So what does “innovation” look like to one of the greatest emcees of all time?

Pretty much the same ol’ shit, except with more synthesizers.

In hip hop, “that next level shit” is almost always based around how the music sounds—crazy flow patterns, weird time signatures, funny voices/accents, new instruments or samples, etc. Very rarely do artists try to innovate by actually saying something new, by digging deeper into themselves or telling new stories or trying new approaches to writing or whatever.

Jay is a prime example of this. Yes, The Blueprint 3 has some unique production, some wild rhyme patterns and an overall futuristic vibe. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still just Jay-Z rapping about how great Jay-Z is… like he’s been doing for thirteen years. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if you enjoy listening to Jay-Z be Jay-Z (I generally do). But for an album completely based around the idea that it’s something mind-blowingly new and innovative, the whole experience is rather hollow.

That being said, The Blueprint 3 is still a Jay-Z album and Jay is still a brilliant technical emcee. He sounds hungry here, especially on the album’s opener, “What We Talkin’ About.” Throughout the album, his flow is hypnotic; where some good rappers have air-tight flows you can just zone out to, Jay commands your attention using his words, the negative space between them and even his ad libs. The hooks, unfortunately, are all pretty terrible (especially on “Thank You,” “Venus vs. Mars” and “Reminder,” which is probably the album’s worst track), but the verses more or less make up for that. Jay might not be saying anything new, but the new ways in which he says everything is always compelling.

The production will definitely be controversial. This isn’t Kanye’s old chipmunk soul or traditional East Coast boom-bap or even the old Neptunes stuff Jay sounded so great over. This is the kind of glossy, vaguely-European club music that Beyoncé sing/raps over, and most of it is produced by Kanye West. It’s heavy on bombastic synths and orchestras, light on those hard drums hip hop heads usually prefer and overall just kind of weird. The No I.D.-produced “D.O.A.” made waves as the “oh snap Jay is back” song, but it’s really just a fluke; it’s the most traditional sounding rap song on the album. While No I.D., Swizz Beats and the Neptunes make appearances, the album is really driven by Kanye and Timbaland in full-on futurist mode.

And the production works, for the most part. It’s definitely not DJ Premier, but it meshes well with Jay’s style and really does, on some level, capture what hip hop is probably going to sound like for the next few years (for better or worse). Coupled with appearances by flavors-of-the-moment Drake, J.Cole, Kid Cudi and Mr. Hudson, it’s easy to see how Jay is positioning himself to be anything but an old man going quietly into the night, trying to recapture previous glories. He’s got a legacy in mind, and it’s more about pushing forward than remaking Reasonable Doubt.

But when you’re one of the best ever, you get held to higher standards. Jedi Mind Tricks can rap about the same stuff for a thousand albums, but Jay-Z should be able to do better than that. The Blueprint 3 is a perfectly solid album (well, a perfectly solid album with lots of bad hooks). It does some interesting things sonically, and Jay-Z is still a great emcee, but all the synthesizers in the world can’t mask the fact that the album is decidedly retro in its subject matter and approach. And when you’ve put in as much work as Jay has, “decidedly retro” can become “boring as hell” pretty quickly.

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“We got a movement going. We’re going to take this to the next level as far as this whole Hip-Hop movement goes.”

Excited about being a part of the home team, the Prairie View A&M attendee wants nothing more than to be respected as more than just a “one-hit wonder” and denounces those that try and label him as such. Instead he wants to prove critics wrong and become one of the best of all time.

“First of all, they would have to start off by labeling me a two-hit wonder. On the radio I got two songs, two songs on Billboard, two videos on the top ten countdown on 106 & Park. So they can’t even start by labeling me a one-hit wonder. Only thing I can say is man…I wanna be labeled as one of the greatest artists to ever do this because that’s how I see myself as an artist.”

Adding to his dream of becoming Hip-Hop royalty is the plan to one day branch out and work with artists from Boosie to Beyonce.

“I just like working with people who like working and who’re good at what they do and that make good music. I’m a fan of Boosie, Wayne, Gorilla Zoe, everybody, I’m just a fan of good music. You got the Beyonces, I just wanna do something big when I do something.”

So what can fans expect from Dallas, Texas’s finest? Collaborations with hot artists, bass driven beats and that slow Texas drawl his fans have come to know and love, in other words, “a classic album.”

