great album

Fun fact: Just Blaze produced the final track on Good Kid M.A.A.D City "Compton". He also produced 3 tracks off of The Black Album by Jay-Z which you would really enjoy because the production is great.

"what they did to the Cold Crush" refers to the pioneering group who inspired a ton of rappers but was in it before there was big money to be had. In fact, Girls Girls Girls is from one of their famous routines. They made a couple of records but their fame really came from tapes of live performances.

Good Reaction. Wow. I didn't realize you did Reasonable Doubt too. Now you have to get to Nas second album It Was Written Stillmatic is also a good one to react to so you can hear Nas kill Jay on Ether

Bob I thought you were gonna recognize The Doors sample on Takeover?! haha "5 to 1"

Thank you for reacting to this classic. I know Jay Z is the king of copyright so I appreciate your bravery in doing this reaction.

You GOTTA do Nas’ Stillmatic now! No pressure 😂

You had the same reaction as everyone else in real time to Takeover. A few months later Nas dropped Ether, which is regarded by many as the best diss song of all time. Even today 20 years later, if someone says you got Ethered, it means you got killed in a beef and there is no answer or comeback. But Nas and Jay Z have squashed their beef and have several great songs together. Check out Black Republican, Success, and few other of their songs together. You won't be disappointed.

He serenades every track with a giggle

This album has so many things to appreciate. Jay paying hommage to Biggie quoting him and other artists, recognizing the samples (not sure you noticed on h to the izzo.)

Wow I’m so happy rn this a early birthday gift for me, jayz one of the goats, so glad you finally got to this album commenting before watching so hope you enjoyed it as much as we all have, this album is such such a classic ! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

My favorite album from my favorite rapper of all time. Also check out Blueprint 2 and the Black Album. Great reaction! Keep up the good work!

Nas album Stillmatic is partly a response to this album. Recommend it and highly recommend Nas album It Was Written

production masterclass

Black album is definitely comparable to the Blueprint you should definitely react to it..

eminems early stuff does have some interesting stuff, not just shock value. there are the horrorcore tracks and the lighthearted tracks where he's saying outlandish shit, but there are a lot of good songs on the first 3 albums imo, particularly the first 2. could be worth a revisit

For a scantron test, you're supposed to bring a #2 pencil.

Izzo had a kid-friendly sound due to the Jackson 5 sample (I Want You Back).

You have one of the coolest and best KZfaq channels out there

Don’t look too much on the number of streams because Jay Z has his own streaming platform (Tidal) and for years his music was not on Spotify and Apple Music (and KZfaq) because he was trying to get his streaming platform to pop off

You should listen to Nas Stillmatic album. It’s one of his best and features the best diss song of all time

Actually It's the other way 'round...NaS buried Hov on Ether and made Jay-Z cry out loud & apologize on radio and even Jay-Z admits he lost to NaS and from that point of time the term " HE GOT ETHERED " was coined when a rapper gets bodied by another rapper in a beef.

Let's go! Glad you enjoyed this as much as I did on first listen. If I recall correctly I was feeling the same with not being that into 2 tracks which were also Izzo and All I Need, all though they grew on me and I like them more than I did on first listen This album is a CLASSIC to me and it's in a tie for my no. 1 Jay-Z album with Reasonable Doubt (though I have more days where I have Blueprint over RD than vice versa). This was one of my first albums I got on CD (along with Raekwons OB4CL which is a classic as well). Amazing album. Just to add a lil context, this album was interesting for Jay-Z because with his albums before this he was starting to rap on more "electronic" type of production (think like Timbaland and Pharrell) with the occasional classic 90s hiphop sound so I bet it was interesting for listeners when they heard this for the first time. But reason to the style change (and reason to why I'm bringing this up) is because of Ghostface Killah's Supreme Clientele. Kanye and Just Blaze were heavily influenced by that album so they started giving those soul sampled beats to Jay-Z which I imagine is why he shifted the sound of the album to that sound (with Girls, Girls, Girls being actually intended to give to Ghostface). Recommend checking out U Don't Know (Remix) from Blueprint 2, I saw somewhere that Just Blaze was saying that this is actually the finished beat and that the one Jay first rapped on wasn't finished (all though the beat was still killer). Also can't wait for you to get back to Nas and eventually get to his response to Jay on Stillmatic. Excuse me for the long ass comment lol and I hope it wasn't overwhelming. I wish you and everyone else a happy new year! Thank you for 2022. Take care everyone

I was hoping you did this album. Prayers answered. Let’s go!

Believe it or not Nas responded with Ether on the album Stillmatic. It pretty much awakened him in a sense. Stillmatic is a great Nas album. At the time everyone felt Ether was the superior diss track and to be fair it was scathing lol. But over time I think Takeover aged better because there was some disses people didn’t even catch but give Stillmatic a listen definitely worth your time

Before Kendrick, I think Jay was the last great rapper at the top of the rap game. After this it went 50-cent, Lil Wayne, then Drake... And they're not terrible, but oddly enough, Jay despite not being the "deepest" always came off as very genuine to me, where the others just kinda felt like conmen. Not the greatest at any one thing, not my personal favorite, but, he's my default answer to who is the overall GOAT of rap if I have to pick one person. It's gotta be Jay for me. The only one who paired extreme commercial success while keeping true to everything hip-hop is as a culture. His message has always been consistent, his greatest form of dissent, rebellion that's essential to the spirit of rap, is self made financial success. Can't knock the hustle. "If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be lyrically Talib Kweli Truthfully, I wanna rhyme like Common Sense, but I did 5 mil.. i ain't been rhyming like Common since"

When comparing streaming numbers you have to take into account this was out before streaming but he went platinum. This wouldn’t have as many listens one because Jay just added recently his music to other streaming platforms because he has his own. 41:00 2 it came out a very long time ago prior to streaming

This album had so many storylines. Jay Z jumping off the Nas beef Just Blaze and a young Kanye battling beat for beat Five platinum singles Classic Album

Omg the black album is so good, cant wait

Never Change might be favorite Jay Z track

you gotta listen to be by common, if you loved this you’re sure to love be as well. arguably ye and dilla’s best prodction work as well.

@32:05 Jay Z is my favorite rapper of all time, so he can do almost no wrong, but I'm 29 and Drake was the soundtrack of my life during my early 20s. I say this because I see both sides of it what you're saying. One of the reasons Drake became so popular is because of the way he talked about his feelings. Unlike Jay, the Hyper masculine stereotype that cooly complains about women nagging him, Drake talks about specific times women hurt him which shaped who he is today. You can say that it sounds like Drake is crying too much, but he became the voice of a generation for a reason. The generation being too soft or whatever is a topic for another time, but if you're going to listen to Drake again in January you need to understand his experience is relatable to a lot of people. He has a line that goes something like I told my story and made (his)story. Just food for thought. Jay is the man but he's clearly from another time.

You should do Jay-Z Life and times of Sean Carter Vol.3. I think it's one of his most underrated albums.

The Ruler's Back is a nod to a song off Slick Rick's album "The Adventures Of Slick Rick". On "The Ruler's Back" he ends each verse with, "So off we-go, let the trumpets-blow because the driver of the mission is a pro, The Ruler's Back."

I like your comment about H to the Izzo being a weird mix with the beat. I forget who(dame dash?), but when describing one of the rocafella produced movies, they talked about how the hood is sometimes portrayed overly seriously in media. The reality of the black experience in America isn't always grungy, it's more dynamic than that. While the topics Jay Z is covering are grim, people still need space to live in between time so the beat being the way it is you could argue is more realistic, especially since he himself is the hopeful element

Gotta listen to Ether after hearing Takeover, Nas looked out for the count but came back and KO'd Jay Z out cold

excited for the black album review

I love the beat of All I need … and the lyrics.. one of my favorites on the album…

The stop-start beat of All I Need is why it’s my favorite beat on the album! Great reaction vid though

HOW CAN U NOT LOVE THE I WANT U BACK SAMPLE ON IZZO

The production on this album from start to finish is insanely good. Idk how many rap albums have better production. You should do The Black Album. It's the closest to this album in quality, the only one you could argue is better.

12:23 “pen to a test” I believe refers to using those scan answer sheets that only pick up pencil marks. Like how you can’t use a pen on the SAT.

Don’t just react to ether, react to the whole stillmatic album

"Off we go, let's the trumpets blow.." in The Ruller's Back is an ode to Slick Rick who had a song by the same name in the 80s

You mention the Fugees... "The Fugees done broke up..." You NEED to do The Score... An absolute classic album that doesn't get it's due.

Once he reacts to Vol. 1 I can finally be at peace 🙏🏿

damn i just complete my hov vinyle collection with this album 2 days ago!! for me its a no skip what a pièce of art

Ether is inferior to Takeover imo, Nas was kinda just throwing schoolyard jabs and name calling. Jay was using numbers, facts, and was more tactical and thorough in his approach. Not to mention Takeover is just the better overall song.

Well as a Jay z fan I can honestly say….Nas killed him with ether but Jay z’s approach to focus on the money was smart. Numbers don’t lie

Now you have to react to Nas’s “Stillmatic” album. It contains “Ether” which is a diss to Jay-z. A great album overall.

I feel a great summation of JayZ over time would be well ended with 4:44 Love the reactions, keep on rockin in the free world 🫶🏽

Just realized the first lines in verse 2 of Izzo (HOVA) are referenced by Kendrick in The Heart Part 5. He says “I said I’d do this for my culture, to let y’all know what a n-- look like in a bullet proof rover” at the start of the second verse while Jay-Z here says “I do this for my culture, to let ‘em know what a n-- look like when a n-- in a roadster”. Not that deep but just a cool little Easter egg/reference to a song that came out 20 years before it’s release. This is what’s fun about hip hop!

U should definitely revisit some of eminem's albums, with ur new experience with rap, u would def get some new views

Believe it or not, Nas buried Jay-z on his response diss track ETHER off his album STILLMATIC

Such an amazing album 💿

Good job on this. Props for the breakdowns.

AIN’T NO LOVE IN THE HEART OF THE CITY

"Pen to a test" Back in the days you literally had to use a number 2 pencil ✏️ to take a test.

Hell yeah brother, Blueprint is my favorite of Jigga! And you should a video of itself on Ether, Nas' response...whew!!

That would be a great album to review. Eric B & Rakim Paid in Full

You didn't recognize the Five to One sample (The Doors) on Takeover?

i get what you're saying about the chorus on girls girls girls but i think q-tip comes across with the same cheeky vibe like on tribe albums - e.g midnight marauders or people's instinctive travels - and i think it fits the vibe of the song perfectly. cool feature. i hope you check out more quest at some point, those albums are a bit less serious than low end theory

Gonna try and watch this one asap before it gets nuked by KZfaq. Hope you have a great new year Bob!❤️

Your laugh is an adlib my guy!

You have to watch the video when timberland plays the beat and JayZ comes up with the song on the spot

Finally an album I've listened to/know well again. Excited for this one. (oh what I missed you did Grey Area?!)

Blueprint momma loves me is my favorite off this album 🔥🔥

I beg can you do lil Wayne the carter 3, honestly this is a classic from the Ned era the later 2000s where rap really changed (for the worse 😅). Everybody wanted to be Wayne after this album and we’ve seen impersonators for the last 15 😃

So I had a whole different comment but I forgot that the actual most interesting fact about this album is that it was made in 3 days. Jay, Kanye, Just Blaze, and his engineer Guru went to the studio on a Friday and left late Sunday night with "The Blueprint". I'm pretty sure there's a documentary here on KZfaq about this, wild stuff.

I never got the students body union line until today🤯

You need to listen to Stillmatic now and Ether will answer the Nas diss questions.

Yeah bob re-visit Em’s first 3 albums, you’ll find something new and “TES” I feel like it would be your favorite one even tho you mentioned you have already heard before. Great reaction again! 🇲🇽👋