From RD to BP3: A Comparative Photo Essay
What a difference thirteen years and one superfluous umlaut makes.
*Not pictured: Mecca, Young Jeezy, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beats, Pharrell
What a difference thirteen years and one superfluous umlaut makes.
What a difference thirteen years and one superfluous umlaut makes.
August 19th, 2009 at 12:58 am
that is a little scary..
August 19th, 2009 at 1:10 am
Ehhhhhh, some 12 year old kid will grow up, start a blog and post a photo essay concerning Kid Cudi now and Kid Cudi in 2022 with the same wistful “THAT was hip hop” edge of the abyss air we’re assuming with the Jaz comp here. Believe it or not, I’m gonna jump out and say that tight striped purple T, bandana and hypno shades will do for those kids what frameless Cazals a phat rope and a hightop fade evoke for us. Fuck the supporting cast give me a good album, if he made a record that tried to sound like 96 with Clark Kent beats and faux hungry depth would we believe him? Did you even like American Gangster?
August 19th, 2009 at 1:42 am
J. Cole > Memphis.
August 19th, 2009 at 1:47 am
Abe – I make no qualitative assessments with this post.
August 19th, 2009 at 2:13 am
Why do people make sequels to albums? Especially guest spot ridden sequels to albums that had barely any guest spots to begin with…
Blueprint 2 didn’t even deserve sequel status given the overbearing amount of guests on it and Blueprint 2 was actually good.
This just looks like some “latch on to who’s hot right now” attempt at staying relevant to an audience of kids who see him more as a precursor to Kanye West than they actually admire him as a great rapper. I.e. they don’t remember the summer when Reasonable Doubt came out, or hell, the winter “Do It Again” was all over New York.
Jay-Z is my favorite rapper not in UGK, but he needs to stop. There’s nothing he can say anymore, nothing he can add on, whether it’s moving “forward” content wise (Kingdom Come) or regressing (American Gangster), he’s a pale shade of the dude who was so confrontational they should’ve never let him out on probation, yo.
Hopefully, the track with him and Jeezy, and the tracks with him alone are good enough.
Later.
August 19th, 2009 at 2:24 am
Hadn’t seen the tracklist… this is actually a good comparison.. especially the last two pics… I think it’s okay for Jay-Z to grow.. but at the same time.. I feel lost in this new world of his…
the tracklisting has killed what little excitement I had left after Run This Town began to annoy me..
Who is going to buy the new Jay-Z… cuz if this is what it takes to stay relevant… I’d rather the old Jay…
August 19th, 2009 at 6:41 am
Election night sounded the death knell for both Jay and Kanye.
August 19th, 2009 at 7:04 am
I don’t even know who that is next to Pain In Da Ass.
August 19th, 2009 at 8:27 am
I am going to buy the new Jay-Z. Are you kidding me?
August 19th, 2009 at 8:28 am
And Gordon, you’re going to have to back that up. At first glance, it sounds like you’re drawing some pretty heavy connections.
August 19th, 2009 at 8:38 am
rhianna makes every other move ok.
August 19th, 2009 at 10:22 am
sigh, im jus gonna forcefully ignore this album i gues
August 19th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I had high hopes for BP3 based on the strength of some initial leaks..
brooklyn we go hard
jockin jay z
there was one more that dropped with these.. cant recall the name
this official tracklist that just got posted? meh
August 19th, 2009 at 11:45 am
fuck jay z……how many battles has he lost and yall still suck his dick….no wonder he dresses like a fag
August 19th, 2009 at 11:52 am
uh, cop out? You mean to tell me there was no intentionality in the selection of contrast photo up top? Jay hasn’t been photographed in anything but a plaid scarf this year? It’s a clever post but claiming there’s no qualitative judgment is BS
August 19th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
i think that…. some of the uhh late 20s – 30 really want to go back to the 90s and start everything over….. You guys should put RD in your CD players and put it on repeat….. It’s kind of tiring to see the same “Blah that tracklist looks sorry” post every time
August 19th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
KIDBRISTOL,
No heavy connotations. Find images or video of what they were wearing at the Obama celebrations on Nov 4th. Jay looked like Urkel; Kanye like Lionel Richie (only softer). Based purely on how they were dressed, my lady, who was a fan of both, said “What is this shit? Both of them are finished.”
