Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse [Explicit Lyrics]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Do you want in on hip-hop's dirty little secret? Well, not even rap's greatest icons have been able to pull of a memorable, fast-forward-free double disc--2Pac's All Eyez on Me and Wu-Tang Clan's Wu-Tang Forever included. On this follow-up to part one, Jay teams up with Destiny's Child's Beyoncé on "03 Bonnie & Clyde," a so-so remake of 2Pac's "Me and My Girlfriend." The Dr. Dre-produced remix to "The Watcher," featuring Rakim, reveals that, in addition to expanding his audience, Jay is interested in appealing to his tried-and-tested demographic--East Coast hardrocks. He rounds out the first disc with "I Did It My Way," sampling Paul Anka's version of "My Way" and equating his Rap Pack (Kareem Burke, Dame Dash) to the Rat Pack of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin. Don't laugh. The stronger second disc contains some pleasant surprises. The Lenny Kravitz-fuelled braggadocio of "Guns and Roses" titillates, while Jay's Jeru the Damaja-like "Bitches and Sisters" is sure to stir up accusations of misogyny. In the end, not even Jay can tear through 11 hot tracks, much less 25. --Dalton Higgins

Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse,Jay-Z,Roc-a-Fella,East Coast Rap,Hip-Hop,Pop,Rap,Rap & Hip-Hop

Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse [Explicit Lyrics]

Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse [Explicit Lyrics]

Average customer rating:

Blueprint 2 is Jay's Nastradamas..................

A Gift On One CD & A Curse On The Other (Rating: 7 out of 10- -3.5 stars)

A solid album by the Jigga Man

Blueprint 2 - The Gift And THE CURSE!!!!

One of the better modern Hip-Hop Artist

Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse
Jay-Z
Manufacturer: Roc-a-Fella
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

East Coast | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
Gangsta & Hardcore | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
Pop Rap | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

The Blueprint

Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter

In My Lifetime, Vol. 1

Vol. 2, Hard Knock Life

The Dynasty: Roc La Familia 2000

ASIN: B00006ZCFI
Release Date: 2002-11-12

Tracks:

A Dream (featuring Faith Evans and Notorious B.I.G.)
Hovi Baby
The Watcher 2 (featuring Dr. Dre, Rakim & Truth Hurts)
'03 Bonnie & Clyde (featuring Beyonce Knowles)
Excuse Me Miss
What They Gonna Do (featuring Sean Paul)
All Around the World (featuring LaToiya Williams)
Poppin' Tags (featuring Big Boi, Killer Mike & Twista)
F**k All Nite
The Bounce
I Did It My Way

Tracks:

Diamonds Is Forever
Guns & Roses (featuring Lenny Kravitz)
U Don't Know (remix, featuring M.O.P.)
Meet the Parents
Some How Some Way (featuring Beanie Sigel and Scarface)
Some People Hate
Blueprint 2
N***a Please (featuring Young Chris)
2 Many Hoes
As One (featuring Memphis Bleek, Freeway, Young Guns, Peedi Crakk, Sparks & Rell)
A Ballad for the Fallen Soldier
Show You How (bonus track)
B****s & Sisters (bonus track)
What They Gonna Do Part II (bonus track)

Amazon.com

Do you want in on hip-hop's dirty little secret? Well, not even rap's greatest icons have been able to pull of a memorable, fast-forward-free double disc--2Pac's All Eyez on Me and Wu-Tang Clan's Wu-Tang Forever included. On this follow-up to part one, Jay teams up with Destiny's Child's Beyoncé on "03 Bonnie & Clyde," a so-so remake of 2Pac's "Me and My Girlfriend." The Dr. Dre-produced remix to "The Watcher," featuring Rakim, reveals that, in addition to expanding his audience, Jay is interested in appealing to his tried-and-tested demographic--East Coast hardrocks. He rounds out the first disc with "I Did It My Way," sampling Paul Anka's version of "My Way" and equating his Rap Pack (Kareem Burke, Dame Dash) to the Rat Pack of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin. Don't laugh. The stronger second disc contains some pleasant surprises. The Lenny Kravitz-fuelled braggadocio of "Guns and Roses" titillates, while Jay's Jeru the Damaja-like "Bitches and Sisters" is sure to stir up accusations of misogyny. In the end, not even Jay can tear through 11 hot tracks, much less 25. --Dalton Higgins