“Expect this to probably be one of the best albums of this year. I put a lot of hard work in this album. It’s got a different feel to it. We’re anticipating four to five singles from the album, not including “Ice Cream Paint Job” and “Walk That Walk.” In saying that, I feel like it’s going to be a real big album. I feel like it’s a classic and anytime you make a classic album, you can’t be beat.”

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R.O.O.T.S. (an acronym for “Route of Overcoming the Struggle”) is the second studio album by American rapper Flo Rida. It was released on March 31, 2009.

American rapper Flo Rida became a global success with his debut album ‘Mail On Sunday‘ in 2008. The follow-up, ‘R.O.O.T.S’, has already produced a download record breaking single in ‘Right Round‘, for the most sales in one week. He also held the previous record, with ‘Low’. This time around Flo Rida provides more of an insight into his life, the mood of the music varying to mirror his experiences, making for a well-rounded collection of songs.

As on the previous collection, ‘R.O.O.T.S.’ sees Flo Rida joining forces with an extraordinary array of A-list collaborators, featuring artists like Nelly Furtado, Ne-Yo, and Pleasure P, and including production from Jim Jonson, Dr. Luke, Eric Hudson, Mike Caren, and DJ Montay, who produced ‘Low.’

Flo Rida has said that “there’s definitely something for everybody on this album” in an interview with Billboard, and this is undoubtedly true.
The single ‘Right Round’ is good enough to encourage buying this album but frankly the entire album is good. Much more personal than ‘Mail on Sunday’, many tracks seem to speak more directly to his early days/life.

Flo Rida – R.O.O.T.S. Track Listing

1. “Finally Here” – 4:02
2. “Jump” feat Nelly Furtado – 3:28
3. “Gotta Get It (Dancer)” – 4:44
4. “Shone” feat Pleasure P – 4:23
5. “Right Round” feat Kesha – 3:22
6. “R.O.O.T.S.” – 3:45
7. “Be on You” feat Ne-Yo – 4:03
8. “Mind on My Money” – 3:31
9. “Available” feat Akon, will.i.am – 4:24
10. “Touch Me” feat Kesha – 3:10
11. “Never” feat Keri Hilson – 4:21
12. “Sugar” feat Wynter Gordon – 4:12
13. “Rewind” feat Wyclef Jean -4 :29
14. “Ha” feat Brisco & 4Mill – 3:55 (iTunes bonus track)

“Right Round” was released as the album’s lead single, and became Flo Rida’s second #1 smash hit. Released on January 25, 2009, the song debuted at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 18, 2009. The song jumped to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 topping the one million mark in paid downloads in just two weeks and becoming the fastest million-selling download ever in the US. It has remained #1 on the US Hot 100 for over a month.

“Shone“, was released as a promotional single on February 24, 2009 and peaked at #57 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Sugar” is the album’s second single. It was released on March 17. In its first week on the Billboard Hot 100 chart it debuted at the number 25 spot, making it Flo Rida’s highest debut to date.

The possessor behind arguably one of the hip-hop world’s best aliases, Tramar Dillard has been making club music for years since his teenage days with 2 Live Crew, but it was only until last year’s Mail on Sunday and the titanic single “Low” that Flo Rida became a household name. A little over a year later and now we have Routes of Overcoming The Struggle, or R.O.O.T.S., a record with a heavy name that is hardly reflective of its party nature.
…
By now you and everyone else in the country has heard first single “Right Round,” which swipes the melody from the notorious Dead or Alive song, and it is these kind of club bangers that make R.O.O.T.S. a worthy record for a few spins on the dance floor, if nothing else.

Album Information

Released March 31, 2009 (North America), April 3, 2009 (Australia)
Recorded 2008–2009
Genre Hip hop, Electro-hop, Pop rap
Length 51:54
Label Atlantic, Poe Boy
Producer Kane Beatz, Dr. Luke, will.i.am, DJ Montay[1], Danja, Drumma Boy, Jim Jonsin

source: amazon.com and wikipedia.org

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Freedom

‘Freedom’ features collaborations with Hip- Hop’s “man of the hour” Lil Wayne (”I’m So Paid”) and Akon’s platinum artist T-Pain (”Holla Holla”).

Akon broke out on the music scene in 2004 with the platinum album Trouble that featured singles, “Locked Up” and “Lonely.”
He returned in 2006 with the triple-platinum certified Konvicted CD. The Senegalese native broke chart history in 2007 as the first artist to simultaneously hold the #1 (”I Wanna Love You“) and #2 (”Smack That“) positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart twice.
He went on to become Billboard Magazine’s Top Artist of 2007, the #2 Hot 100 Producer of the Year, and #2 Hot 100 Songwriter of the year.

