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| Jay-Z- The Blueprint2/The Gift & The Curse: DISC 1: THE GIFT: 1. Dream, A - (featuring Faith Evans/Notorious B.I.G.): Produced by Kanye West, Jay Z raps about a dream he had about a conversation with Biggie. He used his verse from the song Juicy and it is a very tight track to start the album off with. 2. Hovi Baby: Just Blaze on the beat and Jay Z sounds like he is rapping in front of a live band. Mad instruments make this song all over the place and it takes a while to take a liking to the track. 3. Watcher 2, The - (featuring Dr Dre/Rakim/Truth Hurts): SICK TRACK! Dre does the remix with Rakim and Truth Hurts on the hook. Defintely should be the next single. Rakim and Jay Z both spit ridiculous verses along with Dre. Beat is pretty much kept the same except they added a guitar on the loop. 4. '03 Bonnie & Clyde - (featuring Beyonce Knowles): Ahh, the 1st single that has created so much controversy. The 2pac sampled "Me & My Girlfriend" song. The song itself is not bad, but you just don't sample Pac's shit if your name is Jay Z. That's like if Nas redid "Hard Knock Life"! 5. Excuse Me Miss- Neptunes on the beat and Pharrell on the hook. Jay-Z talking about the ladies and his game. Cool track. 6. What They Gonna Do - (featuring Sean Paul): Produced by Timberland, I really was not feeling this track. The hook by Sean Paul is wack as hell and the beat is not that great either. 7. All Around The World - (featuring LaToiya Williams): Bomb ass old school track with LaToiya Williams on the hook. It has that Motown feel to it and Jay is reflecting on the good times and his respect for the hoods around the country. 8. Poppin' Tags - (featuring Big Boi/Killer Mike/Twista): One of my favorite songs of 2002, and possibly the best song on the album. Kanye West crafted this Dirty South banger and Jay Z spits his Twista like flow on this one. Twista, Killer Mike and Big Boi all have memorable rhymes and the beat is so cold. Kill ya speakers on this one! 9. F**k All Nite- Average song, nothing too special. 10. Bounce, The- Timbaland on the beat again and Jay Z spits the rhymes nicely on this one. Innovative track. 11. I Did It My Way- The Frank Sinatra sampled track touches basis on Jay Z's career and how he has handled it. Nice track to end the first disc with. Overall this album was very good. This disc reminds me alot of "Hard Knock Life" because it is so diverse. Banging tracks abounded on this disc and although it is not like the first Blueprint, it is still a very tight disc. Stay tuned for my review on disc 2 the Curse!!! 8.5 OUT OF 10 |