Customer Reviews:

Blueprint 2 is Jay's Nastradamas.........................2007-04-04

The first Blueprint was layered in soulful samples and bangin beats. Jay went for a more worldly sound on BP2 and threw a lot of fans for a loop. Too many ambitious songs and not enough hits. Plainly put.

A Gift On One CD & A Curse On The Other (Rating: 7 out of 10- -3.5 stars).......2007-03-07

Almost a year after "The Blueprint 1" Jay decided to throw a double disc of his material and make it the sequel called "Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse". Given to some, "The Blueprint 1" was a classic and made the best rap CD of 2001 and received accolades from all over. "Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse" could have been an excellent follow up to the predecessor, but didn't exactly, This CD had mass amounts of filler tracks and not enough material of what was expected from Jay-Z. As if all the songs that were scrapped from "The Blueprint 1" ended up on here.

Disc 1: The Gift

Majority of this CD, Jay holds his form. "The Watcher II" featuring Dr. Dre and Rakim is an excellent track to me. "Excuse Me Miss" was the second single of the album and was another great song for the maturing Jay. A few more songs that I thought were good were the bouncy "All Around The World" and the fast pace "Poppin Tags" with Twista, Big Boi, and Killer Mike. He shows the lyrical and bragging side of him on the last track "I Did It My Way". There are tracks that didn't hit like others, like "F All Nite" with Pharrell and the lead single "'03 Bonnie And Clyde" with Beyonce. If I had to pick between the two CD which was the better one, I would choose "The Gift" over "The Curse".

Lyrics: B
Production: B
Guest Appearances: B+
Musical Vibes: B
Overall: B

Disc 2 (The Curse):

The second CD "The Curse" has most of the skip material. There are a lot of songs I had very little care for, such as "Diamond Is Forever" and the awkward sounding "Guns & Roses" with Lenny Kravitz. Some songs I find Jay to be at his worst, as if he just threw lines together aimlessly, like on the first verse on "Guns & Roses". The first good track was "You Don't Know (Remix)" that hits just as good as the origonal. "Somehow, Someway" is good with Beanie Siegal and Scarface. Sort of reminds me of "This Can't Be Life" from the Dynasty album with the Kanye West beat. Then there is the title track a weak diss to Nas that people will only hear once. Next are a few club track like "***** Please" with Pharrell and Young Chris, as well as "2 Many" with Timbaland. Afterward we get the entire Roc-A-Fella cloab with "As One". The bonus tracks are solid. I say the best one was "What They Gonna Do 2" with is good as the first.

Lyrics: C
Production: B-
Guest Appearances: C
Musical Vibes: B
Overall: C+

Overall this double disc has a lot of filler tracks, as well as some good ones. If you were expecting a sequel to "The Blueprint 1", you're in for a dissapointment. This album does make a few hits with it's formula but not as consistant, especially with the second disc. That is usually the case when it comes to double discs, some empty sounding tracks to fill it up, and that was what Jay had on this album. If you're a fan of The Source Magazine, you'd know that this was the lowest mic rating he received on all of his albums 3.5 mics.

The Gift: (8 out of 10- -4 stars)
The Curse: (6 out of 10- -3 stars)

My favorite Tracks: The Watcher 2, Excuse Me Miss, What They Gonna Do, All Around The World, Poppin Tags, I Did It My Way, You Don't Know (Remix), Somehow Someway, As One, What They Gonna Do 2

Honorable Mention: The Bounce, 2 Many

Peace Everyone!!!!

A solid album by the Jigga Man.......2006-08-03

8.5 STARS OUT OF 10

I realized last week that there isn't a decent album to listen to in the world. I decided to look old school, so I shuffled around my disk collection before throwing in Blueprint 2. I gave it a few spins for the first time in a year or so, and I still say I really like this album.