Akon has grown with each new album release, while his sound has evolved to the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of his fans, Freedom will no doubt be remembered as the turning point in Akon’s career where he evolves from a hip hop artist to a bonafide entertainer.

With all the radio friendly songs you’ll find yourself humming to many of these songs during the day, therefore, making it buy you won’t regret this holiday season.

Akon – Freedom Track Listing

1. “Right Now (Na Na Na)” – 4:01
2. “Beautiful” (featuring Colby O’Donis & Kardinal Offishall) – 5:13
3. “Keep You Much Longer” – 4:18
4. “Troublemaker” (featuring Sweet Rush) – 3:57
5. “We Don’t Care” – 3:34
6. “I’m So Paid” (featuring Young Jeezy & Lil Wayne) – 3:26
7. “Holla Holla” (featuring T-Pain) – 3:00
8. “Against the Grain” (featuring Ray Lavender) – 3:46
9. “Be with You” – 3:49
10. “Sunny Day” (featuring Wyclef Jean) – 3:15
11. “Birthmark” – 3:59
12. “Over the Edge” – 4:20
13. “Freedom” – 4:12

The first single released from the album was “Right Now (Na Na Na)“, it peaked at #8 on the Billboard 100.
The second single is “I’m So Paid“, featuring Young Jeezy & Lil Wayne. It made a hot debut at #40 on the Billboard 100.
The week the album was released, another song “Beautiful“, featuring Colby O’Donis & Kardinal Offishall debuted at #19.

It is the first album by Akon not to carry the Parental Advisory sticker and it doesn’t need an edited version to be sold at Wal-Mart. Although in terms of lyrics it’s not totally free of that sex-and-violence insinuating language, it shows that it is possible to release a great hip-hop/R&B recording without resorting to extreme obscenity almost in every song.

Overall, this is easily Akon’s best album. Still not a perfect album, but its definitely his strongest performance yet.

Album Information

Released December 2, 2008
Recorded 2007 — 2008
Genre R&B, hip hop
Label Konvict Muzik / Universal Motown
Producer Akon (exec.) Giorgio Tuinfort

sources wikipedia.org and amazon.com

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Note:

Sound: The beats are a mix of vintage soulful and funky flavors, orchestrated somber reflections and slick, modern, electro bangers. Meaty rap rock guitars show up on track 7 “Sly Fox,” Nas’ attack on Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and the channel’s parent company News Corporation.

Lyrics: Nas spends the majority of the album contemplating African Americans’ history in the U.S. and their current status in society. His words aim to educate and empower black people, and advocate change in our government. On the album’s final track “Black President,” he contemplates a world with Barack Obama as President of the United States.

Look For: Track 2 contains interpolations from “Message from a Blackman,” a song that was originally recorded by The Temptations and included on their 1969 album Puzzle People. It has since been covered and sampled many times. Interestingly though, RZA just paid homage to the song by sampling it on the first single – “You Can’t Stop Me Now” – from his recently released album Digi Snacks. It’s unfortunate for both Nas and RZA that the classic song was reinterpreted on tracks prominently featured on albums they released just three weeks apart from each other – kinda steals the thunder for both of them.

Heavy Rotation tracks: “Sly Fox” (Top 20 Songs of 2008 Candidate); “N.I.*.*.E.R. (The Slave and The Master)”; “Fried Chicken” featuring Busta Rhymes

Medium Rotation tracks: “Untitled”; “Y’all My Ni**as”; “Black President”; “You Can’t Stop Us Now” featuring Eban Thomas of the Stylistics and The Last Poets; “Testify”

Recommended: For an album that makes such strong, provocative statements on race and politics, it’s very unfortunate that much of the first half is mired with lighter, radio-friendly, subpar tracks. Surely, Def Jam wanted to temper some of Nas’ heavy commentaries with some softer tracks, but the diluted stuff could have been pushed to the back. On the other hand, if you start with track 6 “America” and listen to the end, you’ll have a quality experience with a strong finish. Nas is still one of the greatest MCs in the game, too bad he wasn’t able to push through a whole album that captures the fire burning inside of him.

Grade: B+ (1st half = B- ; 2nd half = A)