S. Carter: Competition is Nada

It’s official. The Blueprint 3.0, the follow-up to the ’01 classic and its sprawling, under-rated ’02 sequel, will hit shelves on September 11, carrying a stamp of approval (distribution) from Atlantic Records.

After Hov was ripped-off by Doug Morris in buying out his Def Jam contract for $5 mil, it seems that Atlantic ponied up even more for the album. The label has the cash seeing as they’ve been the most successful label in recent years (T.I. and Kid Rock have helped) and Hov’s homies from Def Jam’s ‘90s heyday—middle finger aficionado Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles—now occupy office space there.

Of course the album will also bear the Roc Nation emblem (no way can it be doper than the OG Roc logo), although no one knows what Roc Nation is at this point. But, now that it’s been revealed that the “label” will be distributed through Epic Records—a subsidiary of Sony, which is home to Beyonce so that’s that—we’ll soon have a better idea.

As for what else we do know about The Blueprint 3.0 other than dropping on 9/11, which seems like a P.R. idea gone stupid, is that Kanye is producing the whole damn thing with no autotune. If Jay really wanted to rekindle the spirit of the first one, he should have hit up Just Blaze and Bink!. But Hov’s been stubborn over the years, always sticking with his ethos of messing with what’s hot. It worked back in the day when no one was fucking with the Neptunes and they were one the cusp of greatness, but now that thinking could steer him towards studio sessions with Zaytoven. At least the collabs would have a nice ring to it.

Just stick to the ‘ol blueprint, Hov. With Kingdom Come, we saw that pushing it too far forward just isn’t gonna cut it. Holla at Premo, hell even Ski Beatz. Actually, scratch that last one—Ski gave the world Pittsburgh Slim.

And how’s about a Pain In Da Ass intro?

Bonus Videos: Pain In Da Ass introduces Jay for a 1999 performance at The Tunnel in NYC. Full performance also below. (Courtesy of westcheddar.com)