A lot of people hate on this album and call it the worst in Jay-Z's impressive collection of stellar cd's. While I agree that it is not nearly his best work, this album is far from bad and is a few steps up from Volume 3 which I think is Jigga's worst album.

It is comprised of two cd's. Disk 1 is the Gift, while Disk 2 is the Curse. Personally, I think the Curse is the much superior and deeper disk. Don't sleep on the Gift though. While it has the more radio friendly songs, there are still 6 or 7 solid tracks NOT featuring Beyonce or Pharrell. And even those two songs were decent when the album first dropped a few years ago.

Are there a handful of subpar songs? YES.
Could the album have been trimmed down to 18 of the best? YES.

Still not bad though for a DOUBLE album that was supposedly thrown together in two months.

Blueprint 2 - The Gift And THE CURSE!!!! .......2006-05-19

The title cover says it all "The Gift and The Curse", where not even Jay-Z can pullout a classic double album, though it does contain some of it's finest moments, such as the Dr. Dre produced ("The Watcher Pt. 2") where "Dre", "Rakim" and "Truth Hurts" show up for a help in hand. The remake of "2Pac's" classic noir ("Me And My Girlfriend") featuring Beyonce and also the open track "Dreams" where "Faith Evans" sings the chorus and they add an old recycled "Biggie" track to add on a verse. We know "Biggie" was your man, how many time do you have to remind us. With all those mentioned above, there are just too many fillers that made the cut for Blueprint 2 and truth be told, it would have been more prestigious and would have gained more acclaim, such as the previous year's "Blueprint", if the album was presented on a single CD rather than having a 2 disc set. "Pharrell of the Neptunes" shows up for "Excuse Me Miss" where we see a more matured "Jay-Z", but with cuts like "Poppin' Tags", "B*tches and Sisters", we can see he hasn't changed much, which is not necessarily a bad thing. On a postive note the album does improve with superb production work, supplied by "Kanye West", "Just Blaze", "Timbaland" and many more.

One of the better modern Hip-Hop Artist.......2006-02-03

I was very suprised to see that some of the reviews of this album got 1 and 2 stars. Even though I will agree that this isn't his best work, The Blueprint 2 still manages to be a solid effort. Some say that Jay-Z has sold out and just isnt putting out quality material. Yet I tend to look at it from a different point of view. Today's Hip-Hop is so much different then it was in the 80's and 90's. There are sooo many different hip-hop artist, and I think way to many are being given record contracts, cause half of them dont have an once of talent. Just because you can lay down some rhymes, doesn't mean you deserve a record contract. Most of these artist dont even write their own material. Jay-Z can is an exception as he writes his own material, does his own sampling, and produces his album. I believe he is one of the better Hip-Hip artist of the modern era, and I really enjoyed The Blueprint 2. The songs on this range from all different types of genere, from some hardcore, to some laid back tracks, to some "poppy" material, and I really think its a solid effort. Jay-Z proves that not every song has to be about guns and pimping and wanting to be a ganster. (kinda like the no talent 50Cent) I really like the beats and sampling that Jay-Z uses on this release to, and the last three bonus track on this CD, have some unique style and some great beats. NO, its not as solid as previous releases, but its still a very solid effort. If we had more hip-hop artist like Jay-Z, and less like 50Cent and Juvinile, then the music world we be a better place..ENJOY

Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (Clean)

Average customer rating:

WHY, Jay-Z, WHY?
HOVA THE GOD OF RAP
Just missed being a classic!
Ignorance cannot be Bliss
Ignorance cannot be Bliss

Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (Clean)
Jay-Z
Manufacturer: Roc-a-Fella
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

East Coast | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

Gangsta & Hardcore | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

Pop Rap | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Vol. 2, Hard Knock Life [Edited Version]
The Black Album
The Blueprint
2Pac - Greatest Hits [Edited Version]
Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter

ASIN: B000078JKX
Release Date: 2002-11-12

Tracks:

A Dream (Feat. Faith Evans & Notorius B.I.G.)
Hovi Baby
The Watcher 2 (Feat. Dr. Dre & Truth Hurts)
'03 Bonnie & Clyde (Feat. Beyonce' Knowles)
Excuse Me Miss
What They Gonna Do (Feat. Sean Paul)
All Around The World ( Feat. LaToiya Williams)
Poppin' Tags (Feat. Big Boi, Killer Mike & Twista)
F**k All Nite
The Bounce
I Did It My Way

Tracks:

Diamond Is Forever
Guns & Roses (Feat. Lenny Kravitz)
U Don't Know (Remix) (Feat. M.O.P.)
Meet The Parents
Some How Some Way
Some People Hate
Blueprint2
N***a Please (Feat. Young Chris)
Many Hoes
As One (Feat. Memphis Bleek, Freeway, Young Guns, Peedi Crakk, Sparks & Rell)
A Ballad For The Fallen Soldier
Show You How
B*****s & Sisters
What They Gonna Do Part II

Amazon.com

Do you want in on hip-hop's dirty little secret? Well, not even rap's greatest icons have been able to pull of a memorable, fast-forward-free double disc--2Pac's All Eyez on Me and Wu Tang Clan's Wu-Tang Forever included. On this follow-up to part one, Jay teams up with Destiny's Child's Beyoncé on "03 Bonnie & Clyde," a so-so remake of 2Pac's "Me and My Girlfriend." The Dr. Dre-produced remix to "The Watcher," featuring Rakim, reveals that, in addition to expanding his audience, Jay is interested in appealing to his tried-and-tested demographic--East Coast hardrocks. He rounds out the first disc with "I Did It My Way," sampling Paul Anka's version of "My Way" and equating his Rap Pack (Kareem Burke, Dame Dash) to the Rat Pack of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin. Don't laugh. The stronger second disc contains some pleasant surprises. The Lenny Kravitz-fuelled braggadocio of "Guns and Roses" titillates, while Jay's Jeru the Damaja-like "Bitches and Sisters" is sure to stir up accusations of misogyny. In the end, not even Jay can tear through 11 hot tracks, much less 25. --Dalton Higgins

Customer Reviews:

WHY, Jay-Z, WHY?.......2004-07-30

Its sad but true. Jay-Z's work since Vol. 3 has just not been the same. He just seems to be cranking out records cuz he knows we'll buy them. They lyrics and the beats just dont hold the power that they did in Reasonable Doubt and Vol. 3.

This is a good CD but nowhere near as a good a the Jay-Z of old.

HOVA THE GOD OF RAP.......2004-02-15

I have all of jigga's albums none are better then the others because all of his flows are equally sick. This album is once again just freaking tight. I recomend Jay-z to everyone. And any Jay-z haters out there dont know anything about rap he's the best thing thats ever happened to Hip-Hop. Im telling you buy all of his albums and you'll respect him. I could say so much more but like Jay-z said "what more can i say?" I am hova's number one fan.

Just missed being a classic!.......2003-02-25

Yes Blueprint was indeed a classic.... and Blueprint2 just missed reaching that status. If Jay would've left some tracks out and put all the hot tracks on one disk.... INSTANT CLASSIC. On the Gift he talks about his gliter and glamour, while the Curse is where is rips his haters and shows the dark side of the game. (Nas gets his on The Curse (Blueprint2)!Bangin CD, worth the buy!

Ignorance cannot be Bliss.......2003-02-08

In regards to Jay Z's newest and freshest dub, yet. Sean Carter knocks the boots of the customers in his recent album. Ultimately, he reveals a "new" type of hip-hop. A cross between ol' skool freestyle and modern digital hip-hop. The correlation unleashes a very productive sound. Every time I have dropped the cd, my neck does not stop flexin'. Peeps, if you have not bought this album, obviously you have not understood the term "classic."

Ignorance cannot be Bliss.......2003-02-08

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