Hova has come a long way since his 1996 Debut with "Reasonable Doubt". Having released over 7 albums throughout the past 6 years, he is undoubtedly one of the hardest working rappers out! Last years "Blueprint" was unquestionably one of the ebst albums of 2001, if not the best! With all of this said, it's quite a shock that his latest album, "Blueprint 2", does not live up to the hype!

I think the problem begins with the fact that this album was released as a double. Few artists can live up to what it takes to release a SUCCESSFUL double LP. Exceptions over the past few years have been Notorious BIG with "Life After Death", 2Pac with "All Eyez On Me", and Bone Thugs~n~Harmony with "The Art of War". With Blueprint 2, it turns out that the album would have possibly been better without some of the tracks that are included. There are a wide variety of producers throughout the album, and although most of them are truly gifted, the album lacks continuity. Starting with the openng track on disc one, "A Dream" shows listeners an example of a tribute gone wrong! How many times are we going to hear Biggie's rhymes recycled and re-released on different albums. The entire idea is getting a bit old now. On "A Dream", Jay-Z clearly lifts Biggie's verses from "Juicy", which originally appeared on "Ready 2 Die", and laid them over a new track. Faith guests on the track also, but as much as I LUV Faith, she clearly ought to be slapped for this track. Jay-Z & Puffy ought to be slapped for disrespecting Biggie this way.

The next beef I have with Jigga is the fact that he sampled Pac's "Me & My Girlfriend". Who cares about the fact that Suge Knight & Afeni Shakur were willing to clear the sample and give Jay their blessings. Suge is clearly out to make a dollar in Pac's name. Sometimes, I feel the same about Afeni! So many people are capitalizing on pac's fame and talent, and I just think it's sick! Jay was clearly Pac's nemesis, whether he should have been or not! Pac clearly stomped all over Jay-Z throughout the Makaveli album, so for Jay to sample from that album, or Pac at all, is a bit odd! Sure, the track is radio friendly, and it features Destiny beauty Beyonce, but that still doesn't make the idea any better, even if she does sound great over the track. I think a lot of fans were a bit in awe by the fact that he sampled Pac!

Jay goes on to feed the fire with senseless remakes like "The Watcher 2". More than half of the album is sampled from other artists. Sampling also gets a bit old after a while. That's not to say that it's never ok, nor is it to say that he's never sampled before, but here, it gets to be a bit much. For whatever reason, I just expected more originality. Although there are many flaws and fumbles on this double album, there are a few classic tracks, like "Poppin Tags", which features Big Boi of Outkast, Killer Mike of Aquemini Records, and Twista and "Guns N' Roses" featuring Lenny Kravitz. Most of the second disc is pretty good.

In the future, I think Jay would be better with sticking to one sound. It's possible that he was trying to include something for everybody, but the album jumps around too much. Blueprint 2 may sit well with a lot fo the established fan base, but if jigga ever wants to pull in more believers, he'll have to work a little harder and spend longer than a month putting an album together. I think all artists are entitled to an album that flops. No one stays on top of the rap game forever, but if he continues at this rate, he may not be IN the rap game too much longer.