Dressing doesn’t make them worse rappers, of course, but it signals something about who they’re trying to impress.
On the bright side, Dre 3K (the anti-Common) proves that it’s at least possible for a rapper to go off the fashion deep end and not suck all the time.
August 19th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
DOA had me hyped, but I haven’t heard one person yet that thinks Run This Town is single material.
I’m tired of Jay’s gimmicks for evey album:
-”Last” album
-”Comeback” album
-”Concept” album
-”Album that’s not gonna have any commercial music and take it back to RD times but turns out to be a typical Jay album” album
-”Sequal to one of ur previous great albums even though there is no relation between the two except the artist name” album
August 19th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
To the homie who said American Gangster was wack…FUCK YOU.
August 19th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Evolve Or Die……
August 19th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
jay, def jam, rappers, ceos, a&rs…
blindly following their perception of public opinion, instead of shaping public opinion.
this is a controversial statement…but the bay is the only place with any true hype right now. we dont fux with kid cudi or jay z or none of that shit. we have a self sustaining rap scene. we are not waiting for our corporate overlords to grant us the next big thing. not underground, not overground. you can buy our shit at the local amoebas, rasputins, liquor store, on the bart, all over the city. theres even a tape trading spot (i mean, where they play chess at civic center). plus, we got B!
yknow i love method man and redman but i knew their new album would be very different than the things i love, i didnt need a rap blog to point out how ALL this shit is garWACK now.
ps, if you like electro or bass or 80s hard to find raps, checkout globalfunkradio.com i just got put onto it by the dude from newcleus and its fuckin rad
August 19th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
“This ain’t a number one record, this is practically assault with a deadly weapon,I made it just for flex and Mister CEE I want people to feel threatened … You boys jeans too tight, you colors too bright, your voice too light”
August 20th, 2009 at 2:16 am
Man every time its a Jay post its “im sick of this, im sick of that wah, wah, wah” Yall talk bout him being repetitive and nothing more he can say, but yall being repetetive on these post and repeat the same thing everytime. Every time he puts something out, its one of you bustas up here trying to be the first negative response. lol yall people crazy.
August 20th, 2009 at 8:05 am
[...] From Reasonable Doubt to Blueprint 3: A Comparative Photo Essay [Cocaine Blunts] [...]
August 20th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Listen…….I’m a Jay fan, and just like us all I have doubts about his purpose in rap anymore. But lets not forget, this nigga still spit better than 90% of rappers at his age. I think what he’s doing is showing these old rappers that you can have a career after you grow up and your content changes significantly. And to add to that rap is a part time hobby for this dude. I’m anxious to see how BP3 will pan out. I thought American Gangster was a classic, that’s just my opinion. He’s still setting trends at his age, whether its the business ventures or them old school versace shades….give the man his credit. Now with that said…..Jay yo old ass better come through on this new album
August 20th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Damn . . . a picture is worth a 1,000 words This post is tight. Need to tweet this joint.
August 21st, 2009 at 12:19 pm
[...] From RD to BP3: A Comparative Photo Essay [Cocaine [...]
August 21st, 2009 at 1:15 pm
hes whack:
lost to pac
lost to nas
lost to cam ron
lost to jayo felony
who else am i missing??
in fact what battle has he won?
August 21st, 2009 at 3:41 pm
wait, earlier, when i tried to say something intelligent on this…what i meant to say was:
this the faggiest shit i ever saw.
August 22nd, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Second to last photo is amazing, compositionally.
August 22nd, 2009 at 9:42 pm
co-sign this whole post. dude’s almost 40 now, you think he’d be more in touch with the streets
August 23rd, 2009 at 4:01 pm
[...] From RD to BP3: A Comparative Photo Essay [Cocaine [...]
August 24th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Eh, it just doesn’t even matter anymore. He’s going to keep recording garbage and hopefully he won’t influence too many people who still have talent along the way.
August 31st, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Who’s the clown next to “Pain In Da Azz”?? Please let me know..
November 10th, 2009 at 5:46 am
[...] Snoop > Jay-Z [...]
November 10th, 2009 at 6:04 am
[...] Snoop > Jay-Z